Monthly Archives: July 2015

An Eventful Week

Finally Friday

It has been a great week!!! As I have mentioned several times, last Saturday Mike and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary. Saturday afternoon we went to Santa Fe for a late lunch/early dinner. I had their rib eye steak and it was absolutely delicious! Mike got chicken tenders (you may remember that he is allergic to both beef and pork) and he said they were great as well. We were also blessed to have received a $10 off certificate back on Mother’s Day when we ate there and used it on this occasion. We really enjoyed it. I highly recommend eating there.

We are still trying to figure out how Sundays are going to look, as time goes on. We used to go to my parents’ home every Sunday afternoon but in the last several years we have been going over less and less . . . things change. This week since we were coming home right after church, we decided to come home and eat something small and then have dinner a few hours later. I am very hungry by the time we get home from church, having left around 7:30 and not getting home until at least 12:30.The only thing I have prior to lunch is a piece of fruit or such . . . thus the hunger. ;) This plan worked well this week, so we’ll see what we do next time.

Brian Birthday Celebration ~ LifeofJoy.meI snapped this picture at the end of us singing happy birthday to Brian and as you can see, Sean was being quite silly. (And for any that remember back in the spring when some friends of mine gave me this lovely orchid, I have nearly killed it . . . but yet there is some life in there somewhere still. :D )

More Silliness Ensues ~ LifeofJoy.me
Not the best picture because of the blurring on the left side but we were having fun and since I don’t get a lot of pictures, I thought I’d share it anyway. Lauren was really tickled!

Once again, we were playing SmallWorld. It is only a 5-player game and Sean was home this time, so Lauren chose to be banker and let the rest of us play. The game they played before this was Boss and is only a 4-player game; Mike and I sat out on that one.

Brian, Sean and Tiff ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Last night, Sean had practice for leading worship one night during the upcoming Young Adult Conference next week. Tiffany is going to be running the projector that night, so she had to be there too. We drover her in and then Mike suggested we eat out somewhere. I was happily surprised when he suggested Ted’s Cafe Escondido.

We had the build your own meal which you can get with 1, 2, 3, or 4 items and we split it. They have so many complimentary items that you can get full on one shared meal. First they bring chips, queso, and salsa and then offer you homemade flour tortillas and very hot salsa. Did I mention they refill all these items as many times as you desire? Yes! Then  after your dinner there are complimentary sopapillas. Delicious!!!

Well, that’s it for today. I hope you have a great Independence Day!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Educating During the Summer

Thoughtful Thursday

Last year's flower garden ~ Lifeofjoy.meThere is so much learning that can be done during the summer. Gardening, yard work, mechanics, fort building, swimming, reading, and general playing, all are beneficial.

As I have mentioned before, during summers I enrolled my kids in the local library summer reading program. They earned a prize and Papa Piccolo ~ Lifeofjoy.mecoupons and kept up their reading skills also. I only asked that they read for 30 minutes a day, when they were older, and one easy picture book when they were younger.

I found GeoSafari units at garage sales early in our homeschool journey. I then found that it was possible to make your own cards to play on the machine. Then I found a yahoo group that shared the cards they made with each other. Since I had the ability to make cards to review any information or subject I wanted, I had the kids do several cards a day during the summer, one of which had to be a math card. I utilized this machine throughout the year as well. (Unfortunately ours are put in a place I cannot remember. :( )

Several years later I found something called a laptop geosafari. It is smaller and came with a larger number of cards. They covered things from sequencing to reading, the basic skills.

cards ~ Lifeofjoy.meNumber Games ~ Lifeofjoy.meSometimes we would play math games for another way to keep up their math skills. My favorite is NumberQuest. But you can really turn any game into math practice. This link will give you some ideas to use a simple deck of cards, modifying the rules to the card game of war.

I hope this gives you some ideas. You can always add in some fun cooking in the kitchen; try a new recipe together. Remember to have fun with your kiddos this summer.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

DC#224

Wonder Wednesday

My married son Brian and his wife Lauren came out last night for his birthday celebration dinner. He chose Meatloaf and Scalloped Potatoes for dinner and No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake for his dessert. (We don’t do the usual cakes for birthday dessert.) ;) We played SmallWorld again and the kids also Boss Battle. We had a good time! (Since I was so busy last night, which is when I’m preparing this post, it’s going to be a short one. I may add to it later.)

iamthedivacztThis week’s Diva Challenge is a Tipple Monotangle, which means to only use Tipple on this tile. I looked through the strings on TanglePatterns and went with #157 by CZT Jane Eileen Malone.

I then decided to use different size circles for Tipple.

Tipple Fan ~ Lifeofjoy.meI drew it rotated 90º to the right (clockwise). When I rotated it looking at it from all directions I liked with the full corner up in the left corner and flowing downwards. I then put my chop on it and put it down. When I came back and saw it from this direction again, I thought it looked like a hand fan. So that is why I have it ‘upside down’ from how it was when I signed it. ;)

It’s just simple and no where near the league of the many participants out there but I completed the challenge. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº