Our Little Cottage

Friday on the Homestead

Well we are in Thanksgiving home recovery mode today! LOL.. Time for clean up and then bringing out the Christmas decorations. I have already decorated my website and blog!  

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. It was just the kids, Tobin and me and Tobin’s dad came too. The food was delicious. We ate dinner at about 3:00 and then I took a nap.. Funny how turkey does that to a person  . While I napped the kids and Tobin played Taboo. Then we moved onto pumpkin and apple pie. Emily was in charge of table decorations and she did such a nice job. Here is a pic of the table and place settings…

 

 

And one of Isaac being his silly little self

 

From our family to yours...

Wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving!

"Over the river and through the woods
Trot fast my dapple gray.
Spring over the ground
Like a hunting hound
On this Thanksgiving Day, Hey!
Over the river and through the woods
Now Grandmother's face I spy.
Hurrah for the fun,
Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie."
- English folksong

In just an hour or so, we'll pack up our baskets of goodies and indeed be heading "through the woods" to Grandmother's house. Of course, it's now my sister's house, but it still brings those wonderful memories of gatherings and meals that Gram prepared for us. We have much to be thankful for, as always. Thank you for your visits, your sweet comments, friendship and prayers. I count you among my blessings!

A GREAT deal for Homeschoolers

As I'm sure most of you know, I love The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. For homeschooling families, it is a must have resource. If you have always wanted to try it, now is the time! Of course, if you already subscribe, it's also a great time to renew because...

The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is having an amazing sale on subscriptions during their annual Black Friday Sale November 26 – 30. For those 5 days only, they are drastically reducing their one-year subscription price to $7.95! That's the price you would usually pay for just one issue at a bookstore!

This is their lowest price ever on the magazine and they want all of you to take advantage of this offer and share the info with your friends. Please don't miss out. Your one-year subscription will pay for itself time and time again as you receive practical tips and Biblical encouragement to keep going strong in your commitment to homeschooling and to the Lord. Since it's a quarterly magazine, they even have a monthly subscriber's only E-Newsletter called Teacher's Toolbox that will give you seasonal teaching ideas and a free E-Book download! It's like joining a unit study of the month club! The free E-Books alone are valued at almost $250/year. It's really perfect for people who are homeschooling on a shoestring or just wanting to add in some little extras to your teaching.

Plus during the Black Friday Sale, they have all kind of bonus gifts when you spend $50, $75, $100, or $150. Some are electronic downloads that you can download immediately, while other are physical products mailed from various vendors directly to your home.

AND, their Win Big contest is going on so if you just happen to be customer 67,000, you will receive a prize package valued at almost $500 which includes a $150 gift certificate to the Schoolhouse Store! Who couldn't use that? And you can qualify to win it no matter how much or how little you spend!

Mark your calendars for November 26 - 30th and do a little shopping from your seat, not your feet at the Schoolhouse Store's Black Friday Sale!

www.TheOldSchoolhouseStore.com

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving...

There are pies in the oven and a turtle cheesecake cooling on the counter. I'm taking care to rest in between making desserts. My surgery went well yesterday. I was flooded with peace and just knew that my friends were praying for me. Don't ever wonder if your prayers make a difference...they definitely do! I woke up this morning feeling much better, so unfortunately, I did too much. I am in quite a bit of pain this evening and have some difficulty getting around, but it's only day two, so I am trying to be patient. After our meal tomorrow, I will rest and try to as much as possible over the weekend as well. I look forward to tomorrow's festivities. There is much to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Well my house has been full of activity, voices chatting and music playing today.  The girls and I have been baking and cooking in preparation for tomorrow. We started the morning by putting on Christmas music to give us all a holiday feel.   And it worked.. we rolled up our sleeves and got busy in the kitchen. Amazing what four ladies working side by side can accomplish.

Black Friday Sale at The Old Schoolhouse Store !! You don't want to miss this!

The Old Schoolhouse^® Magazine is having an amazing sale on subscriptions during their annual Black Friday Sale November 26 – 30. For those 5 days only, they are actually lowering their new one-year U.S.  subscription price to $7.95! That's the price you would usually pay for just one issue at a bookstore!

This is their lowest price ever on the magazine and they want all of you to take advantage of this offer and share the info with your friends.

Please don't miss out. Your one-year subscription will pay for itself time and time again as you receive practical tips and Biblical encouragement to keep going strong in your commitment to homeschooling and to the Lord. Since it's a quarterly magazine, they even have a monthly subscriber's only E-Newsletter called Teacher's Toolbox that will give you seasonal teaching ideas and a free E-Book download! It's like joining a unit study of the month club! The free E-Books alone are valued at almost $250/year. It's really perfect for people who are homeschooling on a shoestring or just wanting to add in some little extras to your teaching.

Plus during the Black Friday Sale, they have all kind of bonus gifts when you spend $50, $75, $100, or $150. Some are electronic downloads that you can download immediately, while other are physical products mailed from various vendors directly to your home.

Visit The Old Schoolhouse store at:  www.TheOldSchoolhouseStore.com

Order Yours Today!  And don’t miss out on this great price!!!

Nesting Mission-Day 8-Girl's room

I'm posting this the night before so that I can get started on it first thing in the morning, instead of getting lost on the computer for too long.

I'm a little upset with the girl's room, because not a month ago I went through and straightened everything up when I set up their daybeds. Part of it is my fault though, because I started stacking boxes of old toys in their, opened, and they started going through them. That and I never completely finished sorting and putting away all their summer clothes. And I never stayed on top of them like I said I would. With all that said, it won't happen again.

Here is my daily goal list for tomorrow...

~Regular routines

~Basic homeschool with kids

~Maintain Clean Rooms-kitchen, living/dining room, master bed/bathroom, family room, laundry room, bathroom/hallway, boy's room

~Clean girl's room top to bottom

~Spend time working on home management binder and cleaning routines for kids. If I have time, I'd really love to make some little binders for the older kids to help give them some more responsibility, also so that I won't have to constantly direct them, until they get used to taking care of things on their own, like their rooms, and their daily chores.

Here's the before picture of the girl's room...

I don't anticipate this room taking quite as much effort as the boy's room, but it still needs some work. Pretty much what you see is what you get in their room. In the corner on the left is a big open space where I am currently storing tubs of clothes for different sizes. It doesn't look very nice right now, but it serves a purpose, and I will try and make it look prettier later on when I have time. To the right, is the girl's large closet. It's not a walk in, but it's very wide. And right beside the closet is a dresser. I will update this as soon as I can, and then I can move on to my last and final room....the playroom. As I said before, the playroom is the most daunting for me. But one thing I've realized in this nesting mission is that although I have been able to go through every room and do some serious straightening, there is still much work left to do in each room. That's where the zone cleaning will come into play, as well as my daily routines, and basic weekly plan. So for now, I'm off to bed, and praying for a productive day tomorrow....

Blessings, sara

Baby Photo

Here is our sweet little fella.  He's 3 days in this pic.

A Simple Woman's Daybook

 

For Today

 Monday,November 24, 2008

Outside my Window... Raindrops and dark skies. It's a perfect day to sleep in!

I am thankful for...my wool socks that are keeping my toes warm.

From the kitchen...a pot of chili and some pumpkin nut bread.

I am reading...over our menu for our Thanksgiving feast.

I am hoping...that tomorrow's surgery will go smoothly.

I am hearing... the blower on the woodstove and boys up and about.

Around the house...the day is in full swing

One of my favorite things... a really great "tear jerker" movie

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...surgery tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, some rest

A picture thought to share for the day...  

"Molasses Spice Cake"

Please stop by to visit Peggy  to peek into the lives of other "Simple Women," and to read the guidelines for creating your own Daybook!

Nesting Mission-Day 7-Boy's Room-Updated

I pray you all had a blessed weekend! Ours was quiet except for the unexpected collision with the deer on Friday night. We spent Saturday evening at my parent's home watching OU Football, and I proudly say We Won! Not that I really care, but for hubby's sake, I put on a caring face. lol.

So with 3 days left until Thanksgiving, and 3 rooms left to clean, I am working away on my little mission. The last 3 rooms are the bedrooms, one being the girl's room, one is the boy's room, and the last is the playroom, which for now houses more crafting supplies and junk than toys.

I decided to start with the boy's room today, because it is one of the more visible rooms from the living room, and it also houses all the baby clothes and things, so if I can get it done then I'll feel much better. Tomorrow I'll move on to the girl's room, and then I'll face the dreaded playroom on Wednesday. So here is my daily goal list for today...

~Regular Routines

~Basic Homeschool with kids

~Maintain Cleaned Rooms-Kitchen, Living/dining room, Master bed/bathroom, family room, laundry room, bathroom, hallway

~Clean the boys room top to bottom

~Make a run to the grocery store. I usually go on Thursdays, but I'm going to go ahead and make my list today and get it done, so I don't have to mess with the crowds as much.

So without further ado, here is the boy's very messy room.

This isn't the best shot of their room, but the room is small and square, so it's hard to get all the angles. To the left is Nick's bed, a captain's bed. There is a dresser underneath, but also behind that is lots of storage. And at the end of the bed is a built in desk.  Right beside his bed, just inside his door is a small night stand with his pet hamster's cage, and his hamper. Directly to the right is their closet, which is fairly large, not huge, but big enough for 2 boys, and then there is baby boy's crib, and beside it is his dresser. The main thing that needs doing is toys gone through and everything put where it needs to go. The boxes you see there is my hubby and son's baseball cards, which can be stored away, the gray tub holds all of Nick's summer clothes. So now I'm off to get some work done, and I'll post pictures of the finished product this evening or tomorrow.

***Daily Update***

Here is the completed pictures of the boys room.

It took me the bulk of the day to go through everything. You see, my son, God love him, is a hoarder. He saves every scrap of paper, every box from everything he's ever gotten. From this small room, I managed to get rid of a large 13 gallon bag full of trash, and a large box full of toys. He was so thrilled with the finished room, and promised me, he would always keep it that way. I told him that if I found one toy out of place, that it would go away to a little boy who would take care of it.

Here's a better view of the baby's bed and dresser.

And here's a better view of Nick's captains bed.

Today was a tiring day, and the rest of the week promises to continue much in the same way. The main thing I've come to realize is my children have entirely too many toys. I'm not sure though, that I can go through and get rid of a bunch of things at once, without dealing with some heavy crying on my children's part. So I'm going to work through their rooms one grocery sack at a time. Maybe only filling one a week, but I will definately be getting rid of a lot of toys. And once all of their rooms are cleaned, if they don't take care of their things they will automatically go away. For the longest time they had the excuse of not knowing what to do with it all, but they all know now that mom has found a place for everything and everything WILL go back in it's place or it WILL go away. So now to move on to the next to last room on my nesting mission...the girl's room...

Blessings,

sara