Sacred Heart of Jesus Homeschool Academy

   Today the kids & I decided to do minimal housework (chores) & instead, do some fun stuff together… One of the things we did was to learn how to play a new board game Steven got for his birthday. It’s called “The Setters of Catan.”    http://www.catan.com/CMS/content/blogsection/0/76/lang,en_US  /     It is sort of like Monopoly in that you can make deals & trades, HOWEVER, that’s where the similarity ends. This game is MUCH more fun than Monopoly & even held ”my” attention for better than 1.5 hours…all the way to the end!!! Moira enjoyed it too…AND understood it, which is most important! ((It didn’t hurt that she emerged the winner, either, with a “wee” bit of help from Momma!))

   I also made 2 different types of homemade “clay” for them to play with. I wanted to compare the 2 recipes to see which held it shape best. Seth & Moira are trying out the flour, water, & salt recipe. 

Steven & I will be fiddling with the baking soda, corn starch & water batch. After the wonderful dinner Steven is making, that is!

   Lastly, we are going to start practicing our guitars. I’ve done some playing EONS ago when I was about Steven’s age…all by ear. Tonight, I’m going to fix a broken string on Seth’s guitar & we’re all going to play along with Esteban! That’s gonna have to do til I can get them to a “real” teacher! I’ll be sure to get photos of our “jam” session to share!

My daughter & I had a blast tonight with our oldest dog, an 11 yo male Australian Shepherd named Jobi, & some of the new toys I’d recently ordered.

Moira & I rolled some of the new balls & the frisbee around the livingroom for Jobi to fetch. At first he acted as if he’d no clue as to what we wanted! However, once he realized that there were treats involved, he started acting like he did in his younger days, prancing, hopping, leaping AND fetching! He’d bring them back nearly every time, but once I actually think he had a senior moment! Mid stride, he halted & looked around with a dazed look on his face.  Moira had to re-roll the ball for him, but he was ok after that & we continued on for a good 45 minutes! He seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. It was comical because one of the balls is designed with a hole in it for treats (or as in this case, dry kibble) that come out if they roll it just right. You could almost “see” the lightbulb come on in his head….

Here are some photos of Jobi, his ball, & goofy Moira. :P  Enjoy!

I just thought I’d share some Pro Life links with those of you who happen to live in my (current) state of WA.

Human Life of Washington has a list of all those who are Pro-life. The information can be found here: http://humanlife.net/view_reports.htm?rpid=31

It is vital that we stand up for these precious unborn AND their mothers!

Here also, is an article someone from CafeMom forums shared. It did my heart good to read this article, as it is an uplifting, faith filled article. It is a testament to life. It is, simply put… beautiful! : http://www.clevelandmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=E73ABD61 80B44874871A91F6BA5C249C&nm=Arts+%26+Entertainment&type=Publ ishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=1578600D80804596A22 2593669321019&tier=4&id=903C2FBF2DB84145894CC2BD68EA30FB

And it is just as important to remember to PRAY constantly! 

God bless you all… 

I have never had a more enjoyable time helping out with a VBS, EVER! This was a fun, music & faith filled week for ALL of us! Our Catholic & Protestant RE’s did an OUTSTANDING job & everyone was on FIRE!

I was transferred to the Crafts room & had a BLAST with the 100+ kids that came thru everyday!

I also had a wonderful time learning to sign to uplifting, dancing inspiring music!!! ((  Check out the songs!

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no =CD7077&event=ECF#curr   ))

ALL 3 of my kiddoes had a great time! Even 12 yo Steven, who transferred from being “in” the class to being an “aide!”

The kids were in a play this past week. The Missoula Children’s Theatre (( http://www.mctinc.org/thetour )) came to our base & held auditions for “Rumplestilskin” last Monday. 74 children auditioned for parts & only 60 were available. It didn’t even occur to me until AFTERWARDS that one or two, perhaps all 3 would be rejected! Thankfully, all 3 of the kids were chosen to participate!

It was an intense 5 days of rehearsals, with the first performance being that 5th night…last Friday! The cast did SUPERB! Even after an accident where the flats came crashing down!  All the children kept right on going…without missing a beat!

The 2nd night they all did even better, something I didn’t believe possible! Everyone performed louder, lines were delivered crisply, words enunciated more clearly! It wasn’t until walking home & was talking to Steven that I was informed of an entire scene being dropped! I only noticed a few lines were added…& liked the change. It had been totally ad-libbed on the actors part, to cover the omitted scene. All “I” noticed was the inproved part, NOT the omitted one!

I will add photos tomorrow, when I am not so sleepy. I’m afraid I’d do a poor job of it tonight!

***Oh, yes, before I forget, THIS week, the children are involved with our parishes VBS. I am a volunteer…fillng in as needed. Today I helped with registration & then I was a “baby wrangler / soother!” Seems all my years of raising children has given me a special “touch” with those who are upset. ((( I must tell you, it’s nothing special, really….just a knack for knowing when the poor dears need a cuddle! :)  )))

The kids really enjoyed their first day…as did I!

Night Y’all! God bless…

I’m SO tired of rain! Rain, rain, & more rain! How’s a body supposed to ride bike in this mess? We ALL want to bike to see the horses & start working them for the show next month (a totally NEW experience for us!) but we’re getting nothing but cold, nasty weather! Grrrrrrrrr!

Sorry…just had to get that out so that tomorrow I won’t be such a bear to the young un’s!

For those of you who are Starbucks afficionadoes…there is a contest on another blog.  You can find it here: http://accidentalmommies.com/2008/05/23/starbucks-contest-gi veaway/#comment-347

Be sure to leave a comment & tell ‘em that Kim sent ya!

I’ve always been fascinated by herbs & gardening. I’m on a quest to learn as much as I can about edible plants in my own surroundings. So when I found out that the common dandelion was so versitile, I was quite happy! I have always loved the bright sunny little flowers, as I’ve always thought of them as drops of liquid sunshine…& I have ALWAYS abhorred the practice of putting down weed killer in lawns to destroy them. Besides putting harmful chemicals into the soil & water, I’ve always thought there HAD to be a reason God made them so abundantly available. I’ve always heard of dandelion wine, but since I don’t drink, that never interested me. However…when I read that the leaves, flowers, & even the roots are edible, I just had to find out more!

Mind you, I’m still in the learning stage, but yesterday, the kids & I picked an entire basket (about 4 or 5 quarts, I’m guessing! I used a BIG basket!) & made lots of yummy things! We made dandelion lemonade, dandelion tea, & dandelion fritters! The kids LOVED everything too! Even the neighbor kids enjoyed some! Unfortunately, the only photo I remembered to take was of our lemonade….hopefully I’ll be better prepared in the future!

I found a few great websites that have lots of information. My favorite by far is this one: http://www.prodigalgardens.info/dandelion%20coffee.htm and I am bound & determined to make the dandelion coffee too! Just as soon as I can get enough roots! ((They are VERY difficult to dig up!!! However, I’m stubborn!!! :P))

Here are just a few more to whet your appetite!

http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Web%20Recipes/Recipes%20Pag e.html#Anchor-Dandelions-11481

http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/free-herb-information/dand elion.html

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/d/dandel08.html

Moira received a tea set for her birthday last month & we finally got around to painting it. We had a blast, she & I!  I painted the black outlines while she painted the color!

P.S. BTW…Moira took all these photos! Her first time using a digital camera, too!!!

I wanted to post some photos from Mother’s Day Weekend…I had SUCH a great time! My eldest & her husband came up to visit & both Friday & again on Mother’s Day, we were out at the horses! Layo (my son-in-law) took to them like ducks to water! I’m SO thrilled!!! AND the kids were able to play with our newest addition…LB’s Cherry Twist, “Cherry” for short!