Good Bye 2013!

This has definitely been a whirl wind month for my family and our town as we settle into our new "normal" and move forward to rebuild.

What you see driving around my town!

Today I will update on some of our school work that has been taking place and where we are headed for 2014!

In 3rd Grade Elijah is moving right along and I am so proud of him for finishing up his math book so he will be moving on to the next level.  When we began homeschooling last year about half way through the year I realized that he was not catching on as quickly in math as the program was moving.  So last January we switched to Math U See, after taking the placement test we put in him the Alpha level and he quickly moved through that and finished by May.  I could really tell it was clicking for him!  So this year we began using Beta, and again he moved really quickly and was able to finish it up!  For Gamma I am anticipating getting about half way through the book before we end our school year in May, which is fine with me.  I feel like he is finally getting caught up to where he should be in math at the 3rd grade level.

In October we visited a Dairy Farm!  This is Elijah right after he scared the little calf!

Noah and Zach watching the goats.

Spelling has been the same way for him, we are almost finished with Level 3 in All About Spelling and we will be moving on to Level 4 sometime in January.  Once again this is one subject I felt he was falling behind in and we made the choice last January to switch to All About Spelling.  That was a great decision for us, he has been making great strides and really catching on to the concepts quickly.

In My Fathers World Adventures in US History, we have begun to learn about the states, we just finished the first 13 colonies.  We are having so much fun learning all the cool facts about each state!  This week we talked about Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road.  When we come back from our Christmas break we will begin learning about the Westward Expansion.  Have I mentioned before that I love History and Geography!!  Elijah and I are so excited about the things we are learning.

My 3 Little Indians ready for Thanksgiving!

In Kindergarten we have had a rough road this past month.  Back in October we began adding in reading lessons, those were not going well!  Noah was struggling to remember how to put the sounds together and making them into words.  So with much thought and struggle on my part, we have decided to not pursue the reading lessons at this time.  I have heard, and been given the advice, to shelve it and come back to it.  He is just not ready!  On the other hand I found a computer learning program that he loves!  ABC Mouse.com!!  So he loves doing his "school" on the computer!  We are still using a majority of the My Fathers World Kindergarten, we use the Bible lessons, the sound cards and sound discrimination pages, and we are also using the handwriting pages.  I have hopes that he will come around before summer to want to learn to read, but I have heard account of young boys not being ready to read until the age of 7, so I am trying to prepare myself for that!  Its hard to think of because Elijah was an early reader, and loves to read.

Tot school for Zach has been reading, puzzles, playing with rice, and Daniel Tigers Neighborhood!  The poor kid is going through a lot right now, we are getting ready to remove his "babis" (i.e. pacifier) and he is not too happy about that!  On a good note though I am so impressed at how much that kid is picking up!  He can identify all of the letters in the alphabet and is working on learning their sounds.

Starting today we are on a two week break from school!  We will be starting back up on January 6th! I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and  a Happy New Year!  See you all in 2014!

My Pinterest Success!  A felt Nativity play set.  This is what it looked like at night.

This is what it looked like by 9 am the next day!  He loves it though.

My Boys getting ready to go play in the snow.

Merry Christmas!

The Scariest Day of My Life

The following is a story about how my little town in central Illinois was changed forever!

On Saturday evening November 16, 2013 I was deciding whether or not to go to church in the morning.  I had heard we were supposed to be getting some storms and since my husband wasn't feeling well I didn't know if I wanted to take all three boys to church in the rain by myself.  So when I woke up Sunday morning I saw that the weather was fine, no rain, almost cloudless sky.  So I packed up the kids headed to church while my husband stayed home.

Church let out at about 10:30 I went and picked up all three kiddos and headed out to the parking lot to go home.  I left my church at about 10:45 am, and was planning on going to take back some movies to the video store. (Later I found out that the tornado struck my church parking lot at about 10:50 am).  About the time I get to an intersection, which is where I could either go straight and head home or turn to take some back roads to the video store, was when I got a message on my phone.  The message stated that there was a weather emergency and to take cover.  I had never seen this type of message before and just thought it was my weather app on the phone, a few seconds after that alert the radio weather alert kicked in and began stating there was a tornado warning for a few counties over.  It also said that the expected arrival of the storm in my town was 11:05 am, it was now 10:55 am.

About this same time I receive a phone call from my brother, who lives about 45 minutes away and he was telling me what was coming and to take shelter.  My response to him was I am driving as fast as I can to get home.  I was still headed towards the video store to return my movies.

Since I have lived in Central Illinois my whole life I am used to tornado watches and warnings being issued, and usually I can spot in the sky when its about to happen.  That day was not the case, this storm came so fast and so strong it was nothing I had ever seen before.  The sky was clear, there was no rain or anything!  Then all of a sudden black sky!

After hanging up with my brother I try to call my husband at home to let him know what I was doing.  By the time I got to a stop light about a half mile from the video store, it was dark and beginning to rain.  While driving down the road towards the video store I was watching the sky and began to see the rotation begin in the clouds.  I ran into the video store and threw the movies in, jumped back into the car and the power goes out and hail begins.   In hindsight I should have stayed at the video store and rode out the storm.  But I decided to try to get home.  I go speeding down the road towards town and all the while watching to my right now as the tornado is forming.  I get to another stop light and can see the huge mass of a tornado getting closer and closer to where my boys and I were in the van.  It was at this point that I begin praying and asking God for wisdom to know what to do, I was scared to death!

I suddenly stop the car and turn around because I was getting ready to drive right into the oncoming tornado.  I go flying through some parking lots and it starts pouring rain, almost to the point I couldn't see where I was driving.  In my rearview mirror I am watching the tornado, all of a sudden it looks as though its going to turn and come back, but it moves on.

We sit at the shopping center for a few minutes and then I decide its time to get home.  I head back to the road that I was on before, only to get stopped because of downed power lines.  On the side of the road are about 3 cars with window busted out.  Its at that moment I realize had I kept driving another 30 seconds I would have been right in the middle of the tornado!  And had I stayed put and not turned around we could have had debris flying into our car!  God totally answered my prayer for wisdom and told me to get out of there!

After several attempts to get ahold of my husband at home to let him know we were ok, I was finally able to get through.  It also took me several attempts to find a road that was passable.  Driving down the highway all I could see was places where houses once stood, and debris filled fields!  Siding, mattresses, couch cushions, books, and papers.  Driving through town to get back to my house, which was fine and my side of town was untouched, there were people standing out in front of their houses with unsure looks on their faces.  I finally reached my house and was so shaken up I had a hard time getting out of the car!

I am so thankful that I had the wisdom to turn my car around and that we were unharmed!  Later I found out that about 250-500 homes in my town were damaged or leveled.  Still later I found out that I know 5 of them.  Through it all there was only one person who died, and only a handful of injuries. Thankfully people heeded the warnings and sirens and took shelter.  Most in my town were either at church or getting ready to sit down and watch a football game.

Living Frugally

Lets talk frugal living.  My family has not always been a frugal family, in fact my husband and I went through a phase of not really monitoring what we were spending.  Over the past few years we have slowly been redirecting our view of money.  It started as a way to get out of debt, and now has become our way of life.  So today I am going to share what we have been doing to save money and be better stewards of what God has blessed us with.

First of all I already shared how we live on a tight budget.  How do we make that work?  We use what is referred to as the Envelope System.  We use cash for most things in our monthly spending.  Bills are paid online as much as possible and we still use the debit card for gas (mostly for convince sake).  Groceries, clothing, gifts, and eating out are all cash based.  That way if we run out of cash then we don't spend it.  Period. End of story!  This has helped us greatly in getting our budget under control.

I also try to buy used when ever possible.  I shop garage sales, second hand stores, and ask around before buying new.  I have found some great deals just by asking friends on Facebook.  I have gotten coats for my kids, a dresser for my bedroom, and even curriculum!  You just never know who might be holding onto something they really don't want and that you could use.  So never underestimate the power of asking!  I am also very fortunate that I have 3 boys, and I can hand clothes down.  I also have a very generous mother in law that loves to buy clothes for them.  So its not too often that I have to worry about clothing my children.

I don't drive needlessly around places.  I try to run errands on one day of the week, and plan play dates or field trips along with running errands.  With the price of gas I just can't afford to be wasteful.

We don't buy paper products like napkins or paper towels.  Those are too expensive especially when we have towels that work just as well.  I buy generic about 98% of the time, there are a few things that I just really like the name brand, so we "splurge" and get that.

My husband and I also talk over purchases before spending.  If I want to get a pair of shoes for the boys, we talk about it first, that cuts down on the impulse buying.  There have been countless times I have called my hubby from the store to ask about something, and he has talked me out of it.  Thankfully too, because it would have put us over budget!

We have cut out our cable and shopped around for a cheaper internet.  We have a monthly subscription to Netflix and that keeps the kids happy.  Our cell phones are piggy backed onto my parents, so we spend less on those.  I am the only one who has a smart phone, my poor hubby is still carrying his trusty old flip phone.

My final bit of advice if you are trying to live a frugal life... If you can't afford it, don't have cash to pay for it, then don't buy it!!  That montra has saved us countless times!