The Ocean Yields Us Treasure....

It started with whales. Jess wanted to see whale pictures online. And I thought he said he wanted to study the ocean.He even helped me pick out books at the library. We brought the books home and read and read. I was happily thinking of all the wonderful learning experiences that could come out of this topic. I mean we can go to the fish market and maybe get a squid and dissect it, make a clay model of the ocean floor,hang jellyfish models from the ceiling,all kinds of things! Then Jess pronounces that studying the ocean is boring ,he really wanted to study whales. I think I understood that statement anyway.ALL RIGHT! What next? And he now wants to study lions and tigers in Africa. This should be interesting. Anyway, I wanted to recommend some of these books or at least two that impressed me.

Above is the Eyewitness book on oceans which has a lot of data on the inhabitants of the ocean including many measurements,so I made sure we kept a tape measure handy so we could get a quick look at the approximate size of the critters we were studying.And the Activity Guide Oceans is incredible! Scientific facts presented in a fairly easy to understand way,old stories on certain things, games, and projects! I want to add this one to my personal library! Those two alone would give plenty of study material alone.

Sculpey sea creatures, and a book on sharks that looks good too! The shark book looks like a good addition to the personal library also.

Today on the homefront I am making my weekly menu plan(roughly of course). I look through my freezer and pantry and other food storage and see what we have extra of and plan how that could be incorporated into the coming week,peruse cookbooks that have economical recipes, look on the web,print coupons and come up with a grocery list. My strategy isn't highly complicated but it helps me have a handle on the budget and an idea that we have ingredients on hand for the upcoming week.So it seems to be worth the time for me and it helps if I make it a project that starts early the day before we do shopping so I make well-thought out menus! Today, I also created a coupon folder where the coupons are labeled by date.That should help a lot! Organization is so crucial to a calm mind in my experience!

May your day be peaceful and organized! Marcella

Abba,Father!

A conversation?

Wanna taste a candy cane?

Tonight I came upon the phrase

'Abba,Father" that Jesus cried out as He was on the cross.And it just touched me. Abba,Father! This is how I should relate to Jesus. My Daddy,Father. I think Abba means something like the equivalent of Daddy.My kitchen now has a poster that says Abba Father! Because that can be my cry,too.

Marcella

'

Daily Cranium Workout

Drop in at our house in the morning and you just may find us busy exercising our craniums.This card said to draw a banana split and for the other players to guess what it is.

As you can see,Jess keeps sustenance in the form of sliced apple close by and Mom keeps a book handy to read during slow moments.

Think on your feet,and fast! I really enjoy these challenges and I'm 25! Here's a Basket and a pink onesie,gathered before the egg timer or sand timer,(whatever) ran out.Yay! I get to place a token!

Well,we've had company over the weekend and I need to start getting all the messy corners cleaned up. See ya! Marcella

Over a Cup of Tea....

Tea and coffee are in the cupboards at our house,but tea is a bit more guilt free when one has a nursing infant. And black cherry pomegranate! The flavor is wonderful! Add honey if desired.
Strains of the flu abound in our family and friends and tea is a comforting treatment for that also.Perhaps chamomile tea would even treat the eye infections we have around here.

Discussion is ongoing regarding the adoption of a hamster into the Pilgrim family.We have not taken a final vote.

Cranium Cadoo and Uno continue to be played repeatedly.Did you know the moon is smaller than Earth? I didn't either until I started playing Cranium with my boys.

A bluebird was sighted outside this morning.Could spring be peeping around the corner?


Marcella

Make shape pancakes

We obviously had an agenda with these pancakes-at first. Enter two cast iron skillets and two junior cooks. What you get are a few heart shaped pancakes and then turtles and so forth. We took these pictures on "Love" Day so the hearts of course. But...I thought this could be a fun way to make shape pancakes any old time.Simply pour your pancake batter into a gallon size Ziplock type bag and snip a tiny corner off and start squeezing.It's a bit tricky making shapes and somewhat messy with young cooks at the wheel but just think! If you teach them well and are longsuffering now, Lord willing you will have some creative cooks in the not to far future. Or,if that scares you,get up early and make beautiful shapes all by yourself in your quiet kitchen.The little people will still be pretty pleased. Happy day,all! Marcella

Funny "tomorrow"!

Here's a recent picture of our littlest "sweetie"!

Our Love box. We placed all sorts of gifts and valentines for each other in this. After dessert we started at the youngest,taking an item from the box and handing it to the recipient.It was interesting,all the creativity that went on and all done very inexpensively. A little,white rose raspberry candle,construction paper hearts with confetti, a piece of chocolate,a sample box of cereal,a skirt, a heart pillow etc.Just a creative mixture all wrapped up in lots of loving thoughts.

Have a lovely day,all! Marcella

My Sweetie

A love gift from Jess-one of the best! A homemade guitar!

More tomorrow! Hope you had a wonderful,loving day yourself. Marcella

There's something here....

"Lord of Glory,who has bo't us With Thy lifeblood as the price,
Never grudging for the lost ones That tremendous sacrifice;
And with that hast freely given Blessings countless as the sand
To the unthankful and the evil With Thine own unsparing hand;
Grant us hearts,dear Lord, to yield Thee
Gladly,freely,of Thine own;
With the sunshine of Thy goodness Melt our thank-less hearts of stone
Till our cold and selfish natures,Warmed by Thee, at length believe
That more happy and more blessed 'Tis to give than to recieve."

Last night Scripture ministered to me on losing my life to find it and that those who save their lives shall lose them.God is doing a work in me right now and I don't know why and I don't know all it's purposes but I know it's incredible,wonderful,tough,and I'm still in the throes of it. It's changing me forever,shocking me with its questions,showing me the impact a life lived this way will have,challenging me to surrender all,quit looking for Scriptural "loopholes" out of situations my flesh shrinks from,basically give up all the "rights" I think I have and surrender all to God-losing my life.Scary,oh,so scary but I want it,must have it anyway.It's coming at a great price.Here I meet my cross.Afterall,Jesus met His cross and lost His life and so must I.
Keep me,Jesus! You've accomplished miracles in my life and the work is already partly accomplished.Help me through this dangerous part of the road.I know you can! Hold my hand!

Marcella

Love's the Theme...

"friend i know your heart is raw*

but love is still a worthy cause*

picking up and pressing on*

oh love is still a worthy cause*

like the touch that starts the thaw*

oh,love is such a worthy cause*

or the word that breaks the pause*

in the midst of passing bravery*

in the face of our own injuries*"

Sara Groves

I think this my favorite from Sara's latest album"Tell Me What You Know".

I thought the castle picture would go under the text here.Not sure how to do that yet.. Would you like to leave the Middle Ages? I'm ready too! Marcella

Tennessee Tales

Yes,we've been out exploring the land! Here's Douglas Dam in Tennessee.

We attended a concert in Nashville to listen to Sara Groves.We had sick children that night and I never got a good picture.There's at least one shot of the back of Sara's head.........

Waiting to enter the concert hall.

We traveled on to spend the weekend with lots of friends.Isn't this macaw spectacular?

A miniature playhouse big enough to even have an upstairs loft.This was the stuff of my dreams when I was little.

Jess sitting on a mini recliner in the playhouse.

Our hosts have a volunteer fire station so we got quite the tour! Here are the boys sitting on one of the fire engines.

Looking out of the cab.....

Dressing up fireman's clothes!

Alex with a paramedics hat on.

We packed a lot into a few days but I don't have a habit of posting pictures of people without their permission and I'm not sure how interesting all of that would be anyway,so here's the "touristy" side of the trip.Lots of visiting was done and much history was reviewed.We attended church there also.

And now,it's back to laundry from the trip,restocking the fridge,unpacking and all that stuff.I'm off!

Marcella

Medieval music and More

Or at least I think this is at least similar to the music that was done in medieval times.I should try to post some good websites pertaining to medieval times or you could Google and find some too.Next I should post a picture of my timeline.....Lots of projects accomplished for very little cost!

Jess was given a miniature Uno game and it is all the rage with my guys and they even use the baby as fourth player! I think Lee has varnish stains on the bottom of his socks!

This was unlike practically any other natural peanut butter I've tried. A friend brought this and I was so impressed.It's creamy like regular peanut butter but if I recall properly has nothing added.Highly recommended!

This vine crawls all over the upper part of our front rooms.Isn't it pretty?

Our sweet Sarenna.

I'm becoming one of those women.You know,those women who you look at and inwardly are glad that you are not! Today I felt dizzy and sick,Chelsea was recovering from a fever and throwing up in the afternoon,Alex had a systemic yeast infection and was very miserable in the morning,we had been very busy with all sorts of things over the weekend and M,onday and the house was behind,and we are preparing for a big outing.But today was the birthday get-together for the little daughter of friends..And we were the household hosting since they are traveling at the moment and staying in the area. Ahhhh,the juggling acts of life.We managed and actually I feel better tonight! We had a nice time and a nice ice cream cake.

And Alex and Chelsea-happy little people!

Well,I should hit the sack this very minute. Hope you all have a good night as well.

Marcella

Don't shop for your husband's jeans at Goodwill...

unless of course your husband is fairly short and slim that is. Why is it that I tell myself don't even bother after an episode and then so blithely try it again later? Must be like childbirth-when the memory wears off,I'm all ready to do it again! But.Don't.Try.the.pants.thing.Again! What a waste of time. TJmaxx and Ross turned out to be much better hunting grounds.Ummm,last night was a clothes shopping night for Lee and me.I was after The Right Hat which we finally found at Target.Oh,there were a few other finds too.Nothing"writeworthy". No spectacular deals exactly.Just wanted to warn you not to shop for guys jeans at Goodwill:).
We have a flu around here.Alex had big red splotches all over him last night.Not sure what that was about.
Most of us in our fellowship have big events going on next week so it's a weird week.Then factor in the flu.... not much happening.More clothes shopping today.Clothing shopping is very tiring for me.It's good for my mental health to divide it into parts!
Well,I have a baby that badly needs changing on my lap.See you later!
Marcella