Twins
Multiplication CD by Twin Sisters
This past year in school the girls started learning their Multiplication facts. They actually had a good start with multiplication because they had been listening to the Multiplication CD by Twin Sisters for awhile now. Karlie was actually given an award (and medal) this year for having the Highest Math Achievement in her class.
While listening to a CD about Multiplication does not teach you everything you need to know it definitely can help give you a head start or help you pick up speed in a certain subject. One of our girls learns very well through audio processing so any educational CD’s like this one from Twin Sisters is a big positive for her. Both of our kids love listening to CD and audio books and this one is a bonus because they are learning something important too!
You can get this CD online at Amazon or in several bookstores. We actually found it for $2 at Garden Ridge in their CD clearance section. It has definitely been with the couple dollars we invested in it!
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
It has been an emotional and exhausting week. There was one day I was running on an hour of sleep and other days I felt like I was running on fumes. I was able to tackle some items on my list and hoping to get a little more done before the schedule switches again soon.
Last week’s goals
Family Goals
- Read Imagination Station: Problems in Plymouthby Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (Book 6)
Plan one special Activity with the FamilyPlay a board gameLunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night beforeDaily School Activities & Homework CompletedAttend After School ActivitiesPrepare for Upcoming Summer EventsField Day at the girls school
Personal Goals
- Exercise at least 5 days this week – didn’t get this one done but it was busy!
Drink 8 glasses of water each dayContinue my YouVersion plan(s)- Finish reading Overcoming Dyslexia by M.D. Sally Shaywitz – almost done!
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one dayWeekly Dinner Menu planned out for the weekPay all upcoming bills- Reseal Jungle Gym & Swing – put on hold
- Give Skipper a bath – she escaped bath time due to the rain this weekend
Business Goals
Work on ideas for upcoming blog postsKeep up with the day to day items that need my attentionWork completed for clients
Ministry Goals
Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Vehicles – made another payment on the van
- Pay medical bills in full – making payments
My goals for the upcoming week
Family Goals
- Read Imagination Station: Problems in Plymouthby Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (Book 6)
- Plan one special Activity with the Family
- Play a board game
- Prepare for Upcoming Summer Events
- Celebrate’s the Girls Last Day of School
Personal Goals
- Exercise at least 5 days this week
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day
- Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
- Finish reading Overcoming Dyslexia by M.D. Sally Shaywitz
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
- Pay all upcoming bills
Business Goals
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
- Work completed for clients
Ministry Goals
- Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Vehicles
- Pay medical bills in full
I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true. When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals. Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick). Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.
Why Share My Goals?
- To keep me accountable
- To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
- To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
- Create healthy habits in my life
- To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn
How did you do this week on your goals? Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.
The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results.
- Read Imagination Station: Problems in Plymouthby Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (Book 6)
A Common Sight On the Way to School
Usually we are stopped by a train going by at least a couple times a week going to and from school. Some trains are long & slow and others are short & fast. It typically isn’t a problem when the train stops us on the way home but there have been a few times throughout the year the train will stop a whole line of cars going to school, thankfully not often, but occasionally a large group of kids could be late to school because of a train taking too long (especially if it is a really slow one).
These pictures are taken at a different intersection a little further down the same tracks. The girls always love watching the trains go by even if it means we have to pause for a few minutes. They repaired the tracks earlier this year and for a few weeks they were extremely rough, but thankfully they got them fixed and the road smoothed out. It’s neat to see the trains and they have become a familiar sight on our weekly track to and from school.
A Little Bug In the Lunchbag
What is in their lunches today?
The other day after the girls had made their lunches and after they were in bed I put in a little “bug” note for them to read at lunch. I cannot remember where I picked up this bug note pack (maybe Hallmark?), but the bundle of notes has lasted me a long time. The girls always enjoy getting the bug notes in their lunch box.
Whenever I go through their lunch bags (usually to make sure they packed everything & sometimes to double clean the bags) it is pretty common for me to find a stack of these and other lunch bag notes in their lunch bag. The notes don’t take much time to add to the lunches, but they sure mean a lot to the kids getting them at school the next day. The bug notes are cute, unique, and have neat sayings on them.
Each “bug” note is different
Bug notes for the girls lunches
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
It was great to have Jake back home again last week! Although, I didn’t get everything done I hoped (do we ever get caught up) I was able to make progress in the right direction. Hoping to make some more progress this week.
Last week’s goals
- Read Imagination Station: Showdown with the Shepherd by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (Book 5)
Plan one special Activity with the FamilyPlay a board gameLunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night beforeDaily School Activities & Homework CompletedAttend After School ActivitiesSchedule dentist appointments for (Jake & Bridgette)– Jake’s already gone to his and mine’s next week- Schedule eye appointment for Bridgette – didn’t get to this one
Personal Goals
Exercise at least 5 days this weekDrink 8 glasses of water each dayContinue my YouVersion plan(s)- Finish reading Overcoming Dyslexia by M.D. Sally Shaywitz (someone gave me this to read) – getting closer to being done!
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one dayWeekly Dinner Menu planned out for the weekPay all upcoming billsWork on Spring Cleaning- Get paperwork signed for new Home & Auto Insurance Policies – almost completed
- Remove remaining leaves from the lawn – didn’t get to it
- Clean up the sticks and trees that have fallen & had been cut down – other items took priority this weekend
- Reseal Jungle Gym & Swing – it rained
- Give Skipper a bath – decided to wait since it rained
- Treat the lawn – didn’t want to treat it since it was going to rain
Work on the deck– still have more to do but made progress this past week
Business Goals
Work on ideas for upcoming blog postsKeep up with the day to day items that need my attentionWork completed for clients
Ministry Goals
Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or LunchWrite and Send Out Community Group Email
Financial Goals
- Groceries $40 for 4 – went over budget
- Payoff the Van – hoping to make an extra payment
- Pay medical bills in full – making payments
My goals for the upcoming week
Family Goals
- Read Imagination Station: Showdown with the Shepherd by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (Book 5)
- Plan one special Activity with the Family
- Play a board game
- Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
- Daily School Activities & Homework Completed
- Attend After School Activities
- Bridgette’s dentist appointment
- Schedule eye appointment for Bridgette
Personal Goals
- Exercise at least 5 days this week
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day
- Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
- Finish reading Overcoming Dyslexia by M.D. Sally Shaywitz
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
- Pay all upcoming bills
- Get paperwork signed for new Home & Auto Insurance Policies
- Remove remaining leaves from the lawn
- Clean up the sticks and trees that have fallen & had been cut down
- Reseal Jungle Gym & Swing
- Give Skipper a bath
- Work on the deck
Business Goals
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
- Work completed for clients
Ministry Goals
- Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
- Write and Send Out Community Group Email
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Vehicles
- Pay medical bills in full
I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true. When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals. Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick). Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.
Why Share My Goals?
- To keep me accountable
- To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
- To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
- Create healthy habits in my life
- To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn
How did you do this week on your goals? Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.
The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results.
- Read Imagination Station: Showdown with the Shepherd by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (Book 5)
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I finished reading These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls recently. They have really enjoyed reading this series together; These Happy Golden Years is the eighth book in the series. The only thing they are disappointed about is that we only have one book left and it is a short one.
In this book Laura Ingalls gets her first teaching job, at the age of fifteen, in a school twelve miles away from home. Since it is winter time she will not be able to live at home while she is teaching. She wants to work to help pay for her sister Mary’s tuition at the college for the blind, but the place she is boarding while teaching is unpleasant and she is very homesick. The time spent in another family’s home makes Laura appreciate her Pa, Ma, and sisters even more. Laura begins to look forward to hearing Almanzo Wilder’s sleigh bells ringing as he arrives to pick her up from school on Fridays and take her home so she can spend time with her family. While Laura was not teaching she was spending time with family and friends, studying, taking singing lessons, and going for rides in Almanzo’s new buggy. It is in this book Laura’s friendship with Almanzo blossoms into love.
I am so excited that the girls have loved this series as much as I did as a kid. It has been a lot of fun reading through these books (and others) with them. They look forward everyday to reading the next chapter. Thankful for some time to spend enjoying the simple things in life with my girls.
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
We had a great three day weekend with the girls (my only regret is it went by too quickly). We were able to get some stuff done around the house and yard while spending some time with family and friends. I wasn’t able to get caught up on as many projects as I hoped last week so am hoping to get caught up on a lot of projects this week! Jake was able to fix my dresser this past weekend so I can now sort through all the clothes and weed out any of the ones that we don’t seem to wear as often, thanks Babe! 🙂
Last week’s goals
Family Goals
- Read Imagination Station: Revenge of a Red Knight by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (Book 4) – still reading a chapter or two each day
Plan one special Activity with the FamilyPlay a board game– we played Bed Bugs with the girls! Hilarious! 🙂Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night beforeDaily School Activities & Homework CompletedAttend After School Activities
Personal Goals
- Exercise at least 5 days this week – need to do better on this one
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day – I didn’t do well with drinking my water because I was so busy but it caught up with me so need to do better this week
- Continue my YouVersion plan(s) – still catching up
- Finish reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp – need to put this one on hold temporarily, too much other priorities are taking over my schedule at this time
- Finish reading Overcoming Dyslexia by M.D. Sally Shaywitz (someone gave me this to read) – didn’t make a lot of progress this week
Home Management Goals
All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week – hoping to get back on track soon, the family schedule has been a little wild lately
Pay all upcoming billsWork on Spring Cleaning
Business Goals
Work on ideas for upcoming blog postsKeep up with the day to day items that need my attentionWork completed for clients
Ministry Goals
Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or LunchWrite and Send Out Community Group EmailSend out the Alms & Legs Meeting Reminder
Financial Goals
- Groceries $40 for 4 – went over budget this week
- Payoff the Van – was able to put a little extra this month on the monthly payment
- Pay medical bills in full – making payments
My goals for the upcoming week
Family Goals
- Read Imagination Station: Revenge of a Red Knight by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (Book 4)
- Plan one special Activity with the Family
- Play a board game
- Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
- Daily School Activities & Homework Completed
- Attend After School Activities
- Schedule May Volunteer Dates
- Schedule dentist appointments for (Jake & Bridgette)
- Schedule eye appointment for Bridgette
Personal Goals
- Exercise at least 5 days this week
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day
- Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
- Finish reading Overcoming Dyslexia by M.D. Sally Shaywitz (someone gave me this to read)
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
- Pay all upcoming bills
- Work on Spring Cleaning
- Get insurance quotes & make a decision on Home & Auto Insurance Policies
- Remove remaining leaves from the lawn
- Clean up the sticks and trees that have fallen & had been cut down
- Reseal Jungle Gym & Swing
- Give Skipper a bath
- Treat the lawn
Business Goals
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
- Work completed for clients
- Schedule May work dates
Ministry Goals
- Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
- Write and Send Out Community Group Email
- Send out the Alms & Legs Meeting Time and Place
Financial Goals
- Groceries $40 for 4
- Payoff the Van
- Pay medical bills in full
I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true. When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals. Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick). Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.
Why Share My Goals?
- To keep me accountable
- To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
- To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
- Create healthy habits in my life
- To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn
How did you do this week on your goals? Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.
The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results.
- Read Imagination Station: Revenge of a Red Knight by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (Book 4) – still reading a chapter or two each day
Oceans by Twin Sisters
The girls enjoy listening to music every night when they go to sleep. Some of their most popular CD’s to listen to at night, in the car, or even when at home is the from the Twin Sisters Productions. Oceans by Twin Sisters Productions is part of their Science Series. It has a lot of great songs about whales, sea turtle, and other ocean life.
Some of the Songs:
- Adventures by the Ocean
- Save the Sea Turtles
- Manatees Are Loveable Huge Things
- It’s the Dolphin Symphony
- They’re Really Blubbery
- Blue Whale, Blue Whale
- Shy Octopus
- I ‘m The Great White Shark
- Sea Otter, Won’t You Play With Me?
- And MORE!
If you have a kid that is fascinated with the ocean, sea life, loves animals, and learning this is a great CD. Our girls have had this one for several years now and still love to listen to it.
The Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry
Heading to the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry
While we were in Charleston over Spring Break we made a trip to the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry. We haven’t been there before so the girls were very excited. We headed out first thing Wednesday morning to downtown Charleston so we could be there when it opened to go exploring. The girls had a blast playing in all the rooms from being creative in the art room to checking out all the nooks and crannies in the castle, splashing around in the water wise room, experimenting with golf balls using Newton’s Laws, steering the pirate ship, shopping for groceries, and all the neat games outside too.
We had only been there for a little while and McCown Bridges came to welcome us as well as let us know about the upcoming events. If you are in the Charleston area and want a fun place to take the kids you should check out the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry! Here are some of the highlights of our trip to the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry.
Karlie having fun exploring the castle room!
Brina and Karlie having fun
Brina and Karlie at the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry
What things happen in Spring?
Walking the plank
Brina steering the pirate ship
Our little Karlie pirate!
One of Karlie’s paintings. Both girls loved hanging out and doing several crafts & paintings in the art room
Brina really liked the art room and the colored rice
Travel & Vacation: Nighttime Fun at Walt Disney World
Still going strong!
The girls were still going strong after a full day at Disney! We had just watched the Electrical Parade & Firework Show and the girls still wanted to do some more. So we decided to keep on going and we ended up staying until midnight when the park closed! They had a blast, but crashed immediately after they got into the van. For more posts about our Disney adventure you can go to Walt Disney World or Rides & Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade or Walt Disney World (part 2) or Disney’s Electrical Parade & Firework Show posts.
Karlie riding the train, it was a quieter ride after going on Space Mountain
Brina going for another ride on the train
Someone’s having fun!
Pull harder!
Hanging out in Eeyore’s house
One more ride on the carousel, this time at night!
