Counting My Blessings: Week In Review
It was a week packed full of a lot of emotions. With the girls wrapping up at a school they have been attending the past 7 years it has been quite a stepping stone for us. We are grateful to all the teachers and administration at Crosswell Elementary for the amount of time, energy, and attention they have invested in our girls education. They have made a positive and lasting impression on our kids. Wish we could take some of the amazing teachers with us to Middle school. We are excited to see what Middle School will bring and know that the kids will probably adjust quicker and better than at least their Mom because with them moving up a school their growing up seems more real. Love my girls and very proud of what they have accomplished over the past year! There was so much to be thankful for last week.
I want to be accountable to you so the following are snip-its of some of the things I am thankful for this past week. Counting My Blessings – Week In Review:
Monday –Thankful to have the laundry room renovation started and that we were still able to get the laundry done so none of us have to run around wearing dirty clothes!
Tuesday – Thankful for the opportunity to spend some time with the girls after school that didn’t include doing a bunch of homework. We even had a few extra minutes to do a rapid quick clean up around the house and read some more of our books together. LOVE catching both of the girls reading independently on their own during free time (for those who know our family you know that for one of our kids this is a really big deal)!
Wednesday – Thankful for time after work to spend with other Mom’s at school prepping for the kids 5th grade Graduation Celebration Party. We were able to get a lot accomplished and organized during our time together.
Thursday – Thankful for Brina’s hard work on her “Cupcakes on the Rise” Science Fair Project because we were able to see her accept a 1st Place Trophy, Medals, Certificate, and Cash Prize (we had no idea there was a cash prize as well) for the Regional Science Fair! Very proud of our Brina Bee!
Friday – Thankful for an opportunity to watch the girls Graduation and Awards Ceremony! They did fantastic and both kids received numerous awards, medals, pins, certificates, trophies and other cool awards for all that they had accomplished throughout this year. Also, Karlie received a trophy for getting all A’s her entire Elementary School years. Super proud of these kids and the effort they put into their learning. Praying they continue to have the love of learning as they get older!
What are you thankful for today? I encourage you to take the time to write down a few blessings that you have in your life today. It will help cheer you up and turn your focus on the amazing blessings you encounter each day!
Catching the Kids Reading
Brina relaxing and reading on the couch
I love walking into a room and seeing my kids reading a good book. There is one kid in particular in our family that is always reading any time she gets a chance while the other one I do a silent cheer every time I see her pull out a book to read on her own. It is great seeing them get swept away into the story and hearing their little giggles as they are reading fun part makes me smile.
Reading came really easy for one of our girls while the other one it has been a lot harder. Thankfully we were able to figure out what was holding her back (dyslexia) and have spent the last few years working with reading tutors to help her develop her reading skills. It has felt like a long (and sometimes painful) process for both me as a Mom and my sweet girl, but we have gone so far. Anytime I see her reading on her own it makes my heart so happy. I love my girls and always want to encourage them as they learn various skills throughout their lives even if it means putting forth a lot of extra time and effort on my part.
All smiles as she relaxes and reads
Soaking up a good story
A Couch Full of Books
Karlie has all her library books spread out over the couch so she can choose which one to read first. Not sure if the line of books are placed in random or specific order. She is very thoroughly in picking out what book she wanted to read.
She has been reading through the South Carolina Children’s Book Award Nominee list. For her Gifted & Talent class she is suppose to read at least four of the SC Children’s Book Award and pass an Accelerated Reading on them. We pick up several of the books from our local library and she has been working her way through them. A couple of the books Jake and I decided we didn’t want her to read for various reasons, but otherwise we want to encourage her to read as much as she wants.
Karlie loves reading! She was finished reading her four required books within a week. Now she is continuing to read just for fun and taking the tests. It is wonderful seeing her read and it amazes how quickly she can get through a book, sometimes one that is several hundred pages! If she really likes the book finish it and read it again the next day! Her stack of library books has been higher than mine lately!
Relaxing and Reading
Relaxing and reading!
One of the best parts of having a relaxing Saturday morning is having extra time to read. This is what I saw recently when walked into Brina’s room! Brina was catching up on a pile of Berestain Bears books. Jake and Karlie were checking something out in the World Book Encyclopedia. The girls love books. It makes my heart happy to walk into the room and see the kids reading.
Brina enjoying her book!
Love My Family
My Handsome man reading to the girls. Love listening to Jake reading to the girls. Jake and the girls love history. He was reading a book about the Christmas when Winston Churchill stayed in the White House. The girls love reading and enjoy those moments when we can read to them. Thankful for my family and seeing Jake reading with the girls warms my heart.
CONGRATULATIONS to Our Barnes & Noble Gift Card Winner!
The name has been drawn for the giveaway!
CONGRATULATIONS to
Lynette
for winning a
Barnes & Noble Gift Card!
Thanks for making a comment in honor of our Giveaway!
An email has been sent to you with more information*
Enjoy your next trip to Barnes & Noble!
Also, Lynette received an extra 5 bonus entries into the drawing for having the closest guess regarding the number of books on the new bookshelf Jake made for the girls. The actual number of books on the bookshelf when the picture was taken was 834! Yes, I counted every book on the shelves. Our family loves books! Thanks for entering and being the closest Lynette! 🙂
*Giveaway must be claimed within 5 business days of the prize being announced. Failure to claim the prize within the allotted time frame means you forfeit the prize. The actual gift card may or may not be identical to the one pictured above.
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.
Giveaway: $10 Barnes & Noble Gift Card
I am excited to announce a new giveaway on Blessings Multiplied! The winner of this giveaway will receive a $10 Barnes & Noble Gift Card! The best part about this card is you can use it for books, educational items, games, puzzles, and much more. Summer is quickly approaching and you may want to get a book for an upcoming family vacation! We love to read in our house so any trips to a book store are considered fun and relaxing for all of us. Here’s how to enter the giveaway:
Enter the Giveaway (up to 5 entries per person)!
- Sign up to follow my blog (if you haven’t done so already) and leave a comment below telling us how you follow Blessings Multiplied. Put a separate comment for each way you follow Blessings Multiplied (Email, Twitter, or Facebook) plus an extra entry for your bonus answer! Each comment counts as an entry into the giveaway.
- Sign up to receive Blessings Multiplied via email
- Follow on Twitter – @BlessMultiplied
- Like us on Facebook – BlessingsMultiplied
- BONUS – you can get a bonus entry into the drawing if you leave a separate comment below sharing what type of items you enjoy picking up at Barnes & Noble.
- EXTRA BONUS – My husband recently built a book shelf for the kids birthday! The kids love having their own book shelf in their room and can be found reading quietly next to the shelf several times throughout the week! You can get extra bonus entry by making a guess on how many books we have on the kids book shelf (picture below). The person who gets closest to the actual number of books on the shelf will get an additional 5 entries into the drawing! 🙂
All comments must be made by May 31, 2013 at 10:00 PM EST to be entered into the drawing. Good Luck!
The actual gift card may or may not be identical to the one pictured above.
Reading Eggs – FREE Two Week Trial
Reading Eggs is offering a Free Two Week Trial Offer. All you have to do is sign up to try out their reading program, no credit card required. Do you have a little one that is just starting to read or one who wants to increase his or her reading skills? Then this may be the perfect time to check out Reading Eggs program.
You want reading to be fun and easy for your child so why not try out Reading Eggs and see if it is a good fit for your family. Reading Eggs strives to make learning to read interesting and engaging for kids whether they are just beginning to read or increasing their reading fluency. Through the use of reading games, activities, songs, and other resources your child will pick up great learning tools that will help them on the road to becoming a proficient reader.
The kids will work through various maps that on their level and will earn golden eggs, ribbons, trophies, and other rewards to encourage them to continue learning more. Reading Eggs is an interactive program that our family has used in the past for our young readers and our kids LOVED it! They got a kick out of working through the maps, accomplishing goals, and earning rewards. The kids can even customize their own “reading egg” avatar to match their personality.
All you have to do is click the “free trial” button once you get to their homepage and get started!More information about Reading Eggs:- Reading Eggs was developed by an experienced team of teachers, educational writers, animators, and web developers. People who have interacted with children and have taught kids to read.
- Reading Eggs focuses mainly on the core reading curriculum skills and strategies that help readers develop more successful reading skills as well as builds their reading confidence level. The program is perfect for ages 3 to 12.
- Each reader can work through the Reading Eggs program at his or her pace so if you have a young reader and more advanced reader in your home both would be able to focus on their specific skills.
- A more advanced reader would move through the first few maps a little more quickly because it may be more of a review for him or her until they reach a point where the information is newer and more challenging for them, whereas, a new reader would work through the first maps more slowly but steadily as they get more excited about the program and earning rewards.
- Reading Eggs launched in the United States and Canada in 2011. Since launching they have had over 500,000 subscribers and have presented more than 15 million lessons.
Our readers will receive a Free Two-Week Trial Offer! Register now for a two-week trial of the Reading Eggs program. No credit card is required. Help your child learn to read, increase their phonics skills, or increase their reading fluency with Reading Eggs free two-week trial!
A special thanks to U.S. Family Guide and Reading Eggs for offering a free two-week trial to my readers. Any specific product information was provided by Reading Eggs and U.S. Family Guide, however, the opinions expressed in this post are our own. We received a complimentary subscription for sharing information and our family’s experience regarding Reading Eggs.
Little Town On The Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A couple weeks ago I finished reading Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls. It is the seventh book in the Little House series. It is hard to believe we are flying through this series and before long we’ll be done. The girls loved these books so much I am already thinking about if I should do another series or something similar next.
Now that the long winter of blizzards is over the Ingalls family is heading back out to the homestead to work the land. Laura got a new job, attended some fun parties in town, and began to spend time with Almanzo Wilder. She continues to study hard for the teacher’s test so she can help Pa and Ma keep Mary in school. Mary is going to college for the blind. Even though Laura is fifteen years old she past the test and receives her teaching certificate early.
