Memorial Day-

"By the 1960s the Civil War generation was gone and Memorial Day seemed to be fading, at least in liberal cities. More attention was paid to the Indianapolis auto race, which began in 1895. More people headed to the beaches and parks than to the monuments and cemeteries.

Conservatives revived the practice of honoring Memorial Day in the 1980s, under the leadership especially of President Ronald Reagan."



I must confess that this year I have not thought much of Memorial day, the past few years we did, even went to the Houston National Cemetery but this year it has slipped by me unnoticed.  I am sorry and I promise this will not happen again.  This is not about a 3 day weekend, it is not all about Bar B Q's with the family... this is about soldiers who fought and died so that I can live freely.

With all that is going on in politics, and with this administration, it is overwhelming and discouraging.  But we need to stand up, quit feeling sorry for ourselves and get on board with getting this country back on track.  We all have a voice, I don't care how unimportant or small you feel yours is.  You have a voice.  Pick a candidate to back, put a sign in your yard, send them some money every month because like these soldiers who fought on the front line.....so are these conservatives that are running!  Right now is the time to get involved.  Now is the time to begin understanding how and why our system works the way it does.  Now is the time to keep sacred what these men died for... a free nation.

meme

My girl Sarah Jean @ Mommy of Two, got this meme off of Sunday Stealing (which by the way has new memes every day... kind of neat site.)

1. Make a list of five things you can see without getting up.


a. the laptop I am on

b. my hubbies big feet

c. my dresser

d. a pile of clothes that I "SHOULD" be hanging up instead of doing this meme

e. a box of Kleenex (currently very sniffily!)



2. How do you style your hair? How often do you cut it?

right now I am between growing it out and deciding to cut it again, I pull my middles bangs back with bobby pins to keep it out of my hair.  Just talking about it makes me want to cut my hair!



3. What are you wearing now?

 nightclothes!



4. What's your occupation? Do you like it?

 Stay at home mommy, home school teacher, wife!  I love it!



5. When was the last time you took a nap? Was there any special reason?

A few days ago.  It was great!



6. Who was the last person you hugged romantically?

um  my hubbie-



7. What was the last full meal that you ate?

grilled chicken and broccoli (because dieting is so exciting!)



8. What was the last email you received?

a recipe from ALL Recipe's for Garlic Grilled Pork Tenderloin--- I might try it!



9. What one website do you always visit when online?

facebook?  Hotmail and blogs are about equal! 



10. What was the last significant thing you bought?

a set of headphones and Ipod holder--- significance is that it is for working out at the YMCA which is where we just got a membership.  We plan to go daily!  IT is a major priority!



11. What musical artist did you not get at first but then became a fan of?

I have NO idea.  I guess Transiberian Orchestra, my hubbie loved them but I just heard racket, but we went to see them in concert and it was so unbelievable!  They are truly artists!  I love them now!!!


12. What did you think about before you went to bed last night?

watched Netflix with the hubby--- I LOVE Netflix streaming!



13. What was the last CD you bought?

um maybe an 80's CD for Allison's bridal shower last September!  Or the states CD I bought for the kids?



14. What is your favorite weather and why? And what was the weather like today?

If I am inside and not going anywhere I like BAD rain storms. Very heavy rain.  If I am out and about nice weather not too hot!--Girl can dream right!   Today I think it is slightly cloudy- which is good since I gotta mow!



15. If you could have a special artistic talent what would it be?

I want to say singing or drawing because I think it is true I would love to be able to do those things, but I am going with cooking.  I think great chefs have a very special talent and since I have to cook for my family three meals a day for the rest of my life I would like more talent in that area!



16. Did you watch the Idol 9 finale?

No



17. What's something you'd like to say to somebody right now?

Suck it up and just do it!



18. Any special plans for this holiday weekend?

Monday we have BBQ with family and friends!  I am very excited!  We don't get together enough!--
Sarah Jean--- COME JOIN US!  I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU TOO!



19. Besides your current S/O, who was the last person you loved romantically?

Um sticking with I have only truly loved my husband.  Puppy love when we are young is great but true love is with my husband who I am building my life with!  love you baby!

Summer Bucket List

I read a post on Dizzy in the Noodle, where she did a summer bucket list.  I thought it was great and for the most part I wanna copy hers!  No really, I am going to do my own but I will take some of her ideas!

Take the kids to a water park.

Make sno-cones.

Eat dinner outside at Kemah.

Go camping.

Spend the night at a hotel, just for fun.

Go to the beach.

Visit the turtle hatchery.

Participate in The Houston Nature Challenge

Visit with the grandparents more often.

Swim!

Find new parks in Houston we haven't been to before.

Go see the summer dollar movies.

Read 150 books (total for family)

Watch a movie under the stars.

Go on a boat.

Go the farmers market.

play games with the kids.

Continue our book club.

learn to cook 10 new recipe's

lose weight as a family.

Reconnect with one friend.

work on my blog

Work on service projects.

Go to a theater production.

go to creation station at the MFAH

learn to knit.

sew curtains for the dining room (this involves me SEWING)

take a class from leisure learning just for fun.

walk on the beach at night.

eat out at a new fun restaurant.

invite friends over for dinner.

participate in mini builds at the Lego store

go to VBS

paint the girls bedroom

get a pet reptile

see or pet an exotic animal

make pizza or pasta from scratch

have an old fashioned picnic

work on a garden

buy a new wii game (Mario Galaxy 2)

read a biography about a great person

Putting pen to paper...

I have so many thoughts in my head and sometimes if I am lucky I get to take them out of my head and put them on paper! But so many of them never see the light of day... do you know what I mean? I mean somethings should simply never be said out loud, and somethings might be better left unsaid, but some things that should be said are never spoken.

Heavy I know.

How often to you truly get to articulate what you are thinking? How often to you get to share your opinion? How often to you get to have a conversation? Not regular conversation but that deeper talk where you share ideas and fears and thoughts without feeling like you need to be careful what you say?

Not very often.

Today I had a thought... I cannot put it into words. I cannot write it down or explain it nor would I be able to defend it intelligently! I have to keep mulling on it.

Does that happen to you?

Why do you suppose that people have such a hard time communicating with each other? Do you suppose in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, during the time that the lion laid down with the lamb and Adam and Eve walked in the garden with God... do you suppose they had a hard time conversing?

Do you think as Eve's husband that Adam could have a conversation with her and it wasn't like --- Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus?

Do you think that it became that way after the Fall?

Do you have people in your life that you know there are certain things that you cant tell "this" person but you could tell another person, or vise versa?

Why?

Does this conversation bug you, because it sure bugs me! I want to put pen to paper or even just put words to thoughts but I cant yet.


I guess it is still pending....

How To Train Your Dragon

I love this movie.  I thought it was wonderful!  I agree that as with every movie it should evoke discussion with your children, but overall it was a wonderful movie!  The story is interesting, the characters are understandable and even relatable, the ending is wonderful and the computer animation or however they made it was great!  Dream works has outdone themselves.

I smiled through so much of it and simply LOVED it.

It was not too scary or violent all though there is lots of fire and some of the dragons are fierce looking.  If you are studying this time period it is a great representation of the clothing, housing, customs and gives a great overall picture.  They do mention Thor and Odin- gods.  Kaitlin picked up on it (yeah!), Matt didn't hear the reference though. 

Unlike most movies where a child OUTRIGHT disobeys and seemingly gets away with it, this doesn't seem to happen here.  He never outright disobeys although he is obviously not following the viking code.  His father does try to relate with him but they have a troubled relationship.  In the end both father and son change for the better I think.  There is consequence for his behavior and he knows that he made a mistake and tries to rectify it the best he can. 

I think again that it is a wonderful movie and will definitely be one we will buy on DVD!

Carnival fun.....

 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid...

Okay, so this is popular. My kids wanted to read it, I asked around and a bunch of moms are like oh yeah... its just funny, kindof gross boy stuff.
Well because wisdom comes with age... and I have been down this road before I of course decided to read for myself.

So I read. It is more than funny, kindof gross boy stuff. The boy is mean spirited, makes fun of almost everyone, is disrespectful about his parents and is almost cruel. I understand that kids might have some of those thoughts but NOT all of them. He is ugly in his "diary" about his friends even.

One of my favorite books of all time is Harriet the Spy. She also keeps a diary and spy's on people because she wants to be a journalist, but she gets caught and has to truly make amends. She also wasn't TRYING to just be mean like the wimpy kid books, she was writing down what she saw with her eyes. So I give it the big THUMBS down and definitely it is banned at the Thompson household. As far as the movie... it was banned even before I read the book!

So Matt came into the room and asked me what the decision was because all he knew was that it was a really funny book. So I told him we would talk about it in a minute. Dave and I sat down with him at the table... I opened the book and started reading, chapter 1. At the point where he calls his friends and schoolmates MORONS... Matt's jaw literally dropped open.

NEVER HAS A SIGHT FELT SO GOOD!

Next I skipped ahead to where he talks about not getting to listen to the parental warning labeled Cd's that his stupid parents wont let him get and how he is going to get to listen at his friends house if he can sneak them out.

AGAIN JAW DROP!!!!!

It is a sweet and satisfying feeling that my son was mortified without me saying a word... just him hearing the words was enough to turn him off.

We talked for a few more minutes basically the I know "so and so's parents let him read this and that is okay but we are gonna choose differently" speech. Matt totally agreed and said he just wanted to hear the funny jokes. So we borrowed sisters joke book and took turns reading jokes... he laughed and laughed!

We will empty our library of joke books this week I am sure!


Sigh... another big mistake that I didn't make! Feels good.  Feels really good!  Doesn't happen so often!

Finishing up reptiles....

We made keychains to tell the difference between a coral snake and a milk snake!

We are finishing up our reptile chapter in science. We have learned a lot about reptiles. We love our Raging Reptile game. We did a reptile craft, a reptile class and a reptile lapbook! We had fun! But we are ready to move on so that we can finish this science by the third week of June! Yes, that is my GOAL!!!

Aqraulis Vanillae---- Um latin for cool spiked caterpillar!

Emily discovered them on our vines outside. There are like 20 or 30, the girls captured about 9 I think. The website says they emerge as BEAUTIFUL butterflies so we will give you an update when we see them!

Orange & purple spiked caterpillar (AKA Gulf Fritillary) - Agraulis vanillae

Emily "isms"

Yesterday Emily was over at moms and she was in the bathroom.
Mom walked in and Emily was cleaning.
Emily said, "Ma Ma don't I look like a Mommy?
My mom said, " Well yes, I guess so, where is your baby?"
Emi said, "My Bitty Baby."
My mom said, "Oh yes, of course your, Bitty Baby."
Emily said, "I am married too."
My mom said, "Oh really who is your husband?"
Emily said, " well he died."
My mom said, "Oh really, hmmmm, how did he die? What it an accident?"
Emily said, "he died from old age."
My mom said, "Really, how old was he?"
Emily said, "well everyone is older than me."


Today we were at a birthday party, each of the kids got a pin. I asked Emily is she wanted me to put her pin on her. She said yes, and pointed to where she wanted it with her hand over her heart.
She said, "wait, is that where my heart it?"
I said, "yes, that is where your heart is."
She said, "well you better put it over here." pointing to the other side of her chest.
I said, "why"
Emily said, "I don't want you to poke my heart."

Do you have a mission statement or a vision statement?

I have 7 topics of discussion for hubbie once he gets home. These are pretty heavy subjects and will not all be debated or discussed at one sitting, but over the next few weeks time. One in particular of these topics is the vision for our home school. We started with a vision and although I believe we have kept the foundation of the vision I think the motive and other parts have changed. They did not change because they were wrong simply the matter of growing and age differences and a normal amount of change in philosophy as we learn more. In fact I wont say they changed I will say they have morphed.

So I want to re think them through, make sure we are on the right track. I want to make sure that we are thinking the same way, have the same goals and that we are truly working towards those goals instead of floundering and just doing things because we should!

This is from Charlotte Mason- whom I sometimes agree and sometimes disagree with but I do believe that she had a very strong vision! I believe in so much of her way of teaching in theory but seem to have a hard time transcribing it to our life.

So she says...




"It is not enough to teach reasoning, logic, we must have knowledge of character, of principles, of God most of all, because "without knowledge, Reason carries a man into the wilderness and Rebellion joins company." A well read person will be familiar with "Men and their motives, the historical sequence of events, principles for the conduct of life, in fact, practical philosophy, is what the emergencies of the times require us to possess and to be able to communicate." "These things are… are the gathered harvests of many seasons' sowing of poetry, literature, history."


                                                                      ----Charlotte Mason (vol. 6)


Isn't that powerful! It sums a lot of our vision up in one little sentence! No schooling or book learning is useful without God at the forefront. It is all for naught! I am not raising my kids to be part of society. That is not my end goal!

I want to sow many seasons of poetry, literature, history, character training and the study of Gods Word into my children!

If things that I am teaching or doing aren't meeting that goal than I want to rethink them. Maybe it is just tweaking, maybe it is a total change, maybe it is simply re evaluating how I look at something and seeing that it really is meeting the goal we have set.

But I want it down on paper. I want to go back and see the words I have written to remind myself!

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

 ~William Wordsworth

See if I write it down and later when things are hard and I am not depending on my heart to lead me but my mind-- which is tired and cranky, I can go back and read it and be reminded what my heart wants...

The Natatorium

We took a field trip to a large indoor swimming pool. It was very, very neat. We paid 8 dollars TOTAL to get in and the kids played for HOURS!  There were like only 5 other people there the whole time.  It was awesome!  The kids had such a blast and it was a much needed distraction for them.  But tommorow afternoon I told them double time for school and two math lessons!  I didnt hear one complaint!

Lemonade Day

The kids participated in Lemonade Day Houston, it is a chance to teach kids some entrepreneurship.  We decided to participate because the kids, mostly Kate has continually tried to come up with ways to earn money to give to charities- mostly animal saving kind!  We take newspaper to the SPCA, they use them in the dogs crates.  It is our way of recycling!  We also click, to give to the SPCA, just by going to a site, but I have since stopped clicking after reading more into the website.  I do not mind helping out the local SPCA but I don't want my funds going global!  I digress...

Kate and the kids decided to give the proceeds of $16.75 cents to the SPCA here in Houston.  The kids helped me shop, measure the recipe, set up the booth and THEY sold the lemonade and clean up!  They did a pretty good job and really enjoyed it.

A lot of the information in the packet I received was very helpful as far as teaching some things.  One thing in particular I DID NOT LIKE was the use of Social Justice under the giving category.  We simply deleted that word and simply talked about charity- the Biblical sense of the word, and giving from the heart.

 My kids DO NOT participate in SOCIAL JUSTICE of any kind. 

My kids give.

My kids give from their heart.

My kids give from their heart, and of their time and with their energy.

My kids give from their heart, and of their time and with their energy and with the gifts GOD gave them.

That my friend is NOT social justice.  It is GOD and it is GODS HEART.

I  hope OBAMA is listening....

And yes that is a sign for organic lemonade... we were aware of our market at the location we choose to set up shop!

Wordless Wednesday

waste

I have suddenly become aware of how much of a time waster I am.

Does anybody else need to use that sentence in a blog post? Am I the only one?



I have posted about slowing down, smelling the roses, taking time for the small stuff... but the other stuff still has to get done. I feel like most of our days are just wasted. I feel like so very little was accomplished. I. do. not. like. that.

I don't want to be a time waster! I don't want to be micro scheduled either but there has got to be some balance!

Today, I bit the bullet and told the kids to grab some clothes put them on and that we were going to drive thru McDonald's. They threw some clothes on and after looking everywhere for a check I need to deposit, and checking for an email from Dave for the millionth time this morning... we got out the door. It was 9:38. We got to McDonald's, long drive thru line and when I got up to order it was 9:47. I DID NOT HAVE MY DEBIT CARD.

We left. I drove back home, went inside and got my card. Then I sadly enough DROVE back to McDonald's, going slightly over the 30 mph speed limit so that I would not miss them serving breakfast. I got there at 9:53. I asked the lady and she said they serve till 10:30. Well no reason to rush huh! So we ordered. I got up to pay and the coupon I handed her was not the coupon for what I ordered. So I had to pay 2.73 more than I thought I was going to, this is not big a deal besides that we are strapped for cash, I had NO business being at McDonald's for breakfast much less driving there and back TWICE, and I am irritated that I did not read the coupon!!!!! SO now I am a waster of time AND MONEY. I feel horrible. I am not beating myself up over the 2.73 but I am beating myself up over the entire scenario- which you must admit is very sad.

So all in all here is my verse for the day for you:



Pay careful attention,
then, to how you walk--not as unwise people,
but as wise--making them most of the time
because the days are evil.
                                           -----Ephesians 5:15,16

A plea for help from a boyscout...

Just thought I would pass this along.



From: Stephen Hebert
To: Troop 320
Sent: Saturday, May 08, 2010 8:33 PM
Subject: [Troop320] I need help with my Eagle Project




Hey Troop, I am in the process of working on my Eagle Project and I need your help. For my Eagle Project I am re filming the DVD that the Pregnancy Help Center of West Houston gives to clients and organizations seeking information about the center, what it does, who it helps, and how they can get involved with the center. I have the entire crew lined up and I have people scheduled to be filmed. This is all good and well, but I need help sharing it with people. My project does little if no one knows what I am doing and who I am helping. So I need you to Tweet, Facebook, and email people with a link to the blog about the project, so they too can see what my project is about and who I'm helping.

If you Tweet

If you tweet you can tweet this:

" Found a cool eagle project, a scout is filming a DVD 4 his Pregnancy Help Center!
Go look and RT. http://goo.gl/GoRv #stephenseagleproject "


If you Facebook


If you Facebook please put this as your status:

" Hey everyone, I found a cool Eagle Project, Steve Hebert is going to re film
the DVD his Pregnancy Help Center gives out. Go check out the blog about it and put
this in your status! stephen-hebert.blogspot.com "


If you blog


If you blog, I would be honored beyond words if you would donate a post to my project.
If you do blog about my Eagle Project please email me a link so I can put you in the credits.



If you neither Tweet of Facebook you can always email the blog address (stephen-hebert.blogspot.com) to people
and tell them about what I am doing








Thanks!




Steve









_ _ _

God Bless Texas

Stephen Hebert
Portrait and Event Photographer

(281) 769-2770
stephenhebertphotography.com
stephen-hebert.blogspot.com
thephotographerman@gmail.com

Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/photomansteve

leavin

My hubbie is leavin on a jet plane.  He leaves at 6:00 a.m. for San Fransisco.

Some of my peeps (shout out to Coplings Hobbit Hole and Family Team!!!) have hubbies that do this all the time, but I am a first timer!  I don't know how happy I am about it.  I am proud for him, I am happy for him.  But...

my hubbie is leavin on a jet plane!

I am unsure that I have any other words.

Raging Rep Tiles

Okay, I am going a little lighter this post!

I decided to do a review on a game we just bought. ( I am unsure of disclaimer stuff but I bought this game with my own hard earned dough! I am in NO way being reimbursed by the maker of this game or the store I bought the game from- although if anyone WANTS to send me free stuff--- so be it.)

Raging Rep Tiles!

We are starting our reptile study and I was at Barnes and Noble looking for another book and saw this! I am not that much of a impulse buyer school wise, I tend to research my products first but I did impulse buy this. I love it!

Number one it is an informational book:

the book has a lot of information, special facts and neat drawings, both real and cartoon.

Manipulative's: are made of heavy plastic, no parts come off for small ones

Game: the game consists of Rep Tiles (parts of a reptiles body), some of the manipulative's and the back of the book.

How you play the game:

the game consists of tiles that each have something on them. They will say 0 legs, spits, shell, 4 foot long, 20 foot long, camouflage, 4 legs, swims etc.

you have to "make" a reptile by choosing the right tiles. Once you make a reptile you get to take that animal and put in on the stack of tiles that makes the animal.

at the end of the game you add up points, 1 point for each tile and 2 points for each animal. The person with the most points.. WINS!

Some reptiles have 4 tiles to earn it some only have 2 or 3.

Emily actually won last night! She could look at what she needed to still get and what animal she was trying to make and play mostly on her own. She did not catch on to TRY to make an animal out of what she had, she wanted to make the animal she wanted to make, does that make sense?

All IN ONE! It was 19.99. I do have a Barns and Noble care so I did get a discount. If I had NOT been impulse buying I would have walked back into the store with a 40% off coupon in hand and bought it then!

Passion:

 I am not sure but pretty much my thoughts are pointed towards what I am doing with my life. I heard - now this is a very popular song on Christian radio so I am not saying I just heard the song... I am saying I "heard" the song today! Actually I "heard" the song in a different way.

THE MOTIONS by Matthew West

This might hurt, it's not safe

But I know that I've gotta make a change

I don't care if I break,

At least I'll be feeling something

'Cause just okay is not enough

Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

"What if I had given everything,

instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time

I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind

Let Your love make me whole

I think I'm finally feeling something

'Cause just okay is not enough

Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

"What if I had given everything,

instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)

take me all the way ('cause I don't wanna go through the motions)

take me all the way (I know I'm finally feeling something real)

take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

"What if I had given everything,

instead of going through the motions?"

I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

"What if I had given everything,

instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)

take me all the way (I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go)

take me all the way (through the motions)

take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions

I want to move this away from the christian walk (NOT that I mean it that way but just taking the song from a different perspective)  I want to say that he is talking about parenting. 

 I don't want to get to the end of the road parenting and wished I had given everything instead of going through the motions.

I want HIS passion for raising my kids.  I know He blessed me with them.  I know HE in trusted them to my care.  I know He gives me the strength and courage and wisdom to be an awesome parent. 

The problem is I don't always treat them like the blessing they are.  I don't always feel up to the task that He has in trusted. I DO NOT always rely on His strength or courage or wisdom in being a parent.

I do not always feel passionate about my job.  I WANT TO HAVE AN ALL CONSUMING PASSION for parenting my children!  God has blessed us to be able to home school and I feel like I am letting that CHANCE slip right past me.

I don't want that. 

PLEASE GOD, Take me all the way.  Please God fill me with an enduring passion to raise these children in a way that is pleasing to YOU.

So on to a new phase in life...

I think as the "school year" activities are wrapping up I feel relief!

I feel excitement and I feel that a new phase in life is looming a head!

I know that what is coming is going to be different... I just don't know if everyone if gonna like it! The kids are sad about not going to AHG but they don't seem to care much about the program, they don't want to miss their friends. I totally understand that! I will miss the socialness of it because I like all my AHG ladies! BUT... I know that the change is necessary so it will be good!

Other new phases in life include my changes in health and wealth. We have already started changing some food habits and food choices, but I have a few more in mind. We have already started changing some spending habits and of course we are all on board for DAVE RAMSEY! But I have a few more changes I plan to implement but they are habit changes so they take a while! So these are all going to be new to us in the next few weeks and months.

We have cut out ALL TV, we turned off our cable and thought we would at least get the regular channels but we just never hooked up the TV so NO TV. We watch movies, we love us some Netflix- in fact now we can watch Netflix streaming thru our Wii!!!!! YEAH. If you have a Wii order your DVD so you can too! It is awesome! But I think cutting out TV hasn't been enough I think we are going to back peddle our self right out of watching a few movies and lessening our DS play and such! It is hard because with home schooling my kids simply have more free time than public school kids so they have more time to play, but grabbing your DS every time we walk out the door for a two minute car ride is NOT OKAY... so we are going to manage our day a little differently. For instance I am going to haul out my CAR SCHOOLING BOOK, my mom gave me years ago! I plan on getting out my books on CD now that I have a CD player in the truck that works. I also plan to use the DVD player in the car for some school movies! But I also purchased travel games for the car and I have some other blogs I was reading with ideas for being UNPLUGGED.  I want to play the old fashioned I Spy, or the license plate game or things like that. 

At home for some unplugged time include: more cooking lessons for all three kiddoes, I want to bake ( I just don't want to keep it all at home so I plan to bake and than haul ourself down the street in the car to give the tasties to the MANY homeless people who are all around us! )  I keep Capri suns and peanut butter crackers in my truck a lot of the time to hand out at the street corner because I am really, really big on NOT giving money.  Judgemental or not, right or not, I simply assume that they will not buy something substantial with the money.  I don't always mean they will buy drugs or alcohol but I just mean the money wont buy some that is healthy for them to eat or full of protein.  So I assume if I give them things that are a little better that is a better choice?  ANYWAY... I  was a convenient store the other day with Dave and I had nothing in the car with me, but a lady was outside the store.  So I went in and bought pack of peanut butter crackers, a banana and thing of apple juice and on my way to the check out stand I grabbed a twix bar.  I thought everyone deserves a twix bar every once in a while right!  SOOOOOOOOOOOOO all that to say this... I decided I would take baked treats every now and then to the homeless around us because everyone deserves a baked treat every now and then right!

another unplugged time Idea I have is daily game time- I don't always have to sit down with them an play a game, they can play by themselves! 

Or daily hand project- like hand sewing for the girls or a model for Matt etc.  Something that they take a little time each day to work on. 

I also like the idea of computer games (learning) ones.  I know this isn't  being unplugged but I figure at least something good comes out of a learning game.  Even in this age of computers I have NOT used them to my benefit very well!  I NEED to use them for good!  So some of my school budget is going to go to some good computer games.  ANY ideas are welcome!

In fact any unplugged ideas are welcome too!

So these are some of the ways I am stepping into a new phase in life... exciting isn't it!

****UPDATED

I just went to one of my favorite blogs to catch up BLOG, SHE WROTE and this post is exactly some of the things I WANT to be doing.  The challange from the other website is really cool, some other blog did that last summer I think and it was neat.  Also the make your own board game!  THAT Is awesome!  I plan on ordering some supplies so if you want to get in on the order let me know, since we have to have a $25 min.