Enjoying the Chaos

What a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends. Remember at this busy time our Savior who is truly the reason for the season. We ended our family Christmas party on Saturday night, after our traditional skits, present giving and games with some wonderful singing. Boo played through every Christmas hymn in our hymn book and we sang and sang. We sang about peace on earth, the birth of our Savior and what a gift he is to us.

I don't do a lot of baking at Christmas. However, one of my favorite things to make are my traditional mince pies. It's not Christmas until we have them with lots of whipped cream. I had to search for the mince meat I usually use as my local store doesn't carry it anymore. Luckily I managed to find it within about 50 miles (and as I was passing luckily) They are so easy to make and taste great with some whipped cream - definately perfect for Christmas. Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” ©2011-2016 Chickensbunniesandhomeschool. All righ...

I love this time of year. I can't believe it's just two weeks till Christmas. The weather has finally turned cold. It makes if feel even more like Christmas. All we 'don't' need is snow...

I love Christmas Music and now that it is December I can play it all day if I want to! However, last weekend I received a new CD in the mail and so I broke my no Christmas music till December 1st rule and grabbed it on my way to the city . Captain loves it when we get new CDs so he was really excited to be in the car for a new one. Plus, it was Christmas music so to him it was a double bonus.  We received the new Amy Grant CD Tennessee Christmas . It's a really nice CD and contains a mixture of classic Christmas songs and ones I haven't heard before. It was very pleasent to listen to it as we drove.  I have played it a couple of times this week. Playing it with the real fire crackling and it really brings that Christmas feeling.   Amy Grant is putting together a cool video for Christmas and has her own hashtag so that she can see your Christmas surprises. Anyone can participate; just upload any videos you have surprising loved ones at Christmas time t...

Being kind is something I think we all can be better at. However, we all seem to get a little better during the Christmas season. Today we start our advent calenders. My kids love them and look forward to their little chocolate treat every morning. What if we looked for ways to help others for the next twenty five days instead. Well if this is something you would like to work on with us then you might find  this  website a great resource. “29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:29–30 We always feel the desire to help others this time of year but sometimes we run out of ideas or we think our idea isn't good enough. You can see all the details of our  #LighttheWorld  campaign online. I have already seen evidence of this campaign. I have a friend who lives in London, she prepared some special bags to hand out bre...

I love books and Captain loves it when we get books in the mail to review. This latest one turned up and Captain was really excited. I used to love books with flip ups and pop ups when I was young. This book is cute and has flaps that are in the form of a letter from God. The book is written for children from four to eight. Captain is at the higher age bracket and can read extremely well. He loves the book and likes that it's just a fun easy to read book. It combines both prose and poetry to tell the story of Jesus's birth. There are seven stories starting with Isaiah's prohect and ending with the visit of the wise man. After each storie there is a letter written as if from God attached to each page. There is a little space to write the child's name, so they can be addressed to the child. There are special bible verses, and words of love, promise and hope. The book is written by Glenys Nellist and illustrated by Rachel Clowes. The pictures are amazing full of det...

Today Captain and I did a fun science project today. It was super easy. If you have the Apologia Astronomy book. The experiment is in the chapter about Earth. We needed a small lid, cork, needle, and a strong magnet. It took about 10 minutes and boom! Captain loved it!

I love Christmas books. I was sent a wonderful Christmas book called  Where Jesus Slept by Norma Lewis This is a cute picture book written by  Norma Lewis  and illustrated by  Katy Hudson . My kids loves it when I get our Christmas books out. Captain was so excited when he opened a box to find a new book. The story starts with the announcement written in Luke 2:10-11 that the Savior has been born in Bethlehem, the city of David. It's a very simple but sweet story that tells about the birth of the Savior. I love the illustrations and although the story is very simple it is written in a very nice way. The last scripture is John 3:16 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life'. This will be a favorite in our Christmas library for many years. I have a great opportunity for one of my readers - You can enter to win a copy of this book! Enter below. Entry -Form "D...

We love board games and so I was really excited to add  Commissioned  from  Chara Games  to our selection. I was very happy with the quality of the game when we recieved it. It is very well made and compares nicely to other high quality games in our cupboard. Jam was the leader when it came to playing this game. He spent a lot of time watching the official 'how to play' video. I linked to the video below so you can check it out. We played this for the first time when my husband was out of town and my parents were visiting. Jam was very good at explaining the game to everyone. The main difference with this game is that everyone is working together. Because of this it takes a little getting used to. My youngest kept on asking how he wins. We explained a few times that everyone either wins or loses. I love that this game is history based, and cooperative so if you can turn a family game night into family argument night then this game style might help. As ...

Although I live in the USA my Dad was in the RAF for 22 years. I honor all those who have served in both of these great countries I love.

Boo asked me a few months ago about learning sentence diagramming. Although I teach English as a second language and have a pretty good understanding of grammar I hate diagramming sentences. So I actually distracted her and hoped she would forget about for a while. Of course I'm a member of the Homeschool Review Crew and what should pop up on our review list  Sentence Diagramming Beginning  for grades 3-12+ by  The Critical Thinking Co.  It was perfect timing and she was very excited. Yes, you read that right - excited for grammar! We have used products from Critical Thinking Co before and have always been impressed with their quality and ease of use. So I was hoping that they could make diagramming understandable too. The Critical Thinking Co.™  has been around since 1958 and has a great selection of award winning products. All of their subjects whether it be reading, math, science, writing, or history contain some aspect of critical thinking. They belie...

Have you done your duty and voted today?

I was born and raised in the United Kingdom and so American history was something I was taught as an outsider. It was someone else's history - not mine. However, since adopting this great country as my own I need to make sure that I give them a great understanding of this country we call home. We have been using a fun micro-study program called  Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims  from  Homeschool Legacy . This study is perfect for this time of year as it's a great reminder before the Thanksgiving holiday. I have been working mainly with Captain as the others have studied this before, but they enjoyed telling him what they know as well as discussing it as a family. The once a week micro-study is designed to be used over 6 weeks and we are about half way through. It's been really interesting and I am looking forward to the rest of the study. It's broken down well and is easy to follow. I printed out the study book, it's 22 pages but I kept the PDF on my compu...

Have you ever wandered around the store looking for those perfect stocking stuffers for your kids. I have different ages of kids and so I love it when I can buy a variety of one thing that everyone loves! I have raved about my love of  Kwik Stixs   by The Pencil Grip Inc  before but I have been recently using some amazing new varietys!  Neons  and  Metalix . We love painting but I hate the paint mess that comes with regular paint! My kids love them and we have had some great fun with them but for this review I wanted to play with them. I used a mixture of the sticks that I have and used a canvas. I wasn't sure how the canvas would work but I was thrilled with the result! Now I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination but I love sunflowers and wanted to paint something fun and bright. The look these give on the canvas is really fun. Of course the biggest plus is that I did this with no mess, no bottle of water to blend colors, and no wet s...

The Internet is a wonderful but scary thing! There is so much information to help us, but also so much we don't need to see. It's hard when you have children that are learning to negotiate through the World Wide Web! I recently signed up for the  Family Plan  from  Accountable2You . We have been using it for a few weeks now and we really like it. They also offer a Group Plan, Individual Plan, and a Small Business Plan. We have always tried to have some kind of Internet protection as our children each have their own laptops and my oldest two have smartphones. We have used software and apps that limit searches etc in the past but I was really interested in trying this new accountalility software for my older two children. My youngest still used our old program that really limits his online experience, as he is only eight I felt this was important. However, with my older two I thought the way this program works was really a really great way to give them more freedom. ...

Yesterday was so much fun I forgot to wish you all a Happy Halloween!

This summer my kids were intrigued by the meaning of names. I can remember listening to them comparing what their names meant. So I was really excited to be chosen to review some fun products from  CrossTimber . We chose their amazing Personalized Frame Plaque with Name Meaning and Bible Verse. I couldn't decide which child's name to use so I went with our last name and I'm thinking of giving it to my in-laws when they visit this month from England. My last name was written in a really nice cursive. You can pick the background design and there are so many to choose from it was really hard. Since I was going with our last name I chose something that I thought would match a more formal placing in a living room. If I had chosen Boo's name I would have chosen some of the pretty butterfly designs. I know a friend that would love some of the 'horse' ones. This would be an excellent gift for someone that's having a baby and wants to decorate the nursery wit...