A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Love Without End book review and Kindle Fire #giveaway


Are you in the mood for a sweet love story?  May I suggest Love Without End?

Kimberly finds herself living with a childhood friend in rural Idaho after her husband dies, leaving her and their daughter in financial disaster.

Chet lost his wife to divorce, after one of their 3 sons died in an accident.

Love Without End is the story of the blending of their two families into one.  Chet agrees to help Kimberly's daughter, Tara, tame the horse she was given, in exchange for helping around the ranch.

Kimberly intends to head back to Seattle just as soon as she can find a job to support herself and Tara.  Chet knows from experience that you can't make someone stay that doesn't want to stay.  Yet, the two grow closer.

Finally, just as they're both admitting their feelings to themselves, opportunity knocks.  Will Kimberly accept the job that means a ticket back to her old life?  Or will she take a leap of faith and embrace a new life?


Fire up the romance this holiday with Robin Lee Hatcher's latest offering in the King's Meadow Romance series, Love Without EndFor two single parents with bruised hearts, it’ll take more than a little courage to get back on the horse when it comes to love.

Celebrate love rising from the ashes of tragedy with Robin by entering her Kindle Fire giveaway.
lovewithoutend-400

 One grand prize winner will receive:
  • A Kindle Fire
  • Love Without End and the rest of the King's Meadow Romance series from Robin Lee Hatcher
Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on December 14th. Winner will be announced December 15th on Robin's blog.

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Saturday, November 29, 2014

Weekly Wrap Up - Thanksgiving Week


Being a holiday week, I decided we'd have "light" homeschool.  Hannah was off, and the big kids only had 2 days of school, so we didn't start a new week in our curriculum.


Instead, we did our new art review curriculum, read alouds (including an upcoming review), grammar, writing, spelling, etc.

In art, we worked on still life.  We did apples, but then while I was reading, Eli was inspired to sketch the tissue box.


When we went to the park to play with the cool stomp rockets that we're giving away, I got a couple of pictures of the kids in the golden light.


I just love autumn colors.


Bri has been into jewelry design lately.  She made the necklace she's wearing.


It was nice to get some time to play at the park.  I've been neglecting park days.


One of the things I love about homeschooling is time to just play.


And outside play is one of my favorites.


Fresh air, sunshine.


Kids burning up energy, getting nice and tired.


And having jumping off swings distance contests.  It's a wonder we don't spend more time at urgent care, really.  I think I've only been twice this year!


Eli, Jack, Hannah, and Katie making Thanksgiving cards for Daddy.


Since the meal on Thanksgiving is late in the day, I pulled out a couple sets of Thanksgiving Legos for the boys to assemble while I read aloud to them.  We actually had a fabulous discussion about the origin of the term Black Friday, costs of operating a business, and net worth.


The weather was beautiful, and the boys tossed the football (which you can barely see at the top of the picture) for a bit.


These guys came over after Zach got off work.  We played games, ate, and played more games, and ate some more.  It was a lovely Thanksgiving.

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Friday, November 28, 2014

Stomp Rockets #giveaway


I had such a hard time getting my boys to wait for a sunny day to play with these!


Welcome to the third and final giveaway from 4Knowledge-4Fun!  Week one was the Kimmidolls, week two was Peg Stackers, this week is Stomp Rockets!


We received the Stomp Rocket Ultra set and the refill pack.


We went to the park and chose to set up inside the tennis court to reduce the chance of missiles going astray.


This was SO MUCH FUN!  A stomp sent the rockets flying.


Way, way up!


My boys took turns stomping, loading, retrieving.


If you look close, you can see I caught this one on the way up.  The lag time on my camera makes it hard to catch a time sensitive shot.


We spent a lot of time craning our necks upward and saying, "Wow!"  The rocket has gone all the way out of the shot in this picture.


Finally, the too cool teenager had to get in on the fun.


Yep, this is fun!


She really got into it, too.


I don't know about you, but this looks active enough to count as P.E. to me!  Running, jumping, catching, hand eye coordination, taking turns... all sorts of learning to be had here, without the kids ever suspecting.

And where were the little girls during all of this??


Watching from the safety of the bench outside the court.


Even though the box says ages 8 and up, we let Hannah, who is 7, have a try.  You can see the rocket is going up just to the right of Eli's hand.


Anything Hannah does, Katie, who is 4, wants to try, too.  You can see her rocket didn't get very high, but part of her issue is that she's balancing on her prosthetic leg while she stomps with her other foot, which is an awkward movement for her.  I'm sure she'll get better at it as she gets older.

Are you ready to win your own super fun Stomp Rockets?  US only, please.  Prize will be shipped after Christmas.

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Be sure and stop by 4Knowledge-4Fun's Facebook page and give them a like to say thanks for partnering with us to offer these three great giveaways!  And you'll want to check some items off your holiday shopping list at their storefront, too.


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The Brothers' Keepers book review & Kindle Fire #giveaway


Intrigue!  The Brothers' Keepers is another suspense book, this time, set in Europe.  At the core of the story, we have a mom, a dad, and their grown son and his wife, and their grown daughter, who gets kidnapped at the start of the book.  Along the way, their group picks up various other members, including not one, but two love interests for the daughter, creating a love triangle sideline, that we can only hope gets explored further in the next book.

The book is fast paced, and mostly takes place in a span of just 11 days.  I enjoyed this story, especially since there was a mention of Constantine, and we just studied his time period in our homeschool.

This is a book two, although the cover does not indicate that, and you can, of course, read it on it's own, as I did.  However, I liked it enough that I wished I had read book one, When Camels Fly first.

The ending was a bit of a cliff hanger, which I guess is supposed to make you want to buy book 3, due out next fall.  However, the story line is interesting enough, the characters are real enough, and the writing is good enough, that she could have tied it all up at the end, and I still would have wanted to buy book 3.


Don't miss NLB Horton's The Brothers' Keepersinternational suspense at its best. While cataloguing looted antiquities in Brussels, archaeologist Grace Madison discovers her daughter has vanished in France, and her son's bride has been attacked in Switzerland. After the Madison family unearths a relic whose taproot pierces the Ancient Near East, they realize before they can save themselves, they must rescue an old friend . . . if he'll let them.

Learn more about book one in the series, When Camels Fly, and enter to win a Kindle Fire.


brotherskeepers-400

One grand prize winner will receive:
  • A Kindle Fire
  • When Camels Fly and The Brothers' Keepers by NLB Horton
Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on December 7th. Winner will be announced December 8th on NLB's blog.

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For Such a Time as This book review and $25 GC #giveaway


Our family was asked to review For Such a Time as This.  Brought to you by the same author and illustrator duo who created Audrey Bunny, you'll recognize the same lovely style from that sweet story, but also includes some black & white drawings as well.


For Such a Time as This is a lovely book that is all about the girls in the Bible.  An impressive 40 stories, from the well known Eve and Mary, to the lesser known Gomer and Tabitha, and even several women that the Bible mentions but does not name.

The book is designed for girls ages 6-10, and I think could be beneficial even a little older than that.  Hannah is 7, and while she enjoys the stories, I think the He/Me/She section at the end of each is beyond her right now.

This large, hardcover book is available from Family Christian Stores.  They are generously allowing me to give one of my readers a $25 appreciation certificate!  They have more than just books, so poke around their site and see some of the other products they carry.

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Thanks for entering!  Be sure to check out our other giveaways, while you're here, including Stomp Rockets from 4Knowledge-4Fun, coming later today!


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