Random January Photos

When Scott and I started dating. He worked as a cook at the Dixie. He would always make my eggs look like this. Nearly 14 years of marriage, and he's still doing it. He always puts a heart made of cheese on top. What a guy I married!

H and E chilling in their room in their pjs. Hey look...their room is clean :)
Scott cooking my sweetheart eggs. He makes the kids with a heart too.
E with his new glasses and missing teeth. He lost 4 in about a month.
Building Lego's at the library with the boys. It was a fun afternoon, and they won a prize from the drawing.
H and E with their Lego creations. We have the game Lego Creationary at home. It one of our favorite games.
Matt's friends stopped by to show me their new baby. So precious!
The kids built a silly snowman this afternoon in the front yard. Ethan stole one of his eyeballs off and ate it! He just giggled himself silly after that.
Building the snowman.
He's a silly snowman, no doubt about it!

January Happens...

Hi Everyone,

It's been awhile since I updated my blog, so I thought I'd do a little updating now. December was such a busy month, with Winter piano recitals, Christmas parties, field trips, etc... and then there was sewing, and crocheting, and more sewing and crocheting. It was fun, a lot of work, and it certainly went by very quickly.

January has been a little slower. We have been busy with our studies, and getting back to our normal everyday routine. Hunter is learning to play Beethoven's 9th Symphony, and is doing great! Heidi is only teaching piano every two weeks now, since she moved back to her hometown 2 hours from here. We feel very blessed that she has decided to continue to teach her students, because we really feel that she is the very best piano teacher we could ever hope to have.

I started a weight loss program on Jan. 1 and have lost 11.8 lbs. I am really excited because this is the most I have ever lost in quite a while. Best part of the program is that it is completely free, and I get to enjoy a very nice Bible study while doing it.

Scott and I will have been married 14 years on Feb. 14th. So this anniversary could be considered our "golden" anniversary even though it's not, really. I am thinking in the same terms as golden birthdays, in-case you are wondering where this came from. Scott has planned a very nice trip for us to Starved Rock Lodge for the 13th and 14th of February. It's an all inclusive weekend of dining, dancing, and wine tasting. Now, what could be more romantic than that? I am so looking forward to spending some alone time with my love. He has really been working so very much lately. He was made the supervisor of 2nd shift security at the hospital and is now doing the schedules. This in a sense is not a bad thing, although he generally gives himself the leftover days and leftover hours that no one will fill. He's been working 6 days a week for the past few weeks. I'm trying very hard to be the patient wife, and not complain. If you know me well, you know that this is a task in itself. The extra money has been great though, so I shouldn't be complaining at all really.

I filed our taxes yesterday and realized that this is really the last year we can claim Matthew. I can't believe that he is now legally an adult. In a lot of ways he is much more mature, but I still have some moments with him that I'm sure a lot of parents of teenagers today deal with. Matt is really enjoying the high school this year, and we both can't believe that he has only one more year left before graduation. Wow!!! So much to do before that happens.

Hunter is doing great in 3rd grade, and Ethan also in kindergarten. I am having so much fun teaching the both of them this year. January has been filled with lots of learning. In geography the kids are learning about Egypt (history), Germany (Beethoven--composer study), Wyoming (Stone Fox) ...a book Hunter is currently reading, Georgia and Alabama (MLK study), and Minnesota (we are currently reading On The Banks of Plum Creek). We are done with MLK, and just started Beethoven, since Hunter is interested in him because of the music he is learning in piano. Hunter is nearly done with Stone Fox, and has a few more things to learn about the Shoshone Indian tribe of Wyoming. I use a lot of living books to teach from for two main reasons. The first reason is because I really believe in Charlotte Mason's way of teaching. Secondly, because financially it makes sense for us to use this method. Any book we need is right at our fingertips in the library exchange system. Hunter and Ethan both use a curriculum set, along with all the reading they do. We use K12 for History and Science, A beka for Reading, Phonics, Spelling, English, and Art. Lastly we use Addison Wesley for math. It's a long day of learning each day, and we usually don't get done until 3:30 when the bus drops Matt off from the high school.

Why Charlotte Mason? Well, over the past 4 years that I have homeschooled, I have been reading more and more about Charlotte Mason and her methods of teaching. It's been a growing experience each year we use it. Initially I enjoyed the fact that my kids retained so much more through the use of really good living books, and through their own narrations of these books. Over the years the kids have had the opportunity to read novels or have had novels read to them that I never got the chance to experience until high school and college. Matt was my guinea pig, when we first started, and he read so many books that I only wished I had had the chance to read at his age. When he started high school in the Fall, he was so surprised that a number of books they were required to read, he had already read one to two years ago. In October his English teacher told us that Matt should become an English teacher someday because of his ability to pick up and comprehend classical literature the way he does. Let me tell you, coming from a mom who has little to no teaching experience, and latched onto Charlotte Mason on a whim, I realized that what she has written in her books rings true. The more a person surrounds themselves with great classical literature, the more they become comfortable with it. It's like learning a foreign language. Once you start using it a lot, over time and practice it becomes a second nature. As you can tell I do have an emotional attachment to Charlotte Mason. You could even call it love, if you wanted to. I am very passionate about her work.

I guess I got away from telling you all about January. I get on a tangent about something I am passionate about, and holy mackerel, watch out!

Oh, I guess I was talking about what we are doing in school. In science the kids are learning about the weather and snow... We have done some fun experiments with snow. One experiment we took 2 identical glasses the same size. Filled one up to the top with snow, and the other to the top with ice from the freezer. We recorded which took longer to melt. Then our 2nd experiment was to measure how much water was left from the melted snow, and how much water was left from the melted ice. Then we did a whole long study on that. We even tasted the water to see if there was a taste difference. We have been using thermometers a lot also in science. Recording temps day to day, weather changes, and cloud formations. In math, Hunter is working on adding and subtracting in the hundreds with regrouping, and simple multiplication and division. Ethan is still adding small numbers, and is just starting to learn to read.

Another thing I am passionate about is making school fun. I think it comes from the fun I had working in the ECE classroom. I wanted their day to to be fun! About 2 years ago, I came across a publication called the Mailbox, and one called Teacher's Helper. I have had a subscription to both for the past 2 years, and they are a big part of our library. All the supplementary material is amazing! I can honestly say that I am in-love with The Mailbox!

I am just so excited to have the opportunity to homeschool my kids. This is a great country we live in, with the freedom to be able to make decisions for our own family that we feel are best. I never have to worry about what I read my to my children, and my passion for giving my children a Christian education is never an issue. Almost every morning I do a Bible study with my kids. Right now we are actually using a Beth Moore study called 90 Days with Jesus. It takes us from his Birth through his crucifixion and resurrection. It's actually a an adult study, but I am thankful to Beth Moore for her thought provoking yet easy to understand way of writing. The kids are getting to know Jesus better, and that's the most I can ever hope for in my children, no matter what they become someday.

Our weeks are filled with piano lessons, homeschool PE at LCU, homeschool coop, 4-H (Hunter is vice president this year), and playgroup. Busy, but fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

Amy :)

A Big Ho Ho and a Merry Christmas to All!

Greetings from the Bailey house. I love this time of year. It personifies everything that I am about, all rolled up in one month. I am busily making my home ready for the holidays, each and every day during the month of December. Advent is such an important part of our lives, in so many ways. From Christ's humble beginnings on this earth to leaving this earth to again reign over the heavens and the earth at Easter tide. The story is so important, and one that so few hold dear in their hearts these days. Oh Christmas is always there for everyone and commercialized to the hilt, but the true meaning of Christmas is held dear by so few. This is what Christmas means to me:

A homemade Santa.
A boy one day, a man the next.
Non-electronic play. Constructive play.
Snow!!!!Visiting with old friends.Having old friends visit us. And new little ones.

Handmade nutcrackers out of toilet paper rolls.

Handmade venison steak that my Dad shot, and pomagranites. Grandma always sent us some every Christmas. Figs too. I guess that's why I always buy both each and every December.
Hand sewn tree skirts.
Or a super hero cape.

Craft days.
Nifty Lego Santa creations during breakfast.
Friends to exchange gently used toys with.
Two children counting down every minute until Christmas.Eating broccoli (even though you hate it) because you want to be good so Santa will come.

Warm hearty oatmeal on cold mornings, and coffee with lots of cream and sugar. Yes, I let my kids have coffee.

Snow Angels!
Creating so others in foreign countries can have food and shelter.
A fun, old fashioned game of spoons. What could be better than that?

Merry Christmas Everyone! We love you!

What We've Been Up To Lately

Hunter had his fall piano recital and did a great job!

Matt and his date Emily before the Homecoming dance at LCHS. He doubled with his friend Josh and his date.

Hunter at his piano recital with others who take lessons with Heidi.

Hunter playing his recital pieces (this is a posed photo, as no photos were aloud during the recital).

Hunter and his piano teacher Heidi. She is a very accomplished classical pianist.

STL Cardinals vs. Brewers game.

Enjoying our first MLB game.

A quick shot of Nonnie and Papa.

All the boys were very much into the game. I have to admit it was fun to watch, and I had my crochet hook and a ball of cotton yarn. I completed an entire dishcloth (start to finish) during the game.

Me and one of my boys. The one that is most like me in so many ways.

4 little pumpkins laying hanging on a vine.

The first one said, "Oh my, I'm looking fine."

The 2nd said, " I smell winter in the air."

The 3rd one said, "but we don't care."

The 4th one said, "We'll roll, and roll, and roll."

Ooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! and OUT went the light,

and the 4 little pumkins rolled out of sight.

Crockpot Applesauce! YUM! It must be Fall.

Oatsies! Double Yum! A chocoholics dream!

Our 20lbs of organic beef. Stocking our freezers for a long cold winter.

12 organic chickens and 1 20lb. organic Tom for Thanksgiving Day.

2 cuddly little kittens to brighten the long winter ahead. They are basically twin tabbys. Hunter named his Stripes, and Ethan named his Fluffy.

Last but surely not least. Close friends to spend the night, and play board games with. It truly is a wonderful Life.

Appendectomy for the little guy! So Brave!

Scrap Room Tour - Stacy Julian's Scrap by Color System

Hi and welcome to my scrap room :)
This area is part of the color organizing system that I use inspired by Stacy Julian. I use the same color bins she uses. Mine are from Walmart and I believe I paid $3.99 a piece for them. Maybe $4.99. I can't remember, but not more than that. In these bins I use the same color sorting technique she uses. I do put my color letter stickers and chipboard in my bins. I do have a jar in each bin that I use for small items, although mine are mason jars. They are labeled with the appropriate color ribbon, as well. My center bins are for storing other items such as deco scissors, punches, powder embossing items, borders, and photo mats (which are also sorted by color vertically). Above this small bookshelf (Walmart, $15.00); is a poster from Stacy's Photo Freedom book that illustrates how her photo tracking system works. Mine is still a work in progress.

Because I have more bins than shelves, I put 3 more color bins on this green plastic shelving unit. I think it was given to me, so I can't tell you how much it cost. On this shelving unit I have my 3 least used color bins, which are pink, purple, and multi-color. I have all boys, so I don't get to use these very often. Multi-color is a bin I store striped and misc. color items that I can't find a place for in the other color bins. On these shelves I store my pizza boxes, flowers (in an XL mason jar), misc. tools, pens, inks, and a bin for misc. chipboard on the bottom.

This is the bottom section of a wooden LP record stand. I actually got it for free from someone who used to own a record store. If you can find one of these, it is perfect for scrapbooking, in my humble opinion. On the bottom shelf of this record stand I store my stamps, dry embossing plates, paint, photo boxes, and misc. ribbon.

I prefer to vertically file my paper. I have a lot of paper, and it always ends up taking too long to find what I am looking for when I file horizontally. Filing vertically makes looking for just the right paper very easy. I file my paper by color. Each slot of the LP record stand is 12x12 because LP records were 12x12. So I use 1 slot per 2 colors of paper divided by a piece of chipboard in between each color. I also use the extra slots for misc. items such as page protectors, stencils, and large 12x12 chipboard pieces.

This is my photo filing system. It is not Stacy's system. I saw it in a scrapbooking magazine once, and I can't remember whose system it is. I am thinking maybe it was Heidi Swapp or Becky Higgins. Possibly Ali Edwards. Anyway, it is a bill paying file system. I purchased it from Target for $20. I have a recipe card posted on one end of the file system that tells me what is in each file slot. Each are numbered accordingly. Such as #1 is January photos, #2 is February photos. After #12 which is December, I start in with #13 Birthdays, #14 Christmas, etc...

In one section of my LP record slots I keep my scraps. I rarely throw a scrap away, unless it it too tiny to use. I a sort these by color as well, and keep them in 2 gallon size ziplock bags. Mine are acid-free as they are from CTMH paper packs that I have collected and saved over the years.

These are my pizza boxes. They are from Club Scrap. I currently have a membership with them, and so I save the boxes that the kits come in. I use these for my holiday memorabilia, simply because I don't want to see Christmas items every time I pull out my red and green bins. My color bins are mainly stored with general items that can be used for any layout or theme. I keep anything pertaining to specific holidays (including baby and birthday) in these boxes. It also makes it easy if I need to make a card for someone. I just pull out one of these pizza boxes and can make a card quite efficiently.

Lastly, this is where I store my tiny items such as buttons, brads, eyelets, jewels, charms, etc. I was given this storage system, but I've seen them in the tool dept. at discount stores. They are mainly used for storing small screws, or nuts and bolts. I sort by color in these as well. I labels each drawer with a small scrap of cardstock, and simply keep all those tiny scrapbooking items in there. I am missing 1 bin so I keep my chalks in there. On top I store misc bottled items that I don't want to spill such as crystal lacquer, staz-on cleaner, and ink spray cleaner.

Well, thanks for stopping by. I hope I helped in some capacity. I think it's important to remember that Stacy's method is a great method, but as she always says that you have to make it work for you. So if some area of her system doesn't work for you, there are other ways that might. This is my version of her system. Hope you enjoyed!!!

Now back to the festival!!!