Painting rocks...

Today is cold and dreary outside. The kids were desperate for some form of entertainment. As a side note, we try not to watch anything during the week, because I noticed that the kids have a harder time concentrating in school. Anyway, they were in need of something to entertain them.

I got an ebook about a week ago that gives some really neat "boredom buster ideas".You can check out the book here. I came across one that I thought was great, painting pet rocks. :) I know it seems simple, but my guys lOVED it! Talk about an easy and non expensive way to have fun. The laughed and sang as they painted their rocks. 

My kids have wonderful imaginations and I hope they keep them forever!!

Painting away

Maryanna's

Eryn's

Eli's

Finger paint and some Q tips

Maryanna's face

Happy Bubba

All smiles

Love her smile

Happy kids make for a happy momma!!

Snow bird VS Cat

We had an interesting thing happen today. One of our cats, Panda, loves to go outside. We usually let her out in the morning and she comes and goes during the day. I opened the bathroom window this morning and had forgotten it was open.

As I was cleaning out the hall closet, Eryn passed by me to go to the bathroom. When she gets to the bathroom door she screams! "MOMMA, PANDA HAS A BIRD!!!" Panda had jumped through the bathroom window with a snow bird in her mouth. It scared me because she was screaming at the top of her lungs.  All at once all the kids start crying and screaming. Panda gets by me with the bird and goes onto Eli's room with it. I close the door and run next door to get some backup, Marty!

Marty comes to the rescue and gets the little bird away from Panda. He wraps it up in a washrag so the kids can see it. The kids got to get an up close look at the cute little bird, but unfortunately it died when Marty went to take it back outside. So we let Panda have her spoil, outside that is! Not in my house!

The little snow bird

Once the kids realized that the bird died, the waterworks really began to flow! I felt really bad for them. We took this as an opportunity to explain that everything dies at one point. And that The Lord made the birds for us to look at and also as food for other animals.  Once they realized that Panda wasn't being mean, that she was just being a cat, they calmed down.

WHEW! What a day!

Your favortie homeschool freebie website...

As we are nearing the end of our homeschool year, I am starting to go ahead and look at next year. I have come across some neat sites that offer lots of homeschool freebies. Next year I will be teaching a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grader! This year has been a lot of fun! I do believe we are all ready for a little break though. :)

I am wanting to know what some of your favorite go-to sites are for things like~kids ebooks, worksheets, teacher helps, and anything else that is school related.

Our little class. Eryn is done with school, but she wanted in the picture anyway. :)

Sunshine!

 

After several days of clouds and snow, this is a wonderful picture! I love the sunshine. I feel like my batteries have been recharged and I can face the day. So, here I come Monday! :)

In town...

Today has been a really nice day! It was snowing pretty good this morning then slacked up. So we went into town to look around a little bit. I thought I would give you a little tour around town. 

Here we go!

Sledding before we left the house

Silly gooses

Sledge crossing

This is the main road in town

Our Canada Goose shop 

The Glacier Shop

Some of the apartments 

World of Greenland tour shop

This is my favorite shop. It's our fur shop, they make things right in the store. Very cool 

Front of the fur shop

Eryn being silly

SPAR is like a conveniant store

Our bank, at least the make shift one, they are remodeling the bank. So our bank is now in the SPAR 

Marty and his giant danish

The harbor

The people are walking in the frozen part of the bay

We watched this fisherman bait his lines

Crab legs anyone?!

Royal Greenland is one of the fish factories in town. Fishing is the main industry for Greenland

Seagulls

Some of the old boats

Taking a break from savaging the fishing boats. :) 

Halibut is huge here in Ilulissat, this is the factory. 

One of the cafes 

My Mothers Day gifts...

This year I'm blessed with some amazing gifts from The Lord for Mothers Day! You may be wondering what He gave me. 

Well, here they are...

 

That's right these guys right here are an amazing gift from the Lord!! 

I have a loving husband who loves me and makes me the queen of his castle. I have three wonderful blessings, my children. I hope all you mommies have a blessed and a happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day!!

Happy Mothers Day~Glade Mødre Dag!  

I hope all you Mommies have a great day! 

My favorite picture of my Mom and I

My Mom is a very special lady. I'm one blessed lady to have a mom who isn't just my mom, but my best friend. I know if I ever have a rough day, or just need someone to talk too, she will be there. She is one amazing Mawmaw too.

As many of you know, my brother and I were adopted by Mary and Jim O'Neill when we just little kids. I still remember the first time I met them for the first time. My Dad was in the Air Force at the time, and I thought having an “Army Man” as a Dad was great! My mom was a beautician which I thought was great too.

The one thing that I remember most about fist meeting my Mom was her smile. To a child that has been taken away from everything that was “normal” to them, a kind face is always a welcome sight. :) It didn't take me long to realize that me and this lady were going to be great friends. And I can say, that to this day, my Mom is one of my best friends!

I have so many awesome memories with my mom. Memories such as ~ The time we stopped in the middle of a thunder storm to rescue a cat. To the time we were scared out of our minds by some raccoon hunters while we were on a night walk. :) One of my favorite memories was the time I found a sick owl on the side of the road and Mom let me pick it up and take it home. We kept it in an old pickup truck overnight. The next morning it was better and I got to let it go. 

I remember coming home from work as a teenager and Mom would always wait up on me, no matter how late it was. I would come home a plop on her bed and tell her about my day, she always listened, and still does. :) I know if I have had a rough day and just need someone to talk to, I can call her.

I love my Mom and all the fun and crazy times we have had. I look forward to seeing her again next year and getting to create some more great memories!

I'm blessed

 As I sit here at the kitchen table with my hot tea, a cookie, and the sound of my children playing out in the snow, I am reminded about how blessed I really am. I have been blessed with three healthy, happy children. I have been blessed to be married to my best friend. I also have been blessed to be able to stand beside my husband as we desire to see things done for the Lord here in Greenland.  Sometimes it's easy to look at others and think that life would be so much better if you only lived the way they did.  Truth be told, they are probably looking at your life thinking the same thing!

Over the past few weeks the Lord has really been working on me about being content. I had struggled with it a lot! Thankfully the Lord hasn't given up on me, and He never will.

I think about the Bible verse in Philippians 4:11~ Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.   The thing that sticks out to me in this verse is that contentment is learned. It doesn't come naturally, at least not for me. :) 

The next time discontentment settles in your heart just think about all that The Lord has blessed you with. You may think, well, He's hasn't blessed me with anything. He allowed you another day with your family, another day to watch your children grow up, another breath. See, He has blessed us with so many wonderful things!

I'm not sure if I am making a whole lot of sense, but I just felt like I should share what was on my heart today! Have a blessed day!

Chocolate chip cookies...with a surprise!

What do you do when you are craving Oreos AND chocolate chip cookies? You combine them, of course! You can find this awesome recipe here.
I am munching on one of these bad boys right now, and they are YUMMMY!!  They are huge, but oh so good.  So hop on in your kitchen and make your family's day! :)

Just a plain jane chocolate chip cookie...or is it?!

Two cookie in one...yes please!

The end is in sight!

We have had a really good school year. It was my first year teaching all three of the kids. It was a lot of fun and easier than I thought it was going to be. Granted, we did have our rough days, but we did have more good days than bad. We aren't quiet done yet, but the end is in sight.

Eli started on his last math workbook. He is super excited. Now we just need to buckle down and get our language arts caught back up. With us moving up here to Ilulissat we got behind a little.

We are looking forward to enjoying a little summer break. I say little because once we get our books in for next year I plan on starting shortly after that. We are planning a furlough from April to October of next year, and I really want to be done with school by then. We don't want to have to do school while we are back in the States. It will be three years since we have seen our families and we want to take as much time with them as we can.

When will you be done with school?  And what have you as a teacher learned this year. I have learned that all three of my kids learn different ways. :)

Spring!?

I may have spoken too soon a few weeks back about Spring springing here in Greenland! Our weather the past couple of weeks has gone from kinda warm to cold, windy and at times snowy.

 Today the bottom dropped out and the snow has hit hard.  

Cold and snowy

Our cat LOVES going outside

At least with the snow we can take our sled to church on Sunday. 

Some of the dogs behind our house playing

Their pet snowballs. :) 

"Can I keep it?"