Changed By Love

Monet’s Bridge Over Water Lilies Craft

Nov.8,2011

I found this idea on Valerie’s blog at The Crafty Classroom. It looked so neat that I had to try it. Fiona loves to paint and do all kinds of crafty things, so I asked her to do it with me.

Valerie shows you how to do it here:

http://www.thecraftyclassroom.com/CraftArtistMonet.html

Here’s how Fiona and I did it.

We looked at this picture of Monet’s Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies.

I put the masking tape on our papers. That was not really very easy. I had to cut the masking tape in half because it was too wide. Then I had to make the shape of the bridge.

Then we chose our paint colors and put them on paper plates so we could blend them. We used tempera paint instead of finger paint because that’s what we have. We used card stock like Valerie suggests.

Fiona said this was the best school time she ever had because it was just me and her. She loved it!

We just dabbed the paint on with our fingers. Fiona seemed a little hesitant to stick her fingers in the paint. Is this really allowed?

Mine looked like this while the tape was still on. We had to wait for the paint to dry before we took the tape off.

This is how Fiona’s looked with the tape still on.

When it dried, I took the tape off and voila! Beautiful bridge over water lilies!

I took the tape off of Fiona’s, too. It was hard to do. It took some of the paper off, too, even though we used card stock. But it still looked nice, I thought.

We hung them on the wall. I might get some cheap frames to put them in. I really like them. I’ve loved Monet’s water lilies for years, and I’m happy to finally do art work similar (in a very loose way) to his.

I’m going to get Linnea in Monet’s Garden at the library and have the younger children watch the video and read the book.

The book is written like a scrapbook that shows a trip that Linnea and her elderly friend, Mr. Bloom, take to visit Monet’s house and garden. They see the water lilies and the Japanese bridge that Monet painted many times in his lifetime. Some art history is included in the story, too. This book is a favorite of many who love Monet’s paintings. I enjoyed it when I read it to my older kids years ago.

You can find them at Amazon.

Linnea in Monet’s Garden

Linnea in Monet’s Garden DVD

AnnaMargaret, My Daughter, Singing “Joyfully” by Kari Jobe

Nov.5,2011

To God be all the glory!

Snow!!! And a Mario Party Homeschool Review

Oct.31,2011

Saturday, October 30th, we had a snowfall of about 6 inches. What a surprise when we looked out the window that morning.

Here is our holly bush covered with snow.

This is William. Anna built him and lost him in one day.

You can tell these are Douglas snowmen by their blue eyes. 😛

We did our annual candy event that we’ve called by various names. Last year we called it Freedom of Religion Day. This year we called it Candy and Homeschool Review Day with a Mario Party theme. And we all dressed up in our Mario T-shirts (the ones who had them)! So it’s a hodgepodge, thrown-together kind of occasion. But it was fun! And we reviewed lots of stuff we’ve been learning since last Oct. 30 or thereabouts.

Every year around Oct. 31st, we do a review of what we’ve learned in our homeschool, and the kids get the opportunity to earn their big bag of candy instead of begging for it.

This year, I let the little kids go first. Anna worked with Abby, and Morgan worked with Emma, asking them to identify shapes, colors, numbers, etc.

I asked the twins questions like a few addition and subtraction problems, counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s, all about the life cycle of butterflies, atmosphere, leaves changing colors, dolphins, ocean, nutrition, favorite Bible story and person, overview of Jesus’ life, other Bible people like Noah and Moses, and for Geography they had to locate where we live on the map of the USA and the world map.

They were allowed to take a piece of candy every time they answered a question correctly or talked about what they knew about a topic.

For the older kids I asked them multiplication facts, states and capitals, questions about the Bible like “what have you been reading lately”, “Who’s your favorite person in the Bible”, “What’s your favorite Bible story”, favorite Bible verse.

Then we covered Science by having each one narrate what they’ve been learning in Science.

Then we covered a lot of History.

Medieval History – Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lion Heart, Archbishop of Canterbury – Thomas Becket.

Jamestown – Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, John Rolfe, Powhatan

Thanksgiving – Chief Massasoit, Pilgrim leaders, Governor Bradford, Brewster (spiritual leader).

American Revolutionary War – major events of the war, George Washington, the founding fathers and mothers (Abigail Adams), important dates.

Civil War – major generals, battles, Gettysburg (of course), weapons, the Revival – the Third Great Awakening that happened right around that time and Finney’s revivals.

Then Shawn gave us a summary of Dante’s life.

Everybody got candy when they answered questions. They didn’t get as much as kids get when they go begging, but how much candy do kids really need? Ha! Besides, we have leftover candy they can get when their bags are empty!

We then went to the computer and watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and ate popcorn, then some of us listened to the first half of the Adventures in Odyssey series “The Green Ring Conspiracy”.

And now for the ultimate irony:

This is what we did the day before the big snowfall!

An agility course wearing light jackets and sweat shirts!

Changed By Love and Still Changing

Oct.26,2011

York, Pennsylvania 2011

Katy, Texas 2012

Mary Jo Peckham Park

Katy, TX 2013 Mary Jo Peckham Park

Katy, TX Honey Farm, 2014

Katy, TX Honey Farm, 2015

Katy, TX – MKT Railroad Park Caboose and Depot, 2017

Katy, TX – Heritage Park, 2020

Hi, I’m Penney Douglas. I have been married to my precious husband for 36 years. We have been exceedingly and abundantly blessed with 10 children. They all belong to me and my husband. And to think that I was afraid I would never get married! I got a late start (married at 25 and first child at 27), but I guess late bloomers can blossom profusely once they get started.

I blog for several reasons. I like to keep a record of what we’re doing in our homeschooling and share ideas for other homeschoolers or moms who like to work and play with their kids. I try to encourage families to keep Christ first in their homes so they can be all that they were made to be. I want to help others to draw closer to God. I hope to glorify God and give Him praise for all that He does for us.

I am constantly learning, changing and growing. Sometimes I feel like a beginner even though I’ve been a Christian since I was 4 years old and I’ve been homeschooling for about 27 years. And I’ve been living for __ years (long enough!).

But the Lord has been faithful to keep me and my family on an upward climb drawing nearer to Him in spite of our weaknesses and mistakes.

He has led us on a crooked path across the United States and back and then some. (From Ohio to Kansas City to Arizona to Colorado, back to Kansas City to Illinois to Pennsylvania and now to Texas!) We are still looking for that place to call home. We hope to find it before the oldest chicks are ready to fly from the nest! But our desire is that they land somewhere near us even when that time comes.

We are believing God for miracles of provision. We have already seen many. We suffered the loss of our home 19 years ago. Now we live in a different state, and my husband is making more money than ever before. But the money is beside the point. What God did in each of our hearts, convincing us of His reality and His love for us, is worth more than all of the houses or money in the world. But now He has enabled us to help others in need, and we are grateful for the opportunity to bless others.

Our children are truly gifts from God. They learn from us and teach us so much. I would never have known even a fraction of how much God loves me if I had never had the opportunity to be a mother to my precious children. They are teaching me even more as they grow in wisdom and understanding and we share together what the Lord is teaching us.

Family was God’s idea. Marriage was His idea. God has good ideas. His ideas work.

He wants our families to be training grounds for children (and adults) to learn His ways and right ways of relating to God and to people. We learn how to die to ourselves when others are dependent on us, and when we have to learn to get along with the people around us in order to experience peace and harmony. The rough edges are rubbed off as we care enough to be honest with each other and humble ourselves to receive correction even from those younger than ourselves.

God created us because He wanted a family. That’s more than a trite saying. He created us in His image so that He could have sons and daughters that would look like Him, act like Him and love Him. He wanted to be a father.

He created you so He could love you. Receive His love for you. Let Him be your Daddy.

The Gift of Being Together

Oct.24,2011

Gary got to come home for his birthday. We were so glad to see him again after a month of his being gone working in South Carolina.

Abby was happy to see her daddy.

The boys were glad to see their dad.

Anna even let him play her guitar.

Nine candles on his cake. Each candle represented 5 years.

Tee hee!

We enjoyed cake and candles after Gary took us all to Cici’s Pizza, where he was embarrassed by the manager, who told everybody in the place that Gary was celebrating his 45th birthday that night. After the pizza, Daddy took the littles to Dollar Tree and bought them treats. Whose birthday is it?