The Ultimate Blog 2010 After-Party

The Ultimate Blog Party 2010 is over. It was definitely fun while it lasted.

Lucky for us, 5 Minutes for Mom also hosts an after-party!

This was my first year participating and although I didn't manage to visit as many new blogs as I would have liked to, I did "make" several new blogging friends.

Here are a few of many that caught my eye and I'll be sure to keep following:

• Jo at Jo's Health Corner has some informative ideas for living naturally.(Plus, she's in Texas-yippee!)


• Katey at Crazy Homeschool Mama is just a wonderful sounding person. Her and I may have been twins separated at birth-we have a lot in common.


• Tonya at Live the Adventure is truly living the adventure. She is a mom who homeschools on the go.


• Tina at Being Made New is very inspirational and honest. And I love her title. It's what caught my eye in the first place.

The great thing is, the links stay up on the UBP 2010 post. So, anytime I want to make some more new friends, I just have to hop on over there!

Thanks to all those who came to my party and left comments. I received many new followers and subscribers and am so excited to be able to contribute to the blogging world!

Weekly Wrap Up #5

Due to the creepy-crud taking over our house this last week, my wrap-up will consist of things we did and didn't get to do. You can head over to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been up to.

First of all, we didn't get to participate in planned field trips to an aquarium, a Civil War days reenactment or a zoo trip with family. I did get to visit my doctor who prescribed some antibiotics, nasal spray and sinus medicine. Fun stuff.

I did decide to get serious about my weight loss and in just following a 7 day Biggest Loser menu from a magazine, I've lost 2 pounds since Monday. Just diet, no exercise, due to being under the weather. I've been considering starting a blog on this subject. Maybe it would keep me motivated.

I won the book Chop, Chop from an Ultimate Blog Party giveaway at Teen Lit Review. Their site reviews pre-teen and teen Christian literature.

We did flounder our way through school this week. I had to forgo any read-alouds, though, due to major coughing fits.

We had fun reading about Lewis Carroll, and his poem Jabberwocky.

For our artist study, we chose Mary Cassatt. We read a short bio about her and the kids watched a nice slide show of her paintings set to music. Our painting for this week was entitled "The Bath."

I found some coloring pages which depicted some of her paintings, so the kids worked on those also. Lulu's was done quite well.

Lulu has a very artistic spirit. She worked on her 4-h quilt this week, stuffing it with batting, and will start quilting it after her next meeting. I'll post pics when it's complete. She also pulled out her watercolors and tried some free hand painting.


Conman learned about the water cycle this week. We read The Cloud Book, The Water Cycle and A Rainy Day. These were not recommended in 106 Days of Creation, we just picked them up at the library. I had ordered some Moody science videos to supplement his science and he and his brother seemed to enjoy the one they watched this week-Water, Water Everywhere.

We did not get into our hymn or composer study. There's always next week.

Have a great weekend!

The Blog Party is Here!!!!

Ok, it's here! The Ultimate Blog Party 2010 over at 5 Minutes for Mom!

This is my first year participating and I am sooo excited to get to blog-hop over to the other party-goers blogs and check them out. What a neat way to get to know more of the blogging community. And there are some really wonderful bloggers out there to get to know!

Allow me to introduce myself.

I'm Shannon, 37 (yes, I'll admit my age online), a Christian, homeschooling mom of three, from California. Laina (Lulu) is 13 and in 7th grade, Blake (Blakester) is 9 and in 4th grade, and Connor (Conman) is 7 and in 2nd grade. The other little girl in the pic is my 7 yr old niece Delaney who gets to hang out with us on her school breaks.

We are in our 3rd year of homeschooling and very glad we made the decision to do so. I use an eclectic, Charlotte Mason approach to teaching the kiddos. We really enjoy field trips and nature walks.

I've been married to my wonderful husband, Robert for almost 18 years. If you ask him what his role in our homeschool is, he will tell you, "I stay out of her way."

When I have free time, that is, not planning schoolwork, I absolutely love to read. I usually have about 3 or 4 books going at one time. A fiction novel, something biblical, something schoolish and something parenting or marriage related. I also enjoy reading aloud to the kids. My opinion is you can never read enough.

I scrapbook, and I am currently working on an album of our visits to Texas, where we also have a home. We are planning on making our move there this summer.

I don't watch a lot of t.v., but when I do, my favorites are The Biggest Loser, Hoarders, CSI and Supernanny.

Country and Christian music are my tunes of choice. Kenny Chesney and Chris Tomlin are my favorite artists. I like attending concerts and inspirational/motivational presentations, such as Women of Faith.

I tend to cook a lot of our food from scratch, as we try to follow the Feingold diet for Conman.

Disneyland is my favorite place to visit with my family. I'm not a big fan of leisure shopping, I enjoy White Chocolate Peppermint mocha's from Starbucks, and I have a huge sweet tooth.

All around, I'm an organizing, budgeting, blog-addicted, mom and wife, who follows the principles of Dave Ramsey and Flylady, who loves Christ and her family, and who does her best to make it through each day in this never dull household, usually by grace!

I hope you'll leave a comment and introduce yourself. I'd love to hear from you.

The Ultimate Blog Party 2010 is Coming....

Just another quick note.

On my right sidebar I've placed a button that links to the 5 Minutes for Mom post that details the Ultimate Blog Party 2010. This will be my first time partying with them and it sounds like a lot of fun!

Don't wait-hop on over to her blog and find out how you can join us at the party. Posting starts on April 9.