Valentine's Day

 

I try to make every holiday a special memory for my girls. We don't have a large holiday budget so I try to be creative and do what I can with what I have. A little extra thought and time can make all the difference. There are so many ideas online and in magazines!!

 

 

A special surprise Valentine's Day breakfast is always very exciting!

 

 

 

We made cute valentine boxes out of a cereal box, a donut box, a chip can, and a trash bag box for our Valentine's Day party with our homeschool group. I let the girls pick what they wanted but I did most of the work. Now that the babies are getting a little bigger, every now and then we're finding more time for being creative and crafting.

 

 

 

 

Our party was at Circus World! They bowled, bungee jumped, played laser tag, ate pizza, and exchanged valentines :)

 

 

 

 Happy Late Valentine's Day!!

 

 

Looking Ahead

When you're young and you have small children, it seems like everyone is always reminding you to savor each precious moment with your little ones. They tell you stories about their babies and how quickly they grew up. They miss their little ones and long for the good old days. Maybe they're lonely now that their house is quiet or maybe they feel regrets for not treasuring them as much as they should have or maybe they just enjoyed that time in their life so much that they wish it would have lasted longer.

 

I'm sure one day I'll be sharing the same words of wisdom with the young mothers I meet. But today I look ahead with joy. I feel like I DO enjoy every moment I can with my littles. I love them, treasure them, and give them my all everyday of my life. I love it. I wouldn't change a thing. I wouldn't rush forward until they were grown. I love them little. But I do look forward to the next seasons in my life. I hope to enjoy each stage that this life has to offer. The stage of being trapped at home with babies. The stage of running around town with littles and bigs. The stage of weddings and grand babies. And most of all the stage of me and my Love being together without constant distraction. A time to nurture each other. It's so hard to find time for us when we're swarmed with so many needs from the littles. Babies are needy and we have two of them. They suck the life right out of me and repeat it the next day. I feel almost broken sometimes. Like it's not possible to get enough sleep, nutrition, or exercise to fix myself. The days are long, the house is trashed, the kids are wild, the husband is neglected.
 

 

So today I gain my strength from looking ahead to the lazy quiet days of a different season and I find comfort in knowing that God planned it to be this way. He created man and the seasons of man.



 

Nashville Zoo Day

Have you ever looked at your kids and said to yourself "we've got to get out of the house"? If you have kids, then you probably have.

 

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine (NT) invited us to the zoo. I've never really done a field trip that far away (not really that far) with all four kids and without the help of my husband. But when I looked at my kids that day, I said it! "We've got to get out of here", so we did. And I'm so glad we did! It was fun. The kids were happy. I was happy. It was a good day.

 

 

Victoria loved the flamingos!

 

Mary loved the friends and mapping out every minute of our trip.

 

 

 

We had so much fun, we'll be watching Groupon for a discount membership :)

This Week... No Make That Last Week



 

Monday was a long boring but still exhausting day. We had plenty of things to get done but we were all lacking the motivation to do them. It's been so unusually cold and gloomy around her lately. The kids are WILD and the house is trashed. School is getting done but it just seems to be adding to the stress. The babies have most definitely increased their crying and fit throwing times to at least double. We all desperately need to get out. But when you start your day by hanging up yours and your husbands pool towels that you had to use after your showers, you know it's a stay home and do laundry kind of day.

 

 

When I say it's been cold, I mean it! The trees were covered in beautiful ice when I went to let the chickens out. And right before I took these pictures I almost broke my neck slipping on that beautiful ice.

 

 

I still love winter! Even though I'm losing my mind :)

 

Saturday we got 4 new little hens. This will be there first laying season so we're excited to have some dependable layers around. I'm hoping maybe they'll encourage the older ladies to lay more.

 

Unfortunately the old ladies were not very kind to the new little girls :(

So we locked the new girls in the coop to eat and drink and avoid getting pecked by the mean old ladies. As you can see, they are not happy about being locked out. Haha.

 

 

 

Tuesday was no better. It was cold, long, and boring. We started plans for science & social studies projects. I worked on some lists and made some bread and granola bars (it was kitchen day).

 

 

By evening, I was done! Done with kids and cleaning. Done with school and crying. When I say done, I don't mean that I had completed anything. I mean the kind of done when you can't take it anymore. I couldn't wait to get into bed and just be still. When the time came, it was lovely. Peace.

 

 

 

 

 

January Book Club Meeting

We decided to let Mary join a book club for girls (even though she can't really read the big girl books yet) and this month was her first meeting. January's book was The BFG by Roald Dahl.

 

 

Truthfully, we didn't even finish the book before the meeting. We were sick and reading aloud was the last thing I felt like doing. But we made it to the meeting, which was an accomplishment in itself. We'll finish the book this week.

 

Mary had so much fun at the meeting. So did my other girls.

 

They made giant ears, just like the BFG.

 

 

Then they made frobscottle (lime sherbet, ginger ale, whipped cream, and pop rocks) and soon after that they were whizpopping (with whoopee cushions), after that they drew dreams in their dream jars.

 

 

 

So glad we decided to join!

American Symbols Unit Study

 

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is working together on unit studies. If my big girls were closer in age we would do tons of these every year. But Taylor (13) is usually busy with her studies, so Mary (6) is the lucky one who gets to do the fun stuff :)

 

We spent October working on an American Symbols unit study. It was so much fun, I wanted to share. We used her Abeka social studies book as a guide but added art projects, read books and watched movies on America. I felt there were a few things missing from the lessons in the book so I just found my own resources for those things. 

 

 

Mary had fun and learned a ton about our country! I could blog all day about it but I just don't have the time.

 

So here are some pictures of her work. If you haven't done a unit study before, I strongly encourage you to try it. You can add in every subject and spend a week doing only that or like we did, you can do a little every day along with your normal work.

 

Our study consisted of some simple knowledge about:

 

The American Flag

The Declaration of Independence

The Constitution

The Bill of Rights

The Great Seal

The American Eagle

The Liberty Bell

Uncle Sam

The Statue of Liberty

American Coins

The White House

The 4th of July

  

 

American Symbols folder and Mary's bald eagle helping her with her studies.

Learning about eagles was definitely her favorite part.

 

Victoria (1) painted her own Statue of Liberty.

Mary working on her masterpiece of the Statue of Liberty.

Our art wall during the study.

Mary's sketch of our Freedoms of Worship and Speech.

The Liberty Bell

 

American Symbols mini book pages.

Printable cards she used to help fill in the blanks of the mini book.

Printable information and work sheets I found online.

Learning about coins.



This is a page out of her Abeka social studies book.

 

 There are so many awesome resources for unit studies. You could do one on literally anything you can think of.

 

Happy Tuesday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Meal Planning Tips

I must say, I did exceptionally well with my October menu. I stuck to it (pretty much) and I'm happy to say that I should come out a little under last months food costs. I have learned a few things over the last three weeks so I'd like to share.

 



• Plan fresh food meals (like salad) for nights right after town day. My town day is Thursday, so my fruits and veggies are freshest over the weekend. I planned a fried chicken salad for Wednesday night and my lettuce was almost nasty by then.
• Keep in mind seasonal items. This month we did a bulk buy of apples and none, that's right, none of my meals included apples in October.
• Be sure you don't plan similar items in the same week or close to each other. I planned loaded baked potato night way too close to potato soup, and it's practically the same thing. I ended up taking the potatoes to church and skipped the chicken ball that was planned.
• Plan meals with rolls for days you make bread so they'll be warm, fresh, and soft and meals like grilled sandwiches for days when your bread may not be as fresh.
• Don't forget company, desserts, potlucks, holidays, and parties!
• Always have a freezer meal ready for those unexpected, crazy nights. I fixed double lasagnas and froze one. It really came in handy one night this week.
• Plan easy meals on nights with church or sports or you'll bomb out and go for pizza or fast food. You will. I promise.
• Football days must have special man food. Plan something tasty and fun for football games like hot wings, dips, and finger foods.
• Try something new but not too many things or you'll get overwhelmed.
• And lastly, keep your budget in mind. Mix cheap and easy with a few fun or new things and maybe even a special treat night, like steaks, to keep thing interesting.

 

 

 

 

Now go plan those meals!