learning and living family style

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-21T23:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2008

Thank you for viewing our Christmas "card" for 2008!

Don't miss the outtakes.

Santa & A Christmas celebration

2008-12-21T23:16:00.000-08:00

We visited with Santa at the annual Santa Breakfast.

William had lots to say to Santa. He asked for a vacuum and a lucky dog.

Zachary thought Santa was terrific. He also asked for a lucky dog.

With cousins after getting goodie bags from Santa.

We also celebrated the season with the animals at the zoo.

Reading about the Ravens

Waiting with Daddy to see the bears come out and get their Christmas gifts.

Cutie patootie

Phew.

2008-12-10T13:43:00.000-08:00

3.5 months of neglected blogging caught up! In the coming weeks we will have breakfast with Santa, go to a few homeschool park days, play at a homeschool Christmas party, attend a Christmas party for the zoo animals, go to the Crocker art museum, celebrate Papa's birthday, go to Grandma Woohoo & Papa's for Christmas Eve, be visited by Santa, celebrate Zachary's 6th birthday and get ready to welcome 2009. Many more updates to come!

Video games and Reading?

2008-12-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

I have to admit I am not a video game player. Nor am I am fan of video games being played in our home. BUT my husband loves video games and I love him so I tolerate it. Now our sons love video games too. We are very selective about what they are exposed to and they are only allowed to play Xbox360 or the NintendoDS on the weekends and for a limited time. I am usually involved in some other task while they play but this past weekend they asked me to play with them. Zachary and I played Beautiful Katamari.

Beautiful Katamari is a very strange game that includes a talking head with captions. I was amazed as Zachary read almost every word of the captions to me. In the span of a 10 minute game he read all of the following aloud:
ordinary
present
princedom
barely
worth
better
adding
explore
remember
yummy
should
orbit
alligator
earth
everything
delish
maybe
playful
satellite
shame

Satellite was the only word on the list that he needed help with and after seeing it a couple of times he recalled it when he saw it again. Ok, so maybe some learning or at least a demonstration of learning can happen with a video game.

Button snowmen

2008-12-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

The boys created their own ideas of snowmen. I ordered a big bucket of buttons through Discount School Supply and the boys love to dig in and sort them, spill them (and then they need encouragement to clean them up) and use them for crafts. I have a very special jar of buttons that were formally the button box my mom had throughout my childhood. Lots of different beautiful buttons that I spent hours sorting and digging through. Those buttons are now just for show - not to be glued on a construction paper snowman so I love the boys having their own box of buttons to explore with.

Zachary's snowman is on the left with a carrot nose. William went button crazy!

November

2008-12-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

We have been working on sorting, counting by twos, measurement and calendar skills.

William continues to work hard on his large motor skills. He is a champ at climbing, jumping (and freaking me out). At My Gym he kept climbing to the top of this ladder and jumping straight down!

He is also working on learning how to pump his legs on the swing.

It is amazing how different our boys are. Zachary has no interest in swings - occasionally he will swing on his belly but he doesn't want to sit on a swing at all but at almost 4 he was identifying letter sounds and William doesn't show much interest in letters at all. They are an excellent reminder to me of one of the many reasons why we homeschool. These beautiful, brilliant boys can learn at their own pace, their own style and learn about things that interest them. In a kindergarten classroom Zachary would be far beyond his peers with his reading skills but he does not do much paper/pencil math. In a preschool classroom William would be a mess if someone made him sit and do a penmanship worksheet but he can out climb kids a foot taller and a couple years older than he is. They are unique and amazing and we are so blessed to be able to encourage them to be who they are instead of fitting in to a standards based public classroom mold.

A pirate-princess-sushi birthday party!

Zachary practiced his reading skills with karaoke.

Zachary had his first dance with a girl he is not related to.

Carl took the whole week of Thanksgiving off and we had a lot of great family time.

At the park

I'm a little teapot.

Sweet boy.

Making wood chip cakes for sale.

Thanksgiving at Grandma and Papa's house.

We made turkey hand print place cards.

Great grandma gave the boys games. We love both of them. - How Tall Am I & Zingo

Grandma Woohoo continues the Thanksgiving tradition of warm fuzzy Christmas jammies after dinner. The Christmas season begins!

We spent the Saturday after Thanksgiving with Grandma Woohoo, Great Grandma McCrystal and Papa. The boys stayed and had tea parties and played Go Fish with the grandmas while Carl and I went to a movie. When we returned we all had dinner together and then spent hours visiting. We stayed until after 10pm! The boys rarely ever stay up that late but we were all enjoying each other's company so much we didn't want the night to end.

The boys reading together. Zachary has taken to shadow reading with William. He will read a sentence and then have William repeat it back. It is pretty darn cute.

October was busy... it continues...

2008-12-10T11:36:00.001-08:00

Our annual trip to Zittel's for pumpkins. Our family rule is you can pick any pumpkin you can lift in to your wagon, pull around the grounds and then get in and out of the car. If it is too heavy it is not the right pumpkin for you.

Zachary aimed big this year.

William's pumpkin was a good size... his attitude was huge though.

At the park.

Head over heals

A few hours later.

Zachary finally got his wish of a "daddy haircut". Yikes. William has been told he has to wait until he is almost 6 to even discuss it. I did trim William's hair a bit. Zachary wasn't too sure of the haircut and he wants it to grow long again.

Zip lining at our homeschool group Halloween party

My pumpkins and their pumpkins.

We took pumpkin roll ups for lunch for our Halloween party potluck and William wanted them for lunch again the next day (on Halloween).

October continues...

2008-12-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

We had a great field trip to Jack London Square/the Port of Oakland. We rode Amtrak to Jack London Square. The 2 hour train ride was great. Our homeschool group had the entire top floor of one train car. The kids had room to roam and play and there were plenty of sights to see as we traveled.

William was THRILLED to be on a big train.

Having friends to play with made the trip fly by.

The boat was really, really crowded. We were not quite at the end of the line in this picture. The covered dock was solid people and it wrapped around a corner until it got to us... it was actually sort of miserably over-crowded. I guess that is what you get for free!

William and his friend Ella at the waterside waiting for the boat.

We couldn't hear most/any of the tour guide information as we toured the Port of Oakland but the kids enjoyed looking out the window at the container ships and giant cranes at work.

Part of our group when we arrived back in Sacramento after a long day.

A day in Davis.

First we visited the Davis History Museum.

Then the Davis Farmers Market's harvest festival.

Petting piglets

Watching cockroach races!

Our annual trick-or-treating on Historic Sutter Street.

Our little rock star - complete with attitude.

The Magic School Bus.

We managed to spend just $7 on both costumes combined - a can of yellow spray paint and iron-on transfer papers! A great reduce-reuse-recycle Halloween!

Bowling videos

2008-12-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

Check out William's dance moves.

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Zachary is a pretty good bowler - especially with the rails!

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The boys insisted that Daddy's bowling video be showcased too.

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October

2008-12-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

We started the month out, like we always do, with Carl's birthday. I love the last quarter of the year when we are finally the same age!

Carl took his birthday off and we went bowling! The boys first bowling experience. They loved it but the people around us did NOT love them loving it. They had a really hard time grasping the concept of staying in our space. Thankfully the alley was pretty empty and the boys did not get hit with any balls. They were really hilarious when bowling - I will try to get some video uploaded too.

We also celebrated Carl's birthday with a Rock Band party at my parents' house. We now add Rock Band and karaoke on Zachary's learning record as reading practice! He reads lyrics and really rocks! Both kids work on rhythm and color recognition when they play the guitar and drums too :)

Our garden gave us our first taste of our labors. Two tiny radishes! The boys tried to give it a thumbs up but they weren't so impressed with the bitter little veggies. They much preferred the radishes a month or so later.

Our good friends Lincoln and Reagan hatched ducklings and we had the opportunity to meet the new ducklings.

Lincoln and Reagan always show the boys their great computer games.

We go to weekly library storytime but once a month the library has a special storytime. The zoo sanctuary next to the library brings over an animal. The books are all about that animal and the docents talk about the animal and introduce him to the kids. October was owl storytime. The owl performed well, to the children's delight he pooped while out of his cage!

We celebrated our friend Charlotte's birthday with a baby doll party. She had a small party and wanted "her people" there including "Zachaby and Willam". The birthday girl's grandma made these great baby doll slings as well as a doll sized cloth diaper, blanket and pillow! Such a fun birthday favor!

More October coming up next...

September

2008-12-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

Lots of walks. The stroller stays at home now and the boys can walk over a mile before whining. The boys got new backpacks and loved them! It is really hard to find little kid sized backpacks that aren't plastered with characters so we gave in and let them get their beloved Thomas and Cars.

We spent a lot of time outside - a favorite outside activity is Moonsand.

We continued to work on our garden.

Our homeschool group had a bike day. We parked our vans and SUVs to block off the entrance to a sports field parking lot that isn't used during the day and the kids biked around and around.

We went on a field trip to Petco. The idea of the field trip was good but the store employee conducting the trip struggled to keep our gang engaged. At one point he was talking about some frogs or snakes in an aquarium and how it was their house. Zachary interrupted and said "it is their HABITAT". Rude little smartie pants.

Catching Up!

2008-12-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

I have slacked on keeping our blog updated. I know all the grandmas love keeping an eye on what we are up to via the blog so I am back to it! Here comes update overload!

Garden Update

2008-09-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

We have seedlings!

We have 3 of our 4 broccoli seedlings - we suspect the dog stepped on the 4th. He has been in big trouble for standing in the raised beds.

French breakfast radishes

Spinach

Our green onion test worked! These are the green onions purchased at the farmer's market with roots still attached. We stuck them in the dirt, trimed them down and they are growing!

Not pictured - a celery seedling. We are still waiting for our carrot and chard seedlings.

And the best seedlings of all

Something strange in the neighborhood...

2008-09-06T16:58:00.001-07:00

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Unexpected learning

2008-09-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

In general numbers are not of great interest to Zachary at this point, until NASCAR. He will work out numbers so he can read the numbers on the cars. I guess I can tolerate some short bursts of NASCAR on our TV if he is working out the difference between 34 and 43.

Today we baked bread and buns. While measuring out the flour Zachary dropped the 1 cup measuring cup in to the yeast slurry which gave us the opportunity to discuss how many half cups equal 1 cup. A bit of fractions, multiplication and some extra dishes to wash. The fruits of our labor were delicious topped will grilled burgers and a side of roasted beets fresh from the Farmer's Market.

Our buns:

Our square foot garden is planted

2008-09-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

The box being sanded.

Mixing together the soil.

Planted, watered and waiting.

We have big pockets!

2008-08-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

The boys found an old folded up pocket chart and a pocket chart fairy tale set and asked to put them up today. We had fun putting the story in order and making a little video to share (see videos below).

Zachary has been writing a lot of "letters" lately. A lot of proclamations of his love for his family. Yesterday this letter was delivered to me.

"I love you KC. You love" and then lines and periods to include 3 things/people I love.

Our books about China and the Olympics have been returned to the library but we are still enjoying the boys' Olympic ring flags on the wall.

We have checked out books about gardening and oceans. In October we will be going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium so we are reading up on all sorts of sea life.

There Was an Old Woman

2008-08-28T13:37:00.001-07:00

They obviously enjoyed this activity! Crazy boys.

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Humpty Dumpty

2008-08-28T13:34:00.001-07:00

Zachary reads about Humpty Dumpty while William points to the pictures illustrating each part of the story. We started out with all of the pieces on the floor and they worked together to get them in the correct sequence.

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Keeping busy

2008-08-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

When people ask what we have been up to I always stumble for an answer. We are just doing life. Playing, visiting, finding new things to explore and learn about. Here are a few things we did in the past week (not necessarily in order and definitely not exhaustive of our whole week).

We started work on our Square Foot Garden. The boys made plans for what they would like to plant.

(note: the drawings on the top paper are Zachary's - then he asked me to label them, William drew one giant tomato plant that took up all 16 of his boxes. Carl drew pictures of veggies too but I bet he would appreciate me not posting them on the internet :) ). We started building our raised beds but had some technical difficulties. We will continue with our revised building plan this coming weekend.

I found a great site that has local gardening tips including a year round planting calendar. We are considering starting with a planting of bok choy, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, green onions, spinach and strawberries. In the spring we will definitely plant zucchini and tomatoes - 2 family favorites.

The boys love to help clean up after Carl mows the lawn.

Zachary wanted to make sure everyone knows our house is a homeschool - you are supposed to read it as you walk up the walkway, like driving up to a stop sign.

Zachary's love affair with all things red, race cars and Cars persists. This was his dress up outfit this week. (The socks on his hands are Cars socks).

Sunday was the boys' friend, Andrew's 6th birthday party. They had a great time riding this little train over and over. It was a hit!

Last week we had our regular park day at a water park.

I had our small point and shoot camera with us. William wanted to take some pictures with the screen flipped out so he could see himself (and me).

Carl took a vacation day and we went to the State Fair on a discount day. It was fun but we were hot and exhausted by the day's end.

We sat in the sun waiting for a much anticipated show of "horses dancing to Star Wars music" - I mean who wouldn't love that? It was so strange. #1 there was no Star Wars music and #2 the horses just walked in circles.

(notice how unimpressed they all look?)

Much more fun was visiting the farm area & petting zoo:

This picture cracks me up - makes me think of American Gothic.

This morning we made sidewalk paint out of cornstarch, water and food coloring. It was great fun. I brought out paint brushes but we found it was much more fun to paint with our hands and feet.

My new favorite quote

2008-08-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

"Learning can only happen when a child is interested. If he's not interested, it's like throwing marshmallows at his head and calling it eating." ~ Barbara Lansing

From Throwing Marshmallows.

Up and coming...

2008-08-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

Letterboxing: We discussed trying letterboxing a year or two ago but the boys just weren't old enough. Now we are thinking we can ease in to this fun family activity with finding some simple letterboxes in our area.
Letterboxing, at its basic, is a like a treasure hunt type game. Small boxes are hidden in various locations—usually outdoors, though many are planted indoors as well—and the creator of the box will release clues so others can go out and find them later. The box is expected to have a logbook that finders can log into and a unique stamp, usually hand-carved, that the finder can stamp into their own personal logbook as a record of all the letterboxes they've found. Most letterboxers have a unique stamp to represent themselves, called a signature stamp, they stamp into the logbooks found inside letterboxes so others who find the letterbox later know they found it.

Book Arts Bash
Zachary loves making books and we may do this just for the fun of it.
The purpose of the Book Arts Bash is to have fun writing and illustrating books, and to help students and teachers reach across the curriculum to include writing and art in other areas of study. Any homeschooled student or homeschooling parent can enter. Prizes include the usual stuff you can hold in your hand plus invaluable critiques from people in the writing and illustrating biz.

Books we (as parents) are reading or waiting to get from the library:
Homeschooling Our Children Unschooling Ourselves by Alison McKee
Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling by John Holt and Pat Farenga
How Children Learn (Classics in Child Development) by John Holt
Learning All The Time by John Holt

Zachary is really in to Boy's Quest magazine - we bought a box of back issues on eBay and he thinks they are just spectacular! If anyone finds back issues we would love for you to pick them up. A new subscription is very pricey but he doesn't mind the back issues so we will keep collecting.

HSC Conference

2008-08-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we attended our first HSC conference. A whole weekend with 100s and 100s of other homeschoolers. It was amazing! We are all exhausted and overwhelmed but thrilled to have had the experience. Our hotel reservations are made for next year and we are just waiting for the discount conference tickets to go on sale.

My parents drove back and forth each day to spend a few hours with us, go to sessions with the kids, help us out with childcare and bring us food. They were an amazing help. (THANKS, MOM & DAD!)

The boys started out the conference a little soggy - in the water play zone. They had a great time!

Zachary wanted to take official kindergarten pictures wearing his backpack.

Zachary and Carl went to a session called Cupcake Geology - a huge hit!

The art deck was very popular with our kids - all sorts of art supplies and time and space to try them out. We have a beautiful collection of art work on our gallery wall now.

The Construction Zone had blocks of every sort, Knex, wooden trains and model trains, Legos, giant cardboard boxes and lots of small building bits. We spent a lot of time in the Construction Zone.

There were all sorts of kids activities. The boys did finger painting, magic scratcher ornaments, Sharpie tie dye, clay models, hands on science and much more.

We spent hours at the science deck. So many interesting things to explore, touch, manipulate and check out.

Exhaustion sets in:

As Sunday wrapped up wind tubes turned in to Balloon Swords:

We stopped to say goodbye to the giant koi fish and then it was time to head home.

Summer Wrap Up

2008-08-14T00:07:00.000-07:00

It is mid-August and time for a Summer Wrap Up? While summer is technically not over tomorrow starts our school year and Zachary's first official day as a kindergartener!

So a quick re-cap of our busy summer:

We started the summer off with a beautiful event... the marriage of Uncle Corey to Aunt Heather:

We spent a great weekend with out of town family and we were sad to see them go:

Learning never stops, in June we went to the Davis Explorit! Science Center for a safari and lab. We hunted for bugs and checked out the jackrabbits in a nature preserve. Checked out compost and explored their variety of hands on activities.

Checking out the bugs we caught:

Recording his findings:

The 4th of July was celebrated at Grandma & Papa's house with Corey & family.

We watched the parade - the firetrucks are always a favorite.

Nothing quite like a 4th of July tea party:

Just like the rest of the year, a lot of our summer was spent at the park.

Our favorite time of day - bedtime stories

And shortly after those stories

We have yet to brave overnight camping with the boys but we had a great time at our "day camp" at Sly Park. It was an authentic camping day with hot dogs cooked on sticks and smores!

Tomorrow we become "official" homeschoolers. Our charter school requires evidence of learning which in many cases will be photographs so I should have lots of material for keeping this blog updated. Check back soon!

Samuel

2008-05-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

Samuel is Zachary's very special friend. He has replaced Buzz as the top lovey in the house. Last week Samuel went missing. He had been in the car with a distraught Zachary (we had to leave Target without purchasing anything which resulted in dueling meltdowns) but when Zachary came in the house Samuel did not. I thought Samuel was still in the car. He was not. We searched the car, searched the house and Samuel was nowhere to be found. The next morning Samuel was discovered in the garage, next to the cat door. Turns out that Samuel had a night out with the cats! Our Sunny cat likes to steal small squishy things (socks are a big favorite) and take them for a spin, give them the full experience of a cat's life. Samuel had apparently fallen out of the car and Sunny had found him. He came home no worse for the wear and regained his rightful place in Zachary's heart.

Shutterbugs

2008-05-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

Zachary loves the camera he got for his birthday. The Fisher Price kid tough camera doesn't take terrific pictures but doesn't break under the pressure of my two intense boys. Today we downloaded some of the pictures the boys have captured recently. It is fun to see what was important enough to them to capture with the camera. Although the number of pictures of momma's squashy belly or big hiney are rather disturbing (and quickly deleted!).

Public Works Day

2008-05-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

Another fun day at the city's annual public works day. Representatives of all of the city departments were there to share their jobs and expertise with us. We got to see a 30,000 pound trolley/bus on giant jacks, the engine of a police car, an up close fire engine and fire and rescue truck. William even sat in the fire engine but the garbage truck was too high and he wanted out quick! We talked to the garbage man about the capacity of his truck and talked to an expert on the storm drain system. Again this year the boys loved the opportunity to make it rain on the pretend town after the expert had doused it with oil, pesticides, soaps and fertilizer. Then we watched the contaminated water go down the storm drains, to the creeks and eventually to the pseudo lake, turning our drinking water mucky and gross. It was very windy out today so the booths were closing down early and we didn't come home with quite the loot we usually do - although we did score some pencils, tattoos, yo-yos, light up bouncy balls, stencil rules and little army men.

The remotely controlled garbage can that talks, shakes hands and even dances!

Checking out the inside of the fire engine

Street signs and reflectors

One of our favorite stops each year - what was found in the sewer last week!

Creating a storm

Zachary reads Hog and Dog

2008-05-19T10:46:00.001-07:00

Zachary reads his new book, Hog and Dog. Sorry about the awful sound quality - I think I was too far away with the camera.

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At the boys' request - some of their Cars and trains

2008-05-19T10:45:00.003-07:00

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An interview with Zachary

2008-05-19T10:45:00.001-07:00

Please excuse the bouncing camera - William was "helping" me. And in case you were wondering, yes, William does announce that he has to go poo-poo during the video. Goodness!

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An interview with William

2008-05-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

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Cute

2008-05-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

We read a lot of books. The boys and I read stacks of books throughout the day. Before bed the kids each pick at least one story for Daddy to read. Every night William brings his book from story time and sticks it under the pillow before laying down to sleep. He cannot be persuaded to put the book back on the shelf - it MUST be under his pillow. I really hope we are cultivating a true love of reading!

Word-Picture Bingo

2008-05-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

I have been reading a great book

One of the game ideas was word bingo. I decided to make two different bingo boards - one with words for Zachary and one with pictures for William. We had a great time playing bingo and I will be making up more game boards for future games.

The Tooth Fairy's Visit

2008-05-07T09:25:00.001-07:00

Before bed last night Zachary and I ran out and got the supplies to make his dream tooth fairy pillow. He drew his version of a race car on paper and we cut it out to use as a pattern on felt. At his instruction I sewed on a blue pocket and big black button tires.

The tooth fairy brought Zachary 5 dollar coins and a teeny tiny little book telling him how great his tooth looked, clean and lovely! She also left behind a sprinkling of fairy dust.

Tooth Fairy! You have a customer!

2008-05-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

On April 21st Zachary woke up with a very loose tooth and today it is official! The Tooth Fairy will be making her first visit to our home tonight! I think the tooth lost its battle when Zachary took a bite out of an apple today - forgetting he had a loose tooth. An hour or so later he told me it felt REAAAALLLLY loose and after closer examination I realized it was just hanging on there. I told him to just pull and out it came! He was a little freaked out by the blood but super excited that they tooth fairy will be visiting him! We talked about making a pillow but obviously we have run out of time. I am sure the TF will understand if we make do with what we have at home tonight. WOW! The Tooth Fairy is coming!

Park Days

2008-05-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

Park days are a very important part of our homeschooling experience. It is a time for us to connect with other homeschoolers. Our local group has a designated park day each week and we tend to stay for 4-6 hours. The kids get filthy, worn out and have such a great time. It is an important time for me too - I have a chance to talk with my fellow homeschoolers, get ideas, unwind and share victories and frustrations.

My boys play with boys and girls, young and old. This week the ages ranged from 2-9. They spent some time making homes for ants, discussing black widows, finding click beetles and then testing out different foliage (and a cheeto) to see what the beetle liked. They ran races on the path that circles the playground. They climbed high and slid fast. They played in water and watched a peahen and the chickens.

William and Charlotte were chattering away together as they dug in the dirt.

The kids made a store - selling mud donut holes for 1 leaf each.

Hamburger Farm

2008-05-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

This week we had a big field trip to the Hamburger Farm.

The kids had a great time. We had time to play on the property, ride a train, tour the hamburger farm and have a hamburger lunch.

The tour started out with a stop at the bee colony. A really interesting way to see bees at work.

We saw wheat growing and the kids even got to grind their own flour.

Tomato plants, cucumbers, dill, lettuce and onions were next.

There were two cows there. A large beef cow and a huge pregnant dairy cow.

The kids all had a chance to "milk" a wooden cow - that was a huge hit.

We also visited the potato patch and the compost heap.

After the tour the kids played in the sandbox.

Amazingly Zachary ran right up and went down this huge slide. That is usually not his thing - just recently has he started braving taller heights.

We finished up our time panning for marbles.

We had a great time at the hamburger farm!

Katy No-Pocket

2008-04-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

A year or two ago I purchased Before Five in a Row by Jane Lambert.

This all new product includes 23 FIAR-style mini-units (plus an extra mini-unit!) on outstanding AND simple children's books for ages 2-4 as well as a large section on learning readiness activities in everyday life; things to do in the kitchen, at the store, at bedtime, bathtime, etc. You'll find an entire treasury of ideas to prepare children for learning- making sure that they've covered all the basic but oh-so-important steps to ensure that they are ready to begin more formal schooling. The perfect introduction to the joys of parent-directed learning in just a few very special minutes each day.

Five in a Row and similar online resources will play a big part of our kindergarten year. At least that is the current plan.

This week we "row'd" Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne and H.A. Rey (who my kids quickly recognized as the illustrator of Curious George.

Our activities this week have included:
-We have used animal classification cards to play games and match with animals the animals in the book while we read.
-We measured 6 feet high to see if we could jump as high as Katy, we can't.
-We measured 25 feet to see how far the average kangaroo can jump - and then we tried to jump 25 feet like a kangaroo - turns out we can't do that either! We then added 15 more feet to see how far 40 feet looks like - the longest kangaroo jump ever recorded.
-We have looked at Australia on a map (we need to get a big world map on which we can pin the location of our stories), discussed habitats and kindness.
-We have worked on narrative retelling of the story and today the boys acted out the end by wearing their aprons and filling the pockets with animals of all sorts.
Here they are mid-jump:

At the park tomorrow we will look in the big trees and talk about what sort of animals live there. We are also planning on making ANZAC cookies:

ANZAC cookies from Australia

Australian and New Zealand soldiers from WWI (1914-1918) were called ANZACs. In 1915, more than 8,000 soldiers died in a famous battle. Australian children remember the soldiers by baking ANZAC cookies.

1/2 cup melted butter (we will use Earth's Balance to keep it dairy free)
1 cup flour (white whole wheat)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup coconut flakes
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Set the oven at 325 degrees.
2. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Use a teaspoon of dough for each cookie. Place them on a greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes.
5. Let cookies cool for 10 minutes before eating.

Earth Day '08

2008-04-23T17:01:00.001-07:00

We discussed Earth Day this week. We discussed the things we already do to conserve - cloth diapers, recycling, turning off lights, walking to the store when we can. Zachary wanted to make an earth day flag to hang up outside. We did some "abstract" painting of globes but it ended up being too windy and wet to hang the up. Last night we went to an Earth Day Celebration and Potluck at our friends' house. Everyone brought an organic/local dish to share and the hostess had projects for the kids. The boys made sand art in recycled jars and planted seeds in recycled egg cartons. After our yummy dinner the adults all read questions from cards provided by Organic Valley. For some reason (maybe the juice they had just consumed?) the kids thought every question and every answer was hilarious!

The home school moms who can't do everything...

2008-04-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

Found on a HS blog -

Sung to the tune of Veggie Tales "The Pirates who Don't Do Anything."

All 3 Moms:
We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you
We can't do everything
Mom2:
Well, I've never been to Boston and I've never shot a musket,
and I've never built a cabin using nothing but an axe,
and I've never skinned a possum, and I've never staged a battle,
and I've never started home school before fall!

All:
We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you...

Mom3:
We can't do everything!

And I've never distilled water, and I've never banded birdies,
and I've never built an ant farm 'cuz I can't stand things that
crawl,
and I've never dug a fossil, and I've never owned a test tube,
and I've never started home school before fall!

All:
We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you
We can't do everything

Mom1:
And I've never slaughtered chickens, and I've never milked a go-oat,
and I've never gone to 4-H or the local county fair,
and I've never sewn a jumper, and I don't look good in denim,
and I've never started home school before fall!

Mom2: Huh? What are you talking about? What's a milk goat and denim
jumpers got to do with being a home school mom?

Mom3: Hey, that's right! We're supposed to sing about academic-y thi
ngs!

Mom1: Oh...

Mom2: And who ever sews school uniforms? That's impossible! Why even
bring it up? Am I right? What do you think?

Mom3: I think you should do your laundry.

Mom2: Huh? Why do you think that?

Mom3: You should...

Mom2: Don't wanna!

Mom3: You wore that shirt yesterday!

Mom2: That's it, you're going to help me!

Mom3: Says who?

Mom2: Says ME, that's who!

Mom3: Oh yeah? Well I'm not picking up your socks! (pinches her own
nose)

Mom2: Argh!

Mom3: Yike!

Mom1:
And I've never done gymnastics, and I've never danced the polka,
and I've never painted daisies 'cause I cannot paint at all,
and I've never made a schedule, and my house is never perfect...

Mom2: It'll never happen!

All: And we've never started home school before fall!

We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you
We can't do everything

Mom2: Pass the pencils! Who's got the teacher's guide?

Mom1: Here it is! (holds up shredded paper)

Mom3: (groans, then smiles with sudden inspiration) Time for recess!

Mom2: It's definitely time for Scotch tape.

Mom3: Oh, I don't like that stuff...

Mom1: Hey, look! I found a crayon!

Big 24 hours for Zachary

2008-04-21T09:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday he mastered pedaling and today he woke up with a very, very loose tooth. Zachary woke me up this morning exclaiming "My tooth is REAAAAAAALLLY loose!" and it is! Wow. The dentist has been telling us since October that one of his bottom front teeth was getting a little loose but this morning it is offical - his first lost tooth is imminent :eek: He asked for his new favorite snack today - apple crackers with cheese but the sliced apples were too much for his wiggly tooth and I had to cut his apple in to bits. He is super excited to see what the tooth fairy brings once this tooth is officially out.

Big Bicycle Day!

2008-04-20T23:06:00.000-07:00

We picked up Zachary's new bicycle today. Santa brought him a bike for Christmas 2006 and it had gathered dust since then. He was not interested, it made him nervous and he wasn't getting the whole pedaling thing. Fast forward nearly 1.5 years and he is just READY! We picked out the bike (with red flames, no less) and went to the park today. He TOOK OFF! With in the first few moments he tipped over - hit his helmet hard on the ground, jumped up and laughed! He fell a couple more times and at one point told us "It's going to take more than falling down to stop ME!". His helmet was well used today. He was so proud of himself and we were proud too! William was thrilled to inherit the practically unused bumble bee bike but he was not in to giving it much effort today. He was less than thrilled with bike riding and while Zachary rode circles around the park William vacillated between pouting and playing on the playstructure.

William had a great time before bath today he had his shirt around his neck and he was running up and down the hall saying "I am super hero, I save the day!". I asked him if he was "Naked Man" and he said no, he was "Donut Man" LOL!

Zachary was Super Why with his mask he made at the art fair we went to yesterday. There were tons of great hands on activities for the kids but it was crazy busy. The boys made a beaded bracelet, Native American medallions, sand art, water color paintings, mari gras masks, bird puppets, scratch art, fossil impressions, clay masks and foil art. And we only made it to about half the stations!

A balancing act

2008-04-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

Today we played a collection of balancing games and talked about balance. Granted with William playing everything is a bit off balance from the get go!

We played these 3 games today...

Our favorite was the alligator game.

After lots of balancing the boys built a potato head family.

A big day for our big boy!

2008-04-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

For 3 years, 2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days William was rear-facing in the car. We were waiting for William to hit 33 pounds (the maximum rear facing weight for his carseat) before turning him and he finally hit 33 pounds this week. In comparison, Zachary hit 33 pounds at 22 months! William has always been happy rear-facing but he is loving forward facing. As we drove down our street on his first forward facing ride he yelled "weeeeeeeeeeeee" like it was a roller coaster! It is fun to turn around and see his face back there.

Field Trip: California Pizza Kitchen

2008-04-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

On April 1st we had the opportunity to tour the California Pizza Kitchen. We had a great tour guide who took us through the entire back end of the restaurant - walking us in to refrigerators & pantries, introducing us to cooks, taking us by each of the stations and explaining how the process works. Then the kids made their own pizzas! The restaurant was so generous - each child had their own small pizza and a drink. They even brought out pizza and drinks for the adults. It was a fun time.

Our tour guide

Even waiting for the tour to start was fun!

making pizza

the tasty results - Zachary made a pineapple & cheese pizza and William had a cheese-less ham & pineapple pizza

7 days a week

2008-04-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

A great thing about homeschooling is the learning happens 7 days a week. On Saturday the boys and I made banana bread and talked about fractions. We used the 1/4 cup measuring cup to make 3/4 of a cup and broke bananas in half. That learning has carried on through the week as we encounter more fractions in our everyday life.

Eggs

2008-03-31T02:26:00.000-07:00

Everything by lauraskathi

Grandma

2008-03-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

New Beginning by laurakathi at www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com

Water Treatment Plant field trip

2008-03-27T01:09:00.000-07:00

Today we ventured out to a local water treatment plant for a tour. Carl took the morning off to join us and I had planned to stay home with William but he was crushed at the idea of being left out of a field trip. So we packed up and headed out and as I had thought William was both underwhelmed by the tour and overwhelmed by the noises. It was an interesting tour - the tour guide was excellent. The parents had a lot of questions and we had an excellent turn out.

Super Hero Tea Party Invitation

2008-03-27T01:07:00.000-07:00

A friend's almost 4 year old wants a Super Hero Tea Party for his birthday so I helped make the invitation!

Action Hero Collection Biggie by Amanda McGee available at www.scrapgirls.com

Potty and Storytime

2008-03-27T01:04:00.000-07:00

William has been spending most at home days diaper free (and usually underpants free too!). Today was a rare event - underpants!

He has been quite enamored lately with the idea that he is a cat

Cute, clean kids ready for a bedtime story

Easter festivities

2008-03-27T00:54:00.000-07:00

I have downloaded at least 200 pictures in the last week - this is just a little preview.

Easter Bunny Tangrams

Dyeing eggs

Easter at Grandma & Papa's House was great fun.

The Easter Bunny left lots and lots of eggs in backyard

A water fight broke out after Grandma gave the kids water shooters

Decorating Easter basket cupcakes

and sidewalk chalk outside with the neighbors and dueling cameras!

Joyful Noise

2008-03-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

Credits at DST

Dance

2008-03-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

Everything* from Birgit Kerr's amazing grab bag available @ Scrapbook Graphics only March 21st (midnight EST) - March 24th (midnight EST) 2008. Don't miss it - there are tons of excellent goodies!

The best of 5

2008-03-19T11:09:00.001-07:00

credits @ DST

I am so very lucky

2008-03-17T01:49:00.000-07:00

LDD Apprentice Freebies:
MrsB - glitter shamrock
Bohemian Art - frames
JodyKnapp - lucky stitches

Stand Up and Scrap:
Gina Miller - lime swirl paper

Camellia Symphony

2008-03-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous new Front Porch kit by Birgit Kerr available at Scrapbook Graphics. I am looking forward to scrapping pictures of Emme and Zachary dancing together with more of this kit.

Sink or Float

2008-03-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

Feb. 13, 2008

We had been discussing the difference between floating and sinking so we went on a walk around the neighborhood to collect items for an experiment. We filled a bowl with water, made guesses and recorded our findings.

Field Trip: Grocery Store

2008-03-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

This week we went on a field trip to the local grocery store. We toured the store, tasted fresh ground peanut butter, talked to the meat counter manager (he broke open an oyster to see the oyster inside!), got to see the giant cardboard compacter in action and we even went through the dairy refrigerator and saw where the milk gets put out for purchase. It was fun and the boys did a great job walking, holding hands and listening to the manager who took us on our tour.

The Alphabet

2008-03-03T01:15:00.000-08:00

We aren't pushing letter writing, knowing it will come with time. We practice when he wants to and try to create moments where writing is fun.Last week our fun moment was with chalk. Both boys helped me sing the ABC's while I wrote the big letters down the walkway and then Zachary sat down and got to work writing the entire alphabet. He did awesome.

He still struggles a bit with V, W, K - getting that angle is a challenge for him.

But look at that perfect pink M!

Stretching on the letters...

Making letters with wooden construction toys (and looking a little demonic!)

W has been doing a great job of counting objects

Silly kids -

Picture update

2008-02-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

Me and the boys...

Birthday Boys

Catching up on Digi LOs

2008-01-07T00:12:00.001-08:00

Full size and full credits can be found in my DST gallery.

Stand Up and Scrap LOs

Empty

Boys' birthday party invitation

We made crayons!

2008-01-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

We made star crayons for my sons' birthday party goody bags.

For 19 good sized stars we used 4 24 packs of Crayola crayons (purchased before school sales for $1/for 4). My first test star I did a single layer - it was pretty but pretty thin - I was afraid it would break as soon as a kid got a hold of it so the remaining 18 we did a double layer of crayons. I should have taken pictures of the process but you can see it on Craftster (my inspiration but I did it a little different).

We peeled all of the crayons (my almost 3 year old was good at this for a bit, my 5 year old was a trooper - he lasted longer than DH LOL!), broke them (kids loved that) and then filled the little pans. I tried to group good colors together without being too matchy. I baked them at 350* for about 5-6 minutes. A few of the pans had parts of crayons in the middle that weren't fully melted - I just pushed them down in to the melted parts and they turned out fine. Once they were cooled I just popped them out of the mini pans and we have crayons! The boys love their crayon gifts for their friends!

These are the little pans (I think I need to go back and get more - I am sure I can use them for loads of stuff like paint or snacks - super cool for $1). The foil is very thin and once hard the crayons very easily popped out and the foil was clean enough to just throw in the recycling bin.

The thickness of the crayons -

And some vanity shots of the candles...

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2007-11-01T00:41:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Fat-Free Oatmeal Cookies at www.fatfreevegan.com

Yield: 24 BIG cookies

2 cup Quick oats
1 cup White flour
1 cup Whole wheat flour
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 cup Brown sugar
1/2 cup White sugar
3 tblsp. flax seed meal
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
1 cup Apple sauce
4 tsp. Egg replacer powder
4 tbsp. Water

Preheat the oven to 375.

Mix the dry ingredients and the chocolate chips in a large bowl. Whip the egg replacer with the water, mix in the apple sauce. Add apple sauce mix to dry mix. Stir well with a hefty spoon until everything is combined. Drop onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Bake for 12-13 minutes.

*These cookies are almost like a cookie shaped muffin top. Very good but obviously low fat.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T15:01:00.001-07:00

Menu Planning Monday

2007-10-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

Visit the home of MPM for more menu ideas!

Check back over my last few blog entries for recipes and photos from last week's menu.
Monday Campfire Family Club potluck
4-bean salad - a mix of 2 Guy Fieri recipes - Black Bean Salad and 4-Bean Relish,pineapple salsa and tortilla chips (organic white and baked blue)

Tuesday Pumpkin Carving
Coconut Broccoli w/ tofu & Brown rice

Wednesday HALLOWEEN!
Pumpkin casserole and salad

Thursday
Falafel patties, tahini sauce, flatbread, salad

Friday
whole wheat flax spaghetti with no-meat meatballs or italian "sausage" & sauce, salad

Chocolate banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting

2007-10-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Cupcake recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen - Chocolate Banana Cupcakes. I got my batter all ready and then remembered I had thrown out my old, hand me down from my parents' wedding nearly 40 years ago, cupcake pan a while back - so these ended up being mini cupcakes. SO CUTE! I baked them for about 11 minutes vs. the 20 minutes recommended in the recipe.

Peanut butter frosting
1 tablespoon Earth's Balance, softened
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1-2 tablespoons soymilk
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Whip together butter and peanut butter. Add powdered sugar and whip to combine, adding soymilk as needed.

More Oatmeal Muffins

2007-10-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

I made a double batch this time - healthier kid version with raisins and a "mommy" version with chocolate chips and pecans. Yum. They were a huge hit at playgroup. Recipe is here\.

Soyrizo & Potatoes

2007-10-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

(the leftovers)

1 package soyrizo - soy chorizo
1 very large sweet potato, peeled, diced and cooked (I microwave steamed)
4-5 medium baking potatoes, peeled, diced and cooked(I microwave steamed)
3 green onions, chopped
thick handmade corn tortillas
vegan sour cream (recipe follows)

In a large non-stick pan "fry" soyrizo until heated through. Remove from pan. Spray pan with oil and add potatoes. Cook potatoes for 5-6 minutes, stirring frequently. Add soyrizo back to pan and cook on medium-high for 20-30 minutes, stirring just occasionally so that soyrizo and potatoes get nicely browned. Add green onions in the last few minutes of cooking.

Serve in good tortillas topped with vegan sour cream.

Sour Cream recipe coming soon*

Oat Waffles with Fruit Sauce

2007-10-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Oat Waffles
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups soymilk
2 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 tablespoons real maple syrup
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Grind the oats in a large food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Spoon on to an oil sprayed, hot waffle iron. Made about 3 fillings of my standard waffle iron - about 12 waffles.

*Adapted from The Garden of Vegan: How It All Vegan Again! by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer

Fruit Sauce
a mix of 3 cups frozen mixed berries & mangoes
1 tablespoon real maple syrup

Defrost or heat in pan the fruit enough to whirl it through the food processor. Process in to a smooth but chunky sauce. Heat in pan, add syrup. Pour over waffles.

Green Week

2007-10-21T22:46:00.001-07:00

William's speech therapist wanted us to work on a color for the week. This last week was green week and we wrapped it up by making a green poster.

Menu Planning Monday

2007-10-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

Check out Laura's blog for Menus!

baking/snacks/treats
another try with amazing vegan oatmeal muffins for plaqygroup
impossible pumpkin pie (Thanksgiving test recipe)
chocolate banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting

breakfasts
steel cut oats with berries, apples or pumpkin
oatmeal muffins
whole wheat flax pancakes

lunches
leftovers
salad & soup
bean burrito

dinners
Mussaka with whole wheat couscous and broccoli
potato & black bean soup, cornbread (from a vegan mix), salad
Soyrizo & potatoes in store bought hand-pressed corn tortillas with tomatoes and (homemade) tofu sour cream
tempeh "chicken" salad (will add dried cranberries) sandwiches, couscous veggie salad
vegetable and "sausage" calzones and salad
Thai rice noodles with fresh mint

Amazing vegan oatmeal muffins

2007-10-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

I started with Diana's Awesome Oatmeal Muffins from Recipe Zaar, a great base oatmeal muffin recipe that contains no egg or dairy. I will definitely try this recipe again with other liquid/pulp/spice combos.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups 100% apple juice
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 tablespoons cinnamon*
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice*
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3+ tablespoons flax seed meal*
1/3 cup chopped raisins
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour

*flax and spices were eyeballed - measurements are estimates

preheat oven to 400*
in a large bowl soak the oatmeal in the juice for 10-15 minutes to soften the oatmeal
add the apple sauce, stir well
mix together the salt, baking powder, baking soda, spices, sugar, flax seed meal and add to the large bowl
stir in raisins - making sure they don't stick together
add flour and stir just until combined
fill mini muffin tins that have been lightly oiled and bake for 6-8 minutes
cool on a rack

yum!

Next time I think I will do orange juice and pumpkin and add pecans. I may try this as a savory muffin too - maybe pureed veggies as the pulp with soymilk as the liquid.

Healthy (vegan) brownies

2007-10-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Yum! I am so impressed with this recipe! It is altered from this Vegan Brownies recipe on www.allrecipes.com. Carl and I were both really impressed with the chocolaty goodness of these moist cakelike brownies. They were excellent warm out of the oven and even better cold (this morning *blush*).

Blissful Brownies
2 cups unbleached all-purpose white flour (next time I might do 1.5 white and .5 whole wheat)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup Splenda (this stuff freaks me out but I figure on occasion it is ok for Carl and I - the kids don't eat chocolate so I felt ok about using it in this recipe)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Ghiradelli)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup light soymilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (the original recipe called for 1 teaspoon but I love good vanilla)

Preheat oven to 350*
Mix dry ingredients together.
Mix wet ingredients together.
Mix all ingredients together until well blended.
Spray 9x13 baking pan with oil. Spread mix in pan. Smooth top.
Bake for 25 minutes in preheated oven, until the top is no longer shiny. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting in to squares.
While baking lick the spoon and bowl - there are no raw eggs - enjoy the batter!

The label game

2007-10-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

I love how a 4 year old can be convinced that nearly everything is a game! This week we played the label game. The boys told me what items around the house they wanted to label, Zachary helped me sound out the words on to cards and then they taped them up (we are loving painter's tape for taping stuff up around the house!).

Blog Action Day

2007-10-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

click graphic for more info

In high school some friends and I started an environment protection club. For some reason, in recent months I have thought about that club but for the life of me I cannot remember the cute name we made up for the group. Regardless, my radical idealism as a 16 year old suburban high school student looks quite different than my everyday life as a 33 year old SAHM of 2.

My everyday environmental actions are subtle. I am not marching for global warming or picketing at the doorstep of companies that pollute. Instead we quietly use cloth diapers, buy organic when we can, limit processed foods and over-packaging, recycle, walk for errands and teach our children not to litter.

What did you do today to keep the world a greener place for the next generation?

Menu Planning Monday

2007-10-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

I picked up a new vegan cookbook at the library - Vegan Planet: 400 Irresistible Recipes with Fantastic Flavors from Home and Around the World by Robin Robertson. This week most of our recipes come from this cookbook. I am also trying out some holiday type of recipes to decide what to bring to my parents' for Thanksgiving. My brother is a vegetarian (has been vegan in the past) so there are always some dishes made animal free but not dairy/egg free. Today I tried to make a carrot-mushroom "loaf" with vegan gravy. Ohmygoodness, it was HORRIBLE :( I spent 2 HOURS cooking and had to throw most of it away. Thankfully I also made a big tray of roasted red, purple, yukon gold and sweet potatoes and we had beautiful farmer's market tomato slices with cracked pepper, sea salt and balsamic so dinner wasn't a total loss but I could have spent 15 minutes prepping potatoes and slicing tomatoes instead of all the time spent chopping, shredded, mixing and cooking veggie loaf ingredients.

Hopefully we don't end up with too many more disasters this week.

Breakfasts
steel cut oats with berries and cinnamon
leftover pumpkin pie pancakes with almond "cream"
leftover pumpkin biscuits with vegan sausage

Lunches
homemade hummus with veggies to dip
leftovers
soups & salads

Dinners
Monday - Seitan Stroganoff, pasta & broccoli
Tuesday - Roasted corn chowder, asian coleslaw & pumpkin biscuits
Wednesday - Savory spinach bread pudding and salad
Thursday - Orange & Thyme scented white bean & “sausage” chili, salad & cornbread
Friday - Take out or leftovers

Extras
small batch of Texas caviar
apple spice cake
if time allows - try a pumpkin pie recipe

2007-10-09T07:17:00.001-07:00

9/365

Last week I was asked what we "do" when we homeschool. I usually find it hard to define. We talk. We play. We read. We go places. We investigate and discuss. We play with friends. We meet new friends. We play on the computer. We do not do packaged curriculum or have a set schedule or a daily goal to meet. But we do have some workbooks because they like them and so we use them on (rare) occasion. Yesterday was one of those days. Zachary asked to do some workbook pages and his "30 minutes a day" preschool workbook held his interest for over an hour an a half. William colored in an old workbook and generally wrecked havoc. As a retired classroom teacher I think I expected to do more "school at home" but as I think about it more, get to know my kids better and what works for our family - I think we are definitely more on the unschooling end of the spectrum, for now.

Playing Catch-up

2007-10-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

I have been taking my 365 pictures - I just haven't posted them.

I left off on Friday 6/365

Last week was tough and I was excited to get out to a ladies' craft night. I stopped at Target on my way and spent a blissful 1 hour shopping A L O N E. It was lovely. I got to church at 7:30 and by 9:30 was almost done with the tutu I was making for a birthday party on Sunday. My phone rang and a very sad "come. home" greeted me. My poor babe cannot go to sleep without momma. I got home and he was out within 2 minutes of touching me.

7/365 Saturdays are for Soccer

This picture is awful... but it isn't about the picture. It is about the memory. Arriving at DS1's soccer game and DS2 seeing Grandma and running to greet her.

8/365 Sunday birthday party day

The kids eating cake and ice cream. The family of the birthday girl are our very special friends. It was so nice that they even had cupcakes and soy ice cream that William could eat.

Outtake... the kids made leaves on tees with their hands and fabric paint...

Menu Planning Monday

2007-10-08T01:37:00.000-07:00

After a health scare we have adopted a vegan diet to hopefully reverse some medical concerns. This is our first week of Menu Planning Mondays - Vegan Style

Breakfasts
fruit smoothies
scrambled tofu w/ vegan "sausage"
banana bread or pumpkin muffins
steel cut oats w/ apples and cinnamon
steel cut oats w/ soymilk and berries

Lunches
black bean burritos
salads
cheater soups
leftovers
veggie sandwiches

Baking
banana bread or pumpkin muffins
attempt rye bread

Dinners
Monday - Campfire Potluck - Texas Caviar, blue baked tortilla chips & organic white corn tortilla chips
"Texas Caviar."
3 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1.5 cups defrosted white corn
1.5 cups defrosted roasted yellow corn
3 cans mild Ro-Tel, drained
1 can blackeyed peas, drained and rinsed
3 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1.5 cups fresh salsa
Salt, garlic powder, chili powder to taste

Toss all ingredients in a large bowl. Chill and serve.

Tuesday - Black bean soft tacos & zucchini w/ red peppers
Wednesday - Potato, sweet potato & black bean soup (I will add some sweet potato to the recipe) & Arugula salad (I might try my hand at some fresh bread as well)
Thursday - (Soccer Practice) - vegan chili in the crockpot, baked chips, green salad
Friday - baked tofu sandwiches, low fat vegetarian coleslaw
Saturday - take out for a picnic in the park
Sunday - leftovers or something wonderful

5/365

2007-10-05T01:57:00.000-07:00

Thursday's picture is private for now. I may be ready to share it later.

I really wanted to do the Thursday Thirteen but life got in the way... hopefully next week.

4/365

2007-10-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

We are trying to eliminate naps but he fell asleep on the ottoman while watching sesame street at 4pm. It is going to be a LATE night.

3/365

2007-10-02T22:54:00.000-07:00

Today was dental check ups for the boys. Their teeth looked good although we need to brush better on their back teeth. Zachary has a little looseness in his front bottom teeth - suggesting he could have a loose tooth soon. How is that possible? He isn't even 5 yet. My baby!

2/365

2007-10-01T20:19:00.001-07:00

Carl is 33. Our pumpkin patch plans were foiled by rain and a last minute doctor's appointment but we still took time to decorate bowls of ice cream (rice dream for W) with sprinkles.

Homeschooling 101

2007-10-01T03:46:00.000-07:00

This is where we are at - 101. Figuring it out, making plans, rethinking, reassessing. The only thing we are sure about is that we will be homeschooling. While unable to sleep tonight (this morning) I found this quiz -

What Type of Homeschooler Are You?

Salvador Dali Melting clocks are not a problem in your reality. You are an unschooler. You will tolerate a textbook, but only as a last resort. Mud is your friend. You prefer hands-on everything. If your school had an anthem, it would be Dont Worry, Be Happy. Visit my blog: http://www.GuiltFreeHomeschooling.org
Take this quiz!

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Interesting.

1/365

2007-10-01T03:28:00.001-07:00

This weekend I decided to start a 365 photo journal. I will take a picture each day for the next year. I thought I would start on Oct. 1 but while making breakfast on Sunday a bagel begged to be photographed. We celebrate "birthday weekends" in our house - the birthday person gets to pick all meals, all outings and all activities for the weekend closest to their birthday. This past weekend has been Carl's birthday weekend. His breakfast of choice this morning was fresh whole wheat bagels with cream cheese and lox. While schmearing his bagel I discovered that the hole was a heart. A heart shaped hole in my love's bagel. How sweet.

Menu Planning Monday

2007-10-01T02:04:00.000-07:00

I decided to try this whole blog meme idea and found a site that promotes Menu Mondays - great idea! So here is our dinner menu for the week:

Monday (Carl's Birthday) - cheese ravioli (vegan ravioli for William) and salad
Tuesday - chicken marsala (TJ's marsala sauce), dairy free mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus
Wednesday - linguine with seafood sauce and salad
Thursday (soccer practice) - crockpot black bean chili and salad
Friday (I might go to a craft night at church!) - take out
Saturday - dinner at an organic farm festival (or on the way home)
Sunday - TBA

Real, live LOs!

2007-09-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

It feels *so* good to scrap again. It makes me so mushy about my family and gives me an outlet and release that I don't get in our day to day life. I have a couple of other LOs in the Stand Up and Scrap contest - they ended up being really special LOs to me, I can't share them now but I will post them later.

I am loving Christina Renee's goodies - I think I DL a freebie from her right before my digi break started. I never got a chance to use it (and I am sure it is gone now with a lot of the digi kits and LOs I hadn't backed up). Anyway - I just love this collab kit she has with Shabby Princess.

Another Christina Renee collab - this time it was a freebie! I did some recoloring to get a more kid friendly look to the background.

Some of those Stand Up and Scrap papers were just perfect for this simple page.

I am so honored to get to create for my long time friend, Chris Wasielewski who is making the leap from paper to digi.

Complete credits and journaling can be found at in my DST Gallery.

7 Months Later

2007-09-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

After an extended creating vacation, I am back. I had major laptop woes. From a major crash (why didn't I ever back up my fonts?) to dropping the stupid thing while it was open and cracking the screen) the Toshiba and I were just not friends. As my birthday/Christmas/Arbor Day/Halloween/Thanksgiving/Flag day gift for the next year DH bought me a refurbished Dell business class computer - with the idea that it should be hardier and better able to withstand my abuse. I am now working on DL'ing, unzipping and reloading fonts, getting caught up in the digi world and picking through my pictures from the last 7 months.

Watch this space for a new LO... soon!

That is some yummy pasta!

2007-03-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a heating/ a/c guy out to give a quote for a new system. He has done some work on our old system and has been here a couple of times. He is very friendly with our kids - he has a boy William's age who also has a head full of blond curls. It rained most of the day and we were cleaning today so by this evening the boys were being insane, they were hungry and getting tired. They kept running through the livingroom, knocking this poor guy's paperwork down and yelling. They didn't want to leave the room so they got a special treat of a picnic dinner. I had already made penne with broccoli and chicken in a tomato cream sauce (no sauce for William). They were sitting pretty nicely on their big picnic towel, eating dinner when Zachary paused, peering at a piece of penne and announces "PENIS PASTA!". The A/C guy was cracking up. Carl and I were mortified but giggling and he just kept at it "penis pasta! Penis Pasta! PENIS PASTA!" Soon after Zachary bid farewell to the technician by calling him "Fan Man". Oh boy, the stories he has to tell tonight!

I like lime-y green

2007-03-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

Is that obvious yet?

On a Whim by Julie Mead
Font - DB DIXI by Darcy Baldwin available at Blue Flombingo
“pee pee, pee pee” you yelled at me. you often do not have the words to explain what it is you want the world to hear but you still let your will be known. today you were proud. Some great accomplishment that involved pee pee. I was afraid. I followed you to the bathroom where you giggled and giggled as you showed me your baby on the potty, going “pee pee”.

The Barf-fest Continues

2007-03-15T05:02:00.000-07:00

Now Zachary has joined the festivities. It is 5am and I am up with Zachary who started barfing in his bed shortly after William barfed in our bed. Yesterday in a 30 minute period I cleaned up William barfing on the play tiles, peeing on the floor, pooping on the floor ("pee pee" no, honey that is a big POOP on the floor *gag*) and then Zachary overflowing the toilet when he "wiped myself with one square of toilet paper" uh, yeah. Right.

I am supposed to have a 7:30am optometrist appointment this morning but I am not sure how that will work with two potential pukers and DH having a HVAC guy coming this morning to check our AC that doesn't seem to want to make cool air. I think I will try to get the kids in to the pediatrician too since this is now day 6 of William having high temps, runny nose, coughing and barfing.

In laptop news the screen mess up has expanded - it now goes out to the right of the screen too - so I have a giant "V" of blacked out screen. I should try to take a picture of it later. Really quite annoying.

I did get my Bunco invites made and sent out -

credits on DST

A hot, hot night

2007-03-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

And not the fun kind of hot. William had a temp of 104 last night. Poor peanut. Stripping him down and giving him our last dose of children's Motrin got him down to 101 this morning. Carl went out this morning and bought more Motrin and Tylenol, hopefully I can keep his temp down today. He seems pretty unaffected by it, happy and playing like normal. His cough is a bit grosser though. Yuck.

Unfortunately we will likely have to miss homeschool co-op tomorrow. Zachary announced this morning that he wanted to do homeschool today. I asked him what he wanted to learn and his answer: "dancin'"! Ohmy! Mommy is way unqualified to teach that. We did some silly dances and then he decided that was enough and wanted to do math. We have been doing finger math and he is really getting it. He keeps announcing that 2+2=4! Love it!

Today's task is to digi scrap Bunco invites and email them out and then work on the princess purse and mug inserts for prizes. And thank you for all of the condolences for my hurt laptop. I doubt it will get fixed - it is at least $400 for a new screen and that is without any labor involved. DH has a 3 year rule for computers so according to him this one won't be replaced until early 2009. Ugh. So I am stuck with this for the long term. Bummer.

(I feel naked posting this without a graphic/picture - I need to work on my invites and come back quick to post them!)

I broke it...

2007-03-14T00:27:00.000-07:00

I broke my laptop. It still works but I now have a giant gash through the screen that serves as a constant reminder of what a complete klutz I am. I was sitting with William on the couch, my laptop on the arm of the couch. William fell off the couch and in the process of trying to keep him from falling on his head I knocked my laptop down and it did something bad inside. I am glad it still works but now I have to type blindly when I hit the left side of the screen. Digiscrapping is ok because I can shrink the screen but sending emails is a pain. Blah. That stinks.

William spent the weekend throwing up and now has a cough and runny nose. I was so impressed with how well we all made it through cold and flu season but it looks like we may be suffering at the back end.

My first broken laptop LO:

All the goodies are by Corina Nielsen and available at www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com. The font is by Darcy Baldwin and available at www.blueflombingo.com - full credits at DST.
The paper is from Corina's The Big Day Collection - look at these crazy colors!

William's Speech Evaluation

2007-03-11T00:18:00.000-08:00

We knew William was behind in his expressive speech but we had little idea he was so behind. The preliminary guess of the Speech Language Pathologist we saw on Friday was that he will test at an 11 month level. He will be 26 months this month. His receptive language is fine but he is just not hitting that big language explosion that is expected at his age. Tomorrow I will start the phone calls looking for more info and services for him.

LO with Penny Springmann's Shoot for the Stars kit and 2 pager template - also a Darcy Baldwin font!

An Update!?

2007-03-09T11:28:00.000-08:00

Wow, I have a blog! LOL!

We have been keeping busy. The weather has been nice and we have spent a lot of time outside or at the park.

Our preschool homeschool group has evolved a bit. Our Monday mornings are now an open park/playdate for all age homeschool families and on Thursday mornings 3 of us are getting together with our 6 kids to do more directed "preschool time". Each mom will take a turn of a month or so of teaching a group of lessons. H started a group of lessons about the 5 senses yesterday. She made "touching bags" with different textures inside and the kids felt the items inside and then described them. They made textured collages and then we played outside. A's house is perfect for our preschool time and my boys love being over there. In fact Zachary loves it so much that there is much wailing and drama involved when it is time to leave.

This morning we did salt painting and smooth painting and talked about the bumpy and smooth feeling when we touched it. Zachary painted a "T", "H" and an "A"! We had 3 big letters and talked about what word we could make from them - now we have "HAT" spelled out on our kitchen wall in big bumpy letters! I am so proud!

William is really, really 2. Now when you ask him how old he is he says "FIVE" and holds up all 5 fingers. Stinker. He thinks he is sooooo funny. Well he is pretty funny but we like hearing "two" also! He has no fear. We have had to move the loveseat in front of the fireplace to keep him from pulling the glass insert out again. When we are outside he will chase the cat anywhere - including off the side of the high deck. Yikes. William wants to keep up with everything his brother does. It isn't even that he wants to be like his big brother - he just doesn't want to be left out. As a result my 25.5 month old peed on the potty this week! He also pees on the floor many times a day since he won't leave any clothes and earlier in the week he peed in a toy bin and then brought it to me! At least he is getting the idea, I guess.

Zachary's new skill that he is so proud of (besides painting letters) is peeing in the bushes. He has been successfully using the potty for some time now but is terrified of the toilet and peeing standing up - so this week I have encouraged (yikes) him to pee in the bushes outside which after some hesitation he now finds wickedly cool. And success! We have had toilet peeing now too!

I have been in a bit of a scrapping funk but I did complete this page of Emme at her 2nd birthday party: (ACOT Spring Fling collab kit and a new handwriting font by Darcy Baldwin):

Last week I did a page about a quick clean with Traci Reed's new boy kit

Full credits for both on DST

We are family!

2007-02-24T04:59:00.000-08:00

A small part of my big family at Thanksgiving 06. The credits list is HUGE and can be found at DST.

We have started taking afternoon walks with William actually walking! He loves his bear backpack harness thing - which is awesome because if we didn't have that he would be in the street in moments! Thursday afternoon we took a puddle walk during a break in the rain. I took my dSLR with us and the battery died! The boys LOVED splashing in the puddles and I loved watching them love it.

This weekend we have plans to visit our city's big brand new library! It looks gorgeous from the outside, I cannot wait to see inside! I am very anxious to go to Costco tomorrow to pick up my first big set of printed LOs. I am printing at 8x8 size... I hope it works well! A $20 experiment!

Scallop recipe - it was from the cookbook "How to Cook Everything" - I will try to get the recipe tomorrow and post it!

Happy Friday!

2007-02-16T19:15:00.000-08:00

The week sure flew by! The boys and I had a tough Valentine's day - they were just super crazy and a trip to the park was disastrous when William kept trying to run away down big hills (straight towards the road) or in to muddy ravines. I gave the boys a bath after the park (about 50% of the bathwater ended up on the floor) and then an early picnic dinner on the livingroom floor. When Carl got home we put them to bed and then had some nice time together - interrupted by both boys waking up, screaming a number of times.

Carl made us scallops in a lemon glaze, fillet mignon and crusty hot bread. Our fresh asparagus was left out because of the multiple wakings. We had dinner and watched American Idol in between tending to the boys. We had a rare treat of mid-week wine, it was good stuff - 7 deadly Zins.

My valentine and I with Traci Reed's New Black Lace collection available at ACOT:

Corina's Papa Collection

2007-02-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

This beautiful and very special collection is 20% off today at www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com.

Kid = Kimberly Geswein
Kit = Corina Nielsen

Spring Chicken LO

2007-02-13T16:44:00.000-08:00

full credits
William was so little! These pictures are not excellent and I have had them sitting for a long time waiting for the right kit to work with them. This fun kit compliments the vivid colors in the photos - and my cute kids!