Insane In the Mombrain

Cold Hollow Cider Mill

2012-01-15T12:18:00.006-05:00

After the Leaf Peeper half, we had to stop at the Cold Hollow Cider Mill. There is always free cider there and we bought cider donuts. Yum!

Leaf Peepers Half Marathon

2012-01-15T11:50:00.005-05:00

Finish Line!

Almonzo Wilder's Boyhood Home

2012-01-15T10:28:00.013-05:00

This farm was a Friday School field trip in September. We had a great time.

September - Yeesh, I'm behind!

2012-01-15T09:52:00.010-05:00

The Fair

First day of Christian Friday School

We painted our pumpkins since it was too early to carve them.

PDub's whiskey cream sauce boiling down. I served it with steak and pasta for our anniversary.

August Round-Up

2011-09-25T22:30:00.006-04:00

"Reading" The Monster at the End of This Book. Mal is incapable of sitting still!

Cutting down a few more trees before hurricane Irene hit.

My beautiful dresser is finished!
A hitching.
A tasty treat, bread and butter pickles and double oreos. LOL

July randomness

2011-09-25T22:17:00.004-04:00

Mal reading comics over breakfast.
Xav, getting the sillies out.Mommy {hearts} Mal.

Helping Dad

2011-09-25T22:14:00.003-04:00

New railing on the back porch with a very attentive helper.

Space Camp Day

2011-09-25T18:24:00.007-04:00

This summer, we planned a few activity days for our Friday School friends. June was just Games. We played duck, duck, goose, Red Light/Green Light and kickball, had a nice picnic, a hike in the woods and just enjoyed playing together. July was Space Camp. Micah got out various "rockets" to launch for the kids, made a space ship out of a box and had so much fun. In August, we had planned a Pirate Camp, but with hurricane Irene a couple of days before, we ended up canceling our day of fun. Although we weren't effected like southern VT, we did have a soupy yard.

Anyway, Space Camp was super fun. We launched rockets made of soda bottles using water and air pressure, small capsules made of PVC with air pressure, and a model rocket. Oops. One might be stuck in a tree...
I lucked into a huge box at the store one day. With some markers and stickers, it became the coolest space ship ever.

Corning Museum of Glass

2011-08-30T22:56:00.018-04:00

I used to visit the museum regularly as a child. I loved it there. When I grew up, I went to work there. This place is so near and dear to me. I really enjoyed taking the boys to visit. We kept our visit short (which isn't easy), so we missed a few areas. They especially liked the Innovations area and the Hot Glass Show.

NY Finger Lakes region.
The shuttle.
In the entry.
When I worked here, there were no curtains nor dots on the glass and several people actually walked into the doors and walls in the Contemporary Art room.
Some contemporary glass art.
Brothers having a little fun.
The changing wall. "Glass is.." is on the wall, while the other words move and change around the wall.
Working with glass.
My brother's "art work". He used a hammer to simulate head impact on a windshield.
Clear glass floor, looking at the cafeteria below.
200" telescope disk.
How the disk came to be in the new building.

Melting temperatures.
Glass working tools.
Touching an ancient glass bottle.
Roses in the glass market.

Random June Stuff

2011-08-30T22:41:00.009-04:00

All the "grandboys" together.
Yes, He is...On a hill "back home" in NY.

The fund my mother-in-law collected when I got my speeding ticket. Some money, some pocket lint, some kitty kibble...

Some critters around the yard. Sadly (not) I didn't manage to get a picture of the HUGE spider Micah found in the wood pile.

Go Daddy, Go!

2011-07-08T17:01:00.007-04:00

Micah ran in the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon and Relay Memorial Day weekend. I'm such a bad wife, I have no idea what his time was.
Micah.

Not Micah.
He also ran in the Dairy Festival's 10K, The Milk Run, the following weekend. The boys and Princess were there to cheer him on.

Dairy Festival Parade.

2011-07-08T15:57:00.007-04:00

It's kind of funny. Where I grew up in NY, we were very close to the town of Bath where the Dairy Festival is held every year. So we move here and low and behold, we live in the dairy capital of Vermont.

Waiting patiently (with our flat visitor, Princess).
Welcome to the Dairy Festival.
Ben and Jerry's brought free ice cream for everybody! They must have had a surplus of strawberry shortcake. :)
Hometown heroes.
The goat dairy down the road. They have wonderful chevre and goat's milk soap.

June 19, 2011

2011-07-08T15:45:00.002-04:00

As Usual...

2011-07-08T15:35:00.002-04:00

I am a month behind on the blog and never even got around to finishing the posts about Plimoth, MA and the Mayflower II. Must get caught up!

Fiddleheads and Pasta

2011-07-08T14:38:00.011-04:00

Fiddleheads.

Boil fiddleheads.
Chop garlic.
Saute garlic.
Add fiddleheads.

Toss with pasta.Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Enjoy.

Milk and Eggs with Mr. K

2011-06-25T19:29:00.016-04:00

Another fun science day with Mr. K from Exordium Adventure involved milk and eggs. Not as tasty as you might imagine and nowhere near as yummy as the Candy Science class. ;)

Science equipment provided.Xav crushed some egg shell with a large bolt in a small tin dish. Science equipment can be found anywhere.Vinegar made the crushed shell bubble just like it made the baking soda bubble (see naked egg below).Mal took a short break.Spinning an egg to see if it's cooked or raw. Raw eggs wobble.Eggs of various ages to show the buoyancy of fresh eggs vs. old eggs. Fresh eggs sink. The older eggs float because of air trapped in the shell.
Naked eggs (made by soaking the shell off in vinegar) are rubbery and bounce. But be careful! They break.Water tension that kept this water from running out of the cap.Milk and food coloring.If I remember right, we added dish soap and got this reaction.

Ever attentive students. HA! That almost hurt to type! hee hee.

Friday School Closing Ceremony

2011-06-25T16:26:00.005-04:00

We are so very blessed to be a part of such a loving co-op family. Two Fridays each month the boys get to take some fun classes with their friends and on the opposite Fridays, we have a field trip or ice skating. Last month we had our graduation ceremony/closing for the 2010 - 2011 school year. I'm posting two pictures here because, really, no one is going to be able to make out anyone unless they know them anyway. However, if any co-op parent wants the pictures taken down, let me know and I'll be happy to do it.

All the parent teachers, without whom there would be no classes. {heart}
Roundbox with "gramma," whom we all just love like crazy, singing Jesus Loves Me. (Notice Mal covering his ears...)

Xav and the Inch(?) Worm

2011-06-25T16:19:00.005-04:00

Micah came in from running one day with a tiny "inch" worm on his shirt. Xav enjoyed him for a while.
When the boys let him go outside, the nosy cat came by and Mal thought he needed to protect the worm from the cat. He did so by picking it up and throwing it to the ground. The worm promptly "fell asleep." sigh...

Lego Maniacs

2011-06-25T16:08:00.004-04:00

What do boys do when there are only *two* Lego catalogs?

Xav's New Bike

2011-06-05T15:52:00.005-04:00

After freaking out about having to learn to ride a bike on a "girl bike," daddy spent a couple of weekends transforming this
into this. Xav is much happier now.

Emerald Night Express

2011-06-05T15:03:00.002-04:00

Mal received this train as a reward from Daddy. They spent some time working on it nearly every night for almost two weeks. Xav helped also by sorting bricks and giving Mal the pieces he would need. He also put the people together.

And the Winner is...

2011-05-18T21:49:00.004-04:00

Ghirrardelli Luxe Milk!

We shared our chocolates with two other homeschooling families today. I think everyone had a great time sampling and rating eight different kinds of chocolate. There were definitely a few surprises. One was that I forgot to take my camera out and photograph the process!

We set up a graph for each family using worksheet works, a website I use frequently. To keep the pandemonium to a minimum, we worked with just a few children at a time. Using a scale of 1-5, with one being disgusting and 5 being the best ever, we rated each bar and chose favorites.

Here are the final scores.

Ghirrardelli 60% 4
Castillo Coffee and Cashew (yellow label) 1.5
Castillo Coffee Bean (blue label) 2.66
Castillo 50% (pink label) 2
Ghirrardelli Luxe Milk 4.5
Lindt 34% Hazelnut 4.25
Cadbury Caramello 4.25
Hershey Bar 3.75

We also had some m&ms and Nestle' semi-sweet chips on hand for those who weren't really interested in trying exciting new taste sensations (i.e., Mal).

The Castillo bars were from Nicaragua, a gift from globetrotting Christine. They were so incredibly different from anything we were used to eating. The coffee and cashew bar was very grainy and yet airy at the same time. One child spit it right out. The coffee bean was a whole 'nother candy bar with whole roasted beans and completely different texture. A couple of the older boys gave it a four. That was a surprise. It was much smoother chocolate. Another interesting note was that after tasting Ghirrardelli, Cadbury, and Lindt chocolates, Hershey was a lot more mediocre than previously thought.

Tonight at dinner, Xav told daddy that number one was disgusting. It came out of nowhere and he had no idea what Xav was talking about. It was pretty funny.

My personal favorite chocolatier is Ferrero. We didn't sample any of those today, but on a scale of 1-5, I would give nutella, rocher, and rondnoir each a 10!

Now go eat some chocolate!

Here's Your Sign

2011-05-17T18:26:00.003-04:00

There was an actual fistfight in the backseat today, over a sign on a pickup truck. Though it was bent over, I'm pretty sure it said FOR SALE. Mal insisted it must say OUT OF ORDER and Xav was certain the sign read THIS IS A RED TRUCK. Sparks flew and I actually had to break up a fistfight... while driving.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming of weeks old posts.

Chocolate Challenge DNG Review

2011-05-17T14:21:00.008-04:00

We had every intention of immersing ourselves in chocolate this week. Thanks to our satellite internet provider, we weren't able to access any of the internet-linked sections of the Chocolate Challenge unit. We did, however, read some books about chocolate and Brazil, and sample some different chocolates. I excel at chocolate indulgences. The average American consumes ten pounds of chocolate each year. I think I am above average! Oops!

In Download N Go's Chocolate Challenge, each day we learned about Brazil and a famous chocolatier.

The daily objectives for Chocolate Challenge are:
Day 1: Chocolate - What is it?
Day 2: Chocolate - The Story
Day 3: Chocolate - The Types of Chocolate
Day 4: Chocolate - The Science of Chocolate
Day 5: Chocolate - Have a Chocolate Party

Check back tomorrow for the results of our chocolate tasting ~~party~~ educational experience. As the Bad Apple tells Larry Boy (and I told Trish to get her to agree to the chocolate tasting), "don't eschew chocolate, CHEW chocolate." It's all about education here, people.

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in so you don't see any of the other stuff on youtube pages. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

You can purchase your copy of Chocolate Challenge for $7.95

To see what others think of Download N Go's Chocolate Challenge, check out the blog hop.

Check out the convention season closeout sale on CD sets.

I was provided with a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Sunny Spring Day

2011-05-17T13:33:00.016-04:00

The first really nice day of 2011 was April 25. The littles had a great time exploring.

Exploring the creek. I'm trying really hard to stop saying "crick" as it elicits teasing from all sides. :)

We lost a few more trees this spring too.

Yellow-spotted salamander.

Exploring the pond.

Salamanders sampling the frog eggs.

Walking the "bug bridge." The littles named it after Micah dragged the trees across the ~~crick~~ creek, and they saw bugs using it.

Let Sleeping Ducks Lie.

2011-05-17T13:27:00.002-04:00

Each spring, for about a week, we have a duck pair visit and gobble up some tadpoles from our pond. After the long flight and full bellies, they needed to rest.

Sheldon Forest

2011-05-02T11:42:00.015-04:00

Friday School Trip to Sheldon Forest.
Bear fur? Porcupine quills? Fern seeds?

Money Tree.Nature Tree.
Xav's forest loot.
And future oak tree.

Play after.

At the playground.

Easter Eggs

2011-05-02T11:36:00.006-04:00

We enjoyed watching the color pellets dissolve in vinegar and make us some fun colors.

I was surprised they each chose to color eggs in their brother's favorite color first.

Just Because They're Cute

2011-04-26T13:46:00.004-04:00

Boys and Cousins at the Playground

2011-04-26T12:52:00.005-04:00

The other day, Xav told me the he knew the reason Daddy and I named the boys Mal and Xav was so we didn't name them Ryan and Nathan. Ryan and Nathan weren't even in the running. They were already taken. :)

Uncle Aaron and Aunt Kimmy invited us to the playground while we were visiting. It was HUGE!

Goin' to a Hitchin'

2011-04-26T12:41:00.005-04:00

I wanted to shop for a new dress for a wedding we were attending. I took Xav along with me. I think I tired him out.

I ended up not getting a dress, though I did like the first one I tried on. I stuck with one of my enwrapture skirts and a light sweater. My boys were all incredibly handsome.

Mother's Day Week in Review

2011-04-23T15:18:00.012-04:00

It has been THREE weeks since I've posted an entry here. Oops! I have plenty to share, but I want to tell you about this Mother's Day Download N Go before I get the other posts put together.

M-O-T-H-E-R
M is for the million things she gave me,
O means only that she's growing old,
T is for the tears she shed to save me,
H is for her heart of purest gold;
E is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
R means right, and right she'll always be,
Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER,"
A word that means the world to me.

Howard Johnson (c. 1915)

Mother's Day is Sunday, May 8 this year.

This week we learned about Mother's Day; how it began, how Mom's get loved on in other countries, LOADS of great ideas for Mother's Day gifts that the littles could do, and some of the wonderful mothers of the Bible.

I really enjoyed learning about the details of this holiday and Xav, especially, loved watching the craft videos, but I have to say I felt awkward teaching them about Mother's Day in such an in depth way. To me, Mother's Day is the day that (hopefully) Daddy or perhaps a grandparent tells the littles about and helps them celebrate their love for their Mommy. Mother's Day is about doing something for Mom in secret as a surprise. I guess when we decided to homeschool, I never thought about the kiddos making gifts in school to surprise their parents. :)

That being said, I think for older children who can do more of the study independently, it would be especially great! There seemed to be no end of ideas for surprises for Moms (and Grandmas!) and, as always, Download N Go has done a wonderfully thorough job on this unit study.

The daily objectives for Mother's Day are:
Day 1: What is Mother's Day?
Day 2: The History of Mother's Day
Day 3: Celebrating Mother's Day
Day 4: Preparing for Mother's Day
Day 5: Goodies for Mother's Day

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in so you don't see any of the other stuff on youtube pages. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

You can purchase your copy of Mother's Day for $7.95

To see what others think of Download N Go's Mother's Day, check out the blog hop .

I was provided with a copy for my honest review.

Our Trip to the Holy Land: DNG Review

2011-04-01T19:28:00.013-04:00

Can I just say, I was super excited to hear we would be reviewing Expedition Israel for Download N Go this spring? I was so excited, that when sweet Marcy announced sign ups for Expedition IRELAND in February, I rushed to the library to look for books for our Israel study. Poor Marcy. She teases me about taking the blog name a bit too seriously. :) Oops!

I am not going to pussy foot around. This is without a doubt, my absolute favorite DNG we have ever done. Ever. Xavier really enjoyed the Moody Bible videos each day. Mal liked learning about the animals. His favorite was the dugong. He always sings the Barbara Manatee song from Veggie Tales to me.

I loved this study so much, I spent a few hours just searching out more information for myself. I always picture rocks and sand and dry, boring desert when I think of Israel. I imagined it was all just like the rest of the middle east. Sort of like this:

Was I ever wrong! It's beautiful there, farms, vineyards, gardens. Just incredible. No wonder it's called the Land of Milk and Honey. I don't pretend to know anything about geography and history. I never was very good at it. I figure I'll learn with my boys as we go. Well, my ever so clever husband told me about the incredible national water carrier system built in Israel. So I had to spend an evening reading up on that. And now I know why some of Israel looks like this:

Beautiful!

The daily objectives for Expedition Israel are:
Day 1: Where on Earth Is Israel?
Day 2: Some of the Special Places in Israel
Day 3: A Bit of History
Day 4: Cool Things to Know About Israel
Day 5: Fun and Games in Israel

You'll learn a little Hebrew, see the animals and foods of Israel, and get in a bit of Bible and history. I hope to see Israel someday to walk the streets my Savior walked. Someday.

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in so you don't see any of the other stuff on youtube pages. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

You can purchase your copy of Expedition Israel for $7.95

To see what others think of Expedition Israel, check out the blog hop here.

Also, a brand new Download N Go for Easter is now available. Easter Promise.

I was provided with a copy to use in exchange for my honest review.

Happy Birthdays Monkey and Monkey's Daddy

2011-04-01T15:22:00.006-04:00

Dave and Cass came over to celebrate Mal's 6th birthday. Actually, I think it was for the cake, which Xav helped make.

He's been asking for this for months.

He was so funny. He even rubbed it on his cheek. :)

Don't worry. Micah got a birthday present too. Happy birthday to two of my favorite guys!

Kite Capers Week in Review

2011-03-17T11:49:00.008-04:00

Imagination is the highest kite one can fly. ~ Lauren Bacall

This week's exciting Download N Go was new Kite Capers.

In Kite Capers, we headed over to the NASA website. We learned some of the science and math behind kites. That was mostly for older children than the littles, but very interesting.

Kite Capers' daily objectives were:
Day 1: What Is a Kite?
Day 2: The History of Kites
Day 3: Kite People and Places
Day 4: Science Secrets of Kites
Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Kites

I love flying kites. Right now, with a ton of snow and our wind gusts of up to 80 MPH, we aren't quite ready for kite flying. It won't be long now though and I'm really looking forward to getting a kite up again soon. Even though we couldn't fly a kite, we did head out to a helicopter and pinwheel class to make something we could fly.

National Kite "month" is from March 26 to May 1, 2011. So get your kites ready for lots of springtime fun! I'm thinking about trying my hand at this centipede kite. Or maybe I will just trot out to the hardware store and get a new dowel rod for our big kite.

And just as an aside, doesn't Alexander Graham Bell look like Santa?

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

You can purchase your copy of Kite Capers for $7.95

To see what Kite Capers every once else got into, check out the blog hop here.

I was provided with a copy to use in exchange for my honest review.

Spring in VT

2011-03-10T17:43:00.007-05:00

Everyone got a sweet new haircut. Except for me. I'll have to remedy that soon.Yeah, he shaved again. :)

"I'll need one million helicopters and a dollar!"

Spring life in snow.
March 8.

Winner - Hoppin' Popcorn!

2011-03-08T23:45:00.003-05:00

The winner is... Trisha! Trisha, if you are my friend, let me know! If not, I need your email. I tried to get it from your blogger profile and couldn't access it. Enjoy!

Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts Winner!

2011-03-06T23:31:00.004-05:00

Is comment #5 as chosen by random.org. Sarah, that's you. I'll order it and have it sent straight to you. You'll get it near the end of the month. I know you'll have lots of fun with Jack.

If you didn't win, don't be blue. Enter the Download N Go Hoppin' Popcorn giveaway I have going on until Tuesday night.

Hoppin' Popcorn {{{Giveaway}}} and Week in Review

2011-03-05T19:10:00.009-05:00

"God Almighty first planted a garden.
And, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures."
Francis Bacon, Essays: Of Gardens
An ear of corn averages nearly 13,000 kernels. That comes out to a lot of popped corn! Hmmm... I should figure that out sometime.Download N Go's Hoppin' Popcorn has five daily objectives.
Popcorn - What is it?
The Story of Popcorn
The Flavors of Popcorn
The Science of Popcorn
Fun With Popcorn

And who doesn't want to have fun with popcorn? What a yummy treat!

You'll learn the mystery science that causes some kernels to not pop. I have actually chipped a tooth on an "old maid" (unpopped kernel). I imagine dentists love popcorn even though they tell us to avoid it.

This study brought back fond memories of stringing popcorn for Christmas. I think we only did it a few times, but it was fun. Now that the birds are coming back to VT, it might be time to treat them.

This study was fairly heavy on US geography, which I love. We learned about five of the 12 states in the corn belt, which is actually not very belt shaped. Each day we took note of the state's flag, bird, flower and more. It would be pretty easy to extend this study to learn about the other states in a similar fashion.

image from wikipedia

Corn mazes and movie nights, what would we do without corn? One night, I popped popcorn for the littles while they set up their seats and popped in a movie. We turned out the lights and pretended we were at the theater.

We learned about Cracker Jacks and I was transported back to Micah's proposal. Such romance!

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

You can purchase your copy of Hoppin' Popcorn for $7.95

Download N Go is allowing me to give away a copy here to one of my readers.

**First, the required entry,** go to Download N Go and look around. Come back and tell me which DNG title is your favorite.

After that entry, you can get one entry for the following:
1) Tweet about or share this giveaway link on Facebook or your own blog. Must link to this blog entry, not my main page or the blog hop page. (One entry)
2) Follow my blog. (One entry)
3) Tell me your favorite way to enjoy popcorn. (One entry)

So you can enter a total of four (4) times. Post a separate comment for each entry. Be sure to include your email address or that I have a way to contact you. Otherwise I will have to select a different winner and that would be unfortunate.

Winner will be selected late on Tuesday, March 8 using Random.org.
DNG affiliates including the DNG Review Team are not eligible.

Check out the Hoppin' Popcorn blog hop for more reviews and giveaways.

***I was provided a free copy of Hoppin' Popcorn in exchange for my honest review.***

My Faith Box

2011-03-03T09:21:00.011-05:00

I meant to tell you all about this sooner, but I just finally took some pictures. Last year, I entered a blog contest on Good Morning Girls (a group I *highly* recommend to Christian women!) to win something called My Faith Box. I was so excited to hear that I had won the contest! THEN, then, I saw that Courtney posted on Women Living Well (another blog I absolutely LOVE!) that this sweet blogger, Angela, had a conversation with her husband about how many women had entered the contest and how terrible she felt that she had to choose just one name. She had the idea that maybe they could give away TWO My Faith Boxes. Her husband said that just wouldn't do. They actually agreed to give one to every. single. woman. who entered the blog contest, over 150! That was just one of the most incredibly generous things I've heard in a long time.If you go to the My Faith Box page, you can hear a podcast about the boxes.

From the website:
A new resource for parents to guide their child's faith journey and capture spiritual growth keepsakes. MY FAITH BOX includes a MY FAITH BOX and MY FAITH BOOK. Ideal to help you create an age-specific plan on each birthday and capture memories from special milestones; while giving you resources and ideas for how to be intentional in helping your child know, love and follow Jesus.

The box is nice and sturdy. It has a carrying handle. You could even decorate it.

A few of the pages of the My Faith Book.

Each year has a 4 page spread for notes.

One My Faith Box costs just $25 or $225 for 10 boxes. Prices include domestic shipping. All of the proceeds go to LakePointe's family ministries. This would be a great Easter gift or present for a new momma.

I tagged this post "review", but honestly, this is just a way for me to pass on something that I really like.

Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts {{Giveaway}}

2011-03-02T12:03:00.014-05:00

I am so excited to offer this giveaway! I have heard *raves* about Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts for ages now, most recently from The Old Schoolhouse Facebook page. I seriously wondered what all the hype was about. Each month (September to May) Shirley sends you a nice little box loaded to the gills with papers, a calendar, a letter of encouragement, instructions and everything you need to complete 12 crafts (craft sticks, brads, pipe cleaners, stickers - whatever the crafts require). All you need to provide is a busy preschooler and craft basics like scissors, glue, tape and crayons.

I contacted Shirley and she very graciously provided me with the February box. After some discussion with her, we decided the pack I should offer for a giveaway would be April. Stay tuned at the end of this post to find out how to enter to have the April craft kit mailed directly to your house!

February's Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts box focused on heart shape, the number seven and the color red. These were incorporated into some of the crafts. Holidays are also recognized in each box. For this package, they were National Children's Dental Health Month, Valentine's Day and President's Day. We also learned about the Armor of God with this box. The instruction sheets list all of the craft instructions with a small image of the completed craft as well as a list of items needed from the package and from your own craft supplies.

Even though the crafts are for "preschoolers", Malachi enjoyed doing some of them as well. I would think any early elementary child who enjoys quick, simple crafting would have fun with most of the crafts. Even I had a little crayon fun on a few of the pieces. A couple of crafts were altered a bit by my boys. For instance, on the tooth brushing page, Mal decided to make a puzzle out of the tooth he attached by cutting it into several pieces after cutting it out. Xavier didn't want to cut the ladybug body out of the white sheet of paper. That was all OK. They enjoyed themselves each time I pulled the craft box out. They are both still working on scissor skills, so we did sometimes help with that. Since they shared a box, they were working on different crafts at the same time and occasionally *someone* got a little ahead of me while I helped his brother.

The littles really enjoyed creating with Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts and I liked knowing all I needed to do was grab the pages and pieces needed for any project, check the instruction sheet to see what was needed from our craft supplies and gather the boys to the table. It was so easy!

One month of Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts sells for $18, including shipping. Only Minnesota residents pay tax. There are also subscription options. Receive three consecutive months for $52.50 or subscribe to the full, nine month school year (September to May) for $153.

What do we do with all of those crafts? Well, some will go in the littles' portfolios for this school year. I took photos of the other crafts and will be sending some special people a few tokens of love from the littles.

**Now for the giveaway part! Leave a comment on this post and tell me about a favorite craft that you have made with your own children or that you remember from your childhood. I will choose a winner on Sunday, March 6. I need to be able to get your address right away for the April box, so be sure to leave your email address in the comment. If, by some chance, the winner has not responded to my email when I check on the morning of the 9th, I will choose another winner. However, that winner will likely receive the May craft box. Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts only ships in the US. One entry per person, please.**

Note: Only 8 of the 12 projects from February's craft box are shown here.

I received one box of Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts free of charge to complete this review.

Xav Loves Letters!

2011-03-01T11:36:00.007-05:00

Favorite snacking and bathing pastime?

Numbers!
Letters!

And writing his name. In his defense, Mal was holding a few important letters hostage. He is having a little trouble understanding why there is no Z in his name, Y stood in for V, and 3 pretended to be E. N? Well, I have no idea...

Homeschool Valentine

2011-03-01T11:19:00.007-05:00

What do you do when your poor, isolated homeschooled children are denied the joy of exchanging valentines? Well, you join a swap with other homeschooling families across the nation. Over a period of about 10 days, we received valentines from Washington, Texas, Georgia and other places. We made it a geography project. Some families sent candy, pencils, stickers and information about their states. The packages we sent in return had road maps of Vermont which listed points of interest all around our beautiful state.

We needed something to hold all of our valentines, so the littles decorated these cute little mailboxes I picked up at Target.

The Black Eye Blues

2011-02-28T15:43:00.001-05:00

The littles and I stopped into a new craft store in Williston. It's so new, in fact, they hadn't even had their grand opening yet. Well, Mal has suddenly started spinning. all. the. time. He can't stop. If he is standing, he is spinning in circles.

We had just bought our two new Thomas books and I was unloading Xav from the cart, when I hear a crash behind me. My spinner has fallen and smashed his face just below his eye on a bag rack at the register. Sigh... He didn't take it well at all.

That night.
Day 2Day 4
Day 5

Expedition Ireland Week in Review

2011-02-20T21:48:00.006-05:00

“Ocean before,
the summer sky above
Who could portray
the mountains’ purple smiles—
And all the opal hues
of earth and heaven,
Foam fringing forests,
heather-tufted isles.”
From Songs of Killarney,
by Alfred Perceval Graves, 1914

Expedition Ireland's five daily objectives were:
Day 1: Where on Earth is Ireland?
Day 2: The Places of Ireland
Day 3: A Bit of History
Day 4: Cool Things to Know About Ireland
Day 5: Fun and Games in Ireland

See that eensy little green dot above Africa (sort of center of the top)? That's Ireland.

We learned about a different, interesting geographic location in Ireland each day, like the Giant's Causeway. We also studied animals from Ireland. I thought the Galway sheep were neat. We just loved the look of them. We learned some Irish words, as well. As I write this, I can also tell you it is currently much warmer in Dublin, Ireland than it is in Vermont! Mid-forties sound glorious right now, even if it is raining. We watched videos of Celtic Dancers and learned about St. Patrick. Maybe we even supplemented this week's DNG with a Veggie Tale version of the story of St. Patrick. :)

As usual, we really enjoyed this Download N Go. The expeditions are always a treat. Well planned and thorough, I highly recommend Download N Go.

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

See what other families have to say about Download N Go's Expedition Ireland on the blog hop.

***I was provided a copy of Expedition Ireland to use with my family in exchange for my honest review.***

Through tomorrow, Monday the 21st, four unit studies will be priced at just $5 each. Choose from the Gardens and Flight four week studies (normally $10.95) or DNG's Expedition China and Goofy Geckos (normally $7.95). $5 days.

Amaryllis

2011-02-16T22:30:00.002-05:00

Thanks World Traveler Christine. It's beautiful. The first two stems are now dead and another three are growing in. :)

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-02-16T21:56:00.010-05:00

I made these yummy cookies tonight. You can find the recipe at Picky Palate.

Just wrap two scoops of her chocolate chip cookies around an oreo. The first pan full was kind of funky and ended up looking like hats with brims and some oreo cookie showed through.

The second pan, I made sure to mush them a bit more compact rather than just seal the edges. They looked much better.

This is a comparison of a regular cookie, using Pampered Chef's medium scoop. It took two scoops to make these cookies.

Warm oreos are yummy.

My ever-so-serious chocolate-faced assistant. He got to lick the brownie bowl. We ended up not using brownies today.

Man, I love that kooky little cookie monster. :)

An Accidental Experiment

2011-02-12T22:49:00.005-05:00

See that blue string? Mal pulled it out of the waist of his pants (sigh) and when he shook it off his hand, the heater came on and it floated slowly toward the ceiling. The boys and I spent a good ten minutes floating it up, jumping about, trying to catch it and starting it all over again. It was all very exciting... to the littles.

More Snow

2011-02-12T22:42:00.004-05:00

Anyone sick of it yet?

Off the back roof.

See that little piece of wood on the lower left of this picture? That's the deck floor. About three feet above the ground. Gosh I love winter.At least it's toasty inside.

An Alphabet Game

2011-02-06T14:08:00.004-05:00

I made this letter game for the boys. My plan was a board of some kind where they could put the uppercase letters in alphabetical order and then place the lowercase letters on top. After our Lego advent was done, I decided to keep the plastic tray with 24 sections in it for sorting games. It works great for this alphabet game, we just leave Y and Z on the table.

I made the scallop circles with SU!'s scallop circle punch and then used a smaller circle punch for the lowercase letters. I used some stickers, which were just plain awful. It came out fine though, after the hassle and the littles like the game.

.

When Winter Works Against You

2011-02-06T13:53:00.008-05:00

The back deck is about 3 feet off the ground. We've got a bit of snow in the yard, as you can see. The snow hasn't come off the roof out there yet.

After shoveling the entire driveway,

this was Micah's reward.

The snow slid off the roof just minutes after the van was moved down the driveway and about 15 minutes after the boys came in for lunch.

How to Save Money on Children's Shoes

2011-02-03T15:17:00.002-05:00

Let them wear *one* shoe at a time!

Working on Motor Skills

2011-02-02T17:05:00.004-05:00

Xav wanted fries the other day for lunch. He didn't want to eat them with his fingers. Or a fork, for that matter. He decided on "pinchy things". So he ate them with my tongs.

Homeschool Blessings

2011-02-02T14:21:00.017-05:00

We have been so blessed by friends who have gifted our family with unique homeschooling "supplies". I thought I'd share a couple of our recent favorites here.

World Traveler Christine left us with some money from several other countries when she visited last November.

Nicaraguan Cordobas

Euros

Kenyan Shillings

Ugandan Shillings

Honduran Lempiras (The 20 had these nifty holes in them. That face is on the other bill.)

Our friend Mrs. Witt gave us the neatest math manipulatives ever created. If I remember correctly, her mother made them.

They came in this big dino covered box. Twenty individual boxes full of fun homemade goodies for creative math play.

Trees (I think I got these trees with numbers on them somewhere else, but they work so nicely with the buckets of apples, I've added them to this kit.) :)

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Nests
and Airports
Thanks girls!

Guess what came in the mail!

2011-01-30T18:19:00.005-05:00

I'll be having a giveaway for April's craft box at the end of February! Watch for my review of February's package and give away in a few weeks.

The Mitten

2011-01-24T21:47:00.005-05:00

Recently, during our Winter Wonders unit, we found a fun book we'd never read before. The Mitten by Jan Brett is a Ukrainian folk tale about a boy who loses his snow white mitten. A bunch of animals climb into the mitten until finally, a bear sneezes and all the animals fall out. The boys and I really enjoyed it. The following week at Friday School, Miss Trish brought The Mitten and a mitten craft to craft class.

Frozen Bubbles

2011-01-24T21:28:00.006-05:00

The temp this morning was a balmy -20*F, so I threw on some wool socks, a scarf and a wool sweater over my flannel jammies and blew some bubbles. I love what happens to soap bubbles when they freeze. We did find out earlier this week that 5* ABOVE zero is not cold enough.

An hour after I blew these bubbles, the unbroken ones were still rolling around the porch. :)

Versatile Blogger Award

2011-01-24T16:24:00.005-05:00

Cuh-razy! I was honored with the Versatile Blogger Award last week. How cool is that? Renita over at Krazy Kuehner Days likes my blog. Thanks Renita and all of those krazy Kuehners!

Here are the "rules" of the award.

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award

2. Answer 10 questions

3. Pass it along to 7 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy

4. Leave your recipients a note, telling them about the award

The 10 Questions...
1. Why did you create this blog?
Our families don't live close by, so this is a nice way for them to see what we're up to and watch the littles learn and grow.

2. What kinds of blogs do you follow?
Homeschooling, Christian, Food, and my friends.

3. Favorite make-up brand?
Easy question. I rarely wear makeup.

4. Favorite clothing brand?
Whatever I like that's on sale.

5. Indispensable makeup product?
None.

6. Favorite color?
Purple and autumnal shades

7. Favorite perfume?
I like Coty Wild Musk, but rarely wear it.

8. Favorite film?
The Princess Bride is all time number 1! I think a close second is Avatar. Just stunning.

9. What country would you like to visit and why?
Israel, just because.

10. Would you rather forget to put mascara on one eye or forget blush on one side of your face?
I generally "forget" to put mascara and blush on both eyes and cheeks.

As for new blogs I've discovered and enjoy, I've selected a few to receive the Versatile Blogger Award from recent additions to my RSS feed. Something drew me to each one; whether homeschooling, Christian encouragement, FOOD! :) I enjoyed a post(s) enough to add them to Google Reader. I'm passing the award on to:

Good Morning Girls

The Cheapskate Cook

A Holy Experience

T. Suzanne Eller

To Be Busy at Home

Becoming Minimalist

Education Cubes

Magnificent Moon Week in Review

2011-01-23T08:58:00.008-05:00

“The Earth was very small. (It was) the size of a marble. I thought if the Earth is that small, how small am I? Just a speck in the universe, but yet signifcant enough that God would love me and create me and love me enough to touch my life. . . .
I felt privileged like an angel to get God’s view of the Earth.” ~Astronaut James Irwin

Magnificent Moon's five daily objectives are:
Day 1: What Exactly Is a Moon?
Day 2: Getting to Know the Moon
Day 3: The Story of the Moon
Day 4: Science Secrets of the Moon
Day 5: Cool Things About the Moon

I choked up when we watched the NASA video of the Apollo 14 launch. We learned about a different astronaut each day. I took astronomy in college and I must have forgotten A LOT after class ended. Although, plenty of moons have been discovered in our solar system since I graduated, so I can't be held responsible for those facts. Right? Rightrightrightright. :)

This is a painting of James Irwin in prayer by astronaut Alan Bean called We Came In Peace For All Mankind. He uses actual moondust and bits of Apollo spacecraft in his art! On his website, Alan remembers a conversation between Dave Scott and Jim Irwin.
Dave: "Oh, look at the mountains today, Jim. When they're all sunlit isn't that beautiful?"
Jim: "Really is, Dave. I'm reminded on a favorite biblical passage from Psalms: 'I look unto the hills from whence cometh my help.' But of course, we get quite a bit from Houston, too."

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

We found a lot of the suggested reading at our library this time, which made Magnificent Moon that much more fun. I also decided to browse the DVDs at the library this time. We found Space Buddies, Leapfrog's Math Adventure to the Moon, and Goodnight Moon, which, by the way, is absolutely adorable. I hadn't really ever thought too much about adding movies to a DNG, but I was glad I did.

We also had the Build It! theme bag from the library and found some fun acrylic pieces that were perfect for making our rockets to the moon!

This was a really fun study and we all learned a lot. I highly recommend it!

The Cabin Fever Fun Pack includes Magnificent Moon as well as Winter Wonders, Expedition Canada, and Hoppin' Popcorn and is on sale through 1/31/11 for $20 (regularly $28). The link for this product is here.

See what fun other families are having with Magnificent Moon. The blog hop is here.

***I was provided a copy to use with my family in exchange for my honest review.***

Happy 4th Birthday Xav!

2011-01-23T08:04:00.006-05:00

The cake. Xav helped me make it, frost it and he decorated it.
Waiting for cake.
Gifts. Do we look a little mischievous?
(Once again, he is pulling his lips into his mouth over and over and has gotten a terribly chapped mouth. The chocolate around his mouth does not improve the look. sigh...)

The Dragon and the Turtle

2011-01-11T11:55:00.003-05:00

I posted a review for the children's book, The Dragon and the Turtle, over on my review blog "Stuff I Like and Stuff I Don't" the other day. Check it out and see the first comment for information from one of the authors (Donita K Paul) about a contest going on at the publisher's website. Your littles could win their very own camping equipment and books!

Winter Wonders Week in Review

2011-01-09T14:41:00.014-05:00

Well, it *is* Vermont. And winter *is* wonderful here, assuming you don't have to drive anywhere or be out of doors for an extended period of time, or *ahem* dig up the last of your carrots when it's 20* outside. :) The mountains nearby, the snow on the trees, the birds at the feeders all combine to create beauty all around us. We are so blessed to have such a nice place to bring up our littles.
This week, we've been exploring Download N Go's Winter Wonders unit study.

“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Genesis 8:22 (NIV)

Winter Wonders has a five day plan with a different learning objective each day.
Day 1: What is Winter?
Day 2: Science Secrets of Winter
Day 3: People and Places of Winter
Day 4: Time for Tips and Treasures of Winter
Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Winter

We have found so many rabbit trails to chase this week, that we are taking two weeks to complete this study. For instance, we found out THE Snowflake Bentley lived very near us. I'll be taking the littles to see his exhibit in Jericho, VT. After our attempts to capture, magnify, and photograph snowflakes, we really got an appreciation for the struggles Mr. Bentley endured during his work. If you go to the Snowflake Bentley exhibit page, you can play a Match the Snowflake game.

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

Here are some of the great books we found at the library. Snowballs was super cute. I've really enjoyed all of the books we've looked at by Lois Ehlert. We also like the My First Little House book series.

You can purchase Winter Wonders here. It's on sale today for $4, regularly $7.95.

Need some more convincing to give Winter Wonders a try? The Winter Wonders blog hop is located here. You can just jump right to the next blog from here.

***I was provided a copy to use with my family in exchange for my honest review.***

Owie

2011-01-07T22:56:00.005-05:00

Note to self: When you have a headache and a boy says, "I saw a movie behind the TV" take note of where the corner of the clock is hanging as you reach for said movie. When you smash the top of your skull on the bottom corner of the clock and you crumple to the floor in pain, be careful not to fall into the wall, hitting your shoulder and your head again.

I decided to cry, even though I'm the mom. Xavier shouted, "Let's get out of here, run Mal!" (Thanks Xav!) Mal ran alright and I hear *crash* *bang* *slam*! Mal got the first aid kit and wanted to put "lotion" and a band-aid on my owie. Thankfully, he couldn't find the ointment. I was so excited that he was having this moment of empathy, I let him put a smiley face band-aid in my hair. I love that kid!

Christmas Cactus in Bloom

2011-01-02T21:58:00.005-05:00

I've had this Christmas cactus about 6 years. This is only the second time it has bloomed. I think it's beautiful and I just love the unique way the petals all open back and up. It actually didn't bloom until New Year's eve day.

Wrapping Up 2010

2011-01-02T21:43:00.008-05:00

This was one happy and excited little boy. Santa got him the *one* thing he asked for!The funniest part about this picture is that Xav is opening the gift he got me! He just saw his name on it and tore it open. :)Part of my Willow Tree Nativity.M cracks me up. He put this sign on the *bathroom* door. If you can't see, it says "Santa Stop Here!"We are a super exciting bunch. Here's what we did for New Year's eve. Click here for details!

Merry Christmas from All of Us!

2010-12-31T22:30:00.012-05:00

The Jesse Tree I made.
This was one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year. It was just for fun, but I took snowball makers/totes and filled them with sock snowballs. :)Our favorite piece of mail in The Jolly Christmas Postman.Xav MonkeyThis Amazon package cracked me up! There was nothing else in the box except some brown paper!Freakishly flexible like his dad.

Lego Advent

2010-12-31T22:20:00.007-05:00

Some pics of the Lego Advent toys. This really helped the littles understand how much longer before Santa arrived. And I was really impressed with Mal's memory. Each night, he would tell us which number was next and who's turn it was to open a box.

This kid was spoiled rotten. Toys galore. We lost his helmet inside the box and couldn't retrieve it until Christmas.

The daughter got a keyboard for Christmas.

Welcome home hubby.

Creation Camouflage Week in Review

2010-12-18T21:16:00.014-05:00

...eighteen...nineteen...twenty. Ready or not here I come. Remember playing hide and seek? Let's face it, if you are the mom of some littles, you probably played it pretty recently. I always laugh at my boys. They hide in the same old places; under blankets, under the bed, under the table. Not terribly imaginative. This week, we spent some time learning about animals that use camouflage to hide in plain sight.

cam·ou·flage
Pronunciation: kam--fläzh, -fläj
Function: noun
1 : the hiding or disguising of something by covering it up or changing the way it looks
2 : the material (as paint or leaves and branches) used for camouflage

We really enjoyed the Creation Camouflage unit study from Download N Go. The littles are *huge* fans of I SPY type books. It really was challenging to find some of the animals in the pictures and videos we looked at each day.

Day 1: Hiding in Plain Sight
Day 2: Getting to Know the Rain Forest
Day 3: What Is in the Desert?
Day 4: Hiding in the Ocean
Day 5: Cool Things About the Tundra

These were a couple of my favorite pictures.

Boreal owlOwl butterflyWe also chose this week to watch the Curious George episode when George loses a chameleon.

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett and The Old Schoolhouse. Intended for grades K-4, my 3.5 year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

Creation Camouflage is normally priced at $7.95, but is on sale for $5.95 until December 18.

Still not convinced you *need* Creation Camouflage? Check out the blog hop here.

***I was provided a free copy of Creation Camouflage to use with my littles and write my honest review.***

Growing Big and Strong

2010-12-14T19:54:00.006-05:00

"It's fun to wear my Dad's shoes. They make me big and strong." (Excuse the blur, he was dancing.)Here, Mal wrote TrAIN all by himself.

December Bounty

2010-12-14T19:08:00.004-05:00

So, I headed out to the garden the other day to get us some carrots to go with my roast. Yummy. First, I trudged through about a foot of snow (that's what the three feet we got had compacted down to). I had to shovel the snow in front of the garden gate. Then shoveled the snow off the raised carrot bed. Then I realized I needed a real shovel for the soil. So I shoveled in front of the barn door so I could get a "real shovel". Trekking back to the garden, I almost absent-mindedly walked between the downed maple tree and the fence. That would have been wet. The hole is surprisingly deep and had filled immediately with water. Whew! Made it back to the carrot bed. Broke up the soil a bit with the "real shovel". The dirt was surprisingly not frozen. It was, however, incredibly cold. So with icy, painful fingers, I received this bounty from the Lord. There are still plenty more out there. As long as temps are reasonable and there is snow to insulate those root veggies, I should be able to go out several more times.

December Centerpiece

2010-12-11T11:04:00.004-05:00

So it's time to put away my autumn centerpiece and put one together for Christmas. I ended up finding a cute grapevine tree and a Believe sign at The Christmas Tree Shop. I placed them on a gold charger and put that on a burgandy placemat. There you go. My second attempt at table decor.

When Lego Snowmen Go Wrong

2010-12-11T10:59:00.002-05:00

Every morning after Thanksgiving, Xav would ask if Santa had been here yet. I needed something to help the littles understand it wasn't Christmas yet. So we are using the Lego advent calendar this year. It's working like a charm.

What will happen to our intrepid hero?

O R E O!

2010-12-10T23:06:00.003-05:00

OK. I admit. I like double stuffed oreos. That's right. I like my transfats multiplied. Actually, I like my double stuffed oreos doubled. So, you know, I have to open two oreos and put them together. Well, what is a girl to do when there are *three* oreos left in the pack? Seriously. I couldn't leave one lonely oreo in the pack. I made the ultimate sacrifice. I tripled my double stuf. Yum.

December Storms

2010-12-10T21:58:00.012-05:00

You got a glimpse of our Wind storm in this post. We actually lost power from around noon on Wednesday to 5PM on Friday. We also didn't have any phone until Tuesday.

I was pretty nervous about the trees by the house, though thankfully they all fell away from our home. I called Micah at work after the first few trees fell, just to give him a heads up and let him know we'd be in the basement with candles and the woodstove. I was on my cell phone with Colleen when the broken tree fell over. That was frightening and the boys and I skedaddled ourselves to the basement.The neighbors had some trouble too.
We don't get very good cell service in the house, but I found I could text if I held the phone to the window. My only connection to the outside world. We ended up losing many more trees (even a maple).We were barely up and running after that when we got the snow storm. Over two days or so, about 3 feet fell. The littles loved the light, fluffy stuff until Mal realized it wasn't good for sledding when it's that deep. Things are back to normal around here for now. At least as normal as they get. :)

Catching up November

2010-12-10T20:35:00.010-05:00

Gratitude tree.We had lots of company.Thanksgiving dinner.Playing in the snow.

WINDSday

2010-12-02T13:14:00.003-05:00

Unofficial count, 11 pines and one maple down.

Over the River and Through the Woods

2010-11-30T22:28:00.012-05:00

Grandma Char and Grandpa Bob's (It was *freezing* that day, but Mal wouldn't wear a jacket.)Grandma and Papa Toonie's Grandma and Poppa of the Forest

I Spent $1.35 at Carter's

2010-11-22T23:07:00.002-05:00

Back in August, Alyssa at Keeping the Kingdom First was involved in the big Back to School giveaways. I won a $100 gift card to Carter's! Well, the card arrived and I promptly misplaced it. So frustrating! Earlier this month, I located it in Micah's insulated lunch bag. Good place for it, huh?

Well, I may be forgetful, but I'm no fool. I waited for a sale (50%) and waited for an email coupon (20%) and tonight we headed down to the store. I am so excited. Mal is growing out of all his size 5s. So, I bought the following.

2 pair jeans
1 pair cords
3 pair pajamas
3 shirts
1 sweat shirt
1 light jacket
2 pair of gloves
2 little giftees for my nephew due in the spring

I think that's everything. Anyway, that was almost $300! After sale, coupons and the gift card, I paid $1.35! I was so excited. AND I got a card for $10 off my next $10+ purchase.

Thank you so much Alyssa, Back 2 School Giveaways and Carter's!

Gettin' Girly

2010-11-21T01:34:00.004-05:00

I've never really been the decorator type. I love to see the results, but I just never did much of it. I don't really have a good eye. For some reason, Micah seems to think I should be putting "feminine touches" around the house. Now where he gets that idea, I'll never know. ;)

Well, after 8 years together, I put together my first seasonal centerpiece.What do you think?

Halloween in Vermont

2010-11-21T00:42:00.005-05:00

ECHO

2010-11-20T19:37:00.024-05:00

We took a fun trip to ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center with our Christian Friday School friends. We headed to Lake Champlain and had a GREAT morning.

This is in the lobby. I loved it, but I wondered how practical is it if you have to have "caution slippery when wet" signs up 24/7.We explored several kinds of alternative energy.
HydroWindSolar - the lights are actually lit, just dimly.
The littles LOVED the water obstacle course.In Discovery Place, Mal got *inside* the turtle aquarium through a tube up the bottom. Too bad the sneaky turtles were sitting on the platform on top!
The shipwreck.Ignore the red eyes. I haven't figured out how to get rid of them on the laptop.Even the resource room was fun.Here's what's on the menu at ECHO.We saw turtles and fish and frogs.
South American blue poison dart frog. So pretty. And unnatural looking!Madagascar's tomato frog.The North American Malachi frog.There was also a small dig to unearth a beluga whale skeleton. They took this job very seriously.

Steamy Pictures

2010-11-20T19:32:00.003-05:00

While cooking, I got the house all steamed up and Mal found a new drawing medium.

Our Trip "Down Under" week in review

2010-11-07T19:44:00.006-05:00

"A queer country, so old that you walk on and on, there's a feeling comes over you that you are gone back to Genesis" - Australian bushman

G'day mates! Join us on our Expedition Australia!

Daily Objectives

Day 1: Where on earth is Australia?

Day 2: Some of the special places in Australia

Day 3: A bit of Australian history

Day 4: Cool things to know about Australia

Day 5: Fun and games in Australia

We especially loved learning about marsupials. Xavier wanted to get into my pouch! I was also excited to be able to use some of the information I learned from this unit to prepare for my Friday School class. This week, we learned about kangaroos. I had eight littles hopping all over the classroom like kangaroos. I always love to hear the grandiose ideas they come up with. "I can hop like a kangaroo 18 times around this room!" Three times around and they are wiped out. :)

Expedition Australia is on sale right now for $5.95! Grab it at the sale price by November 8.

Over at the Download N Go blog, you can enter to win one of TWO political maps of Ausatralia from National Geographic! To enter the contest, just click over to the blog and leave a comment. You have until 9 PM EST on November 8. Good luck!

Still not convinced you *need* Expedition Australia? Check out the blog hop here.

***I was provided a free copy of Expedition Australia to use with my littles and write my honest review.***

Terrific Tigers Winner!

2010-10-31T13:10:00.003-04:00

Random.org chose a winner for me. It's comment number 5. Kirsten! Congrats Kirsten! I know you and your littles are going to have so much fun.

Remembering

2010-10-28T13:39:00.002-04:00

It's funny (and thrilling) to me when the boys mention something they learned weeks or even months ago. This morning, when the sky was clear and the sun was shining, Mal told me that this bright sun was the same sun that is charging the batteries on the Mars Rover that we studied during Rocking Robots.

While watching What's in the Bible? DVD 1 (I think it's 1), Quacky the Duck rides his tricycle to Italy, which we all know is shaped like a boot. We learned that from Pizza Party.

Xav remembers that birds migrate in a V formation, even though the poor kid was sick on the day we got to practice V formations in Walk Like the Animals class. It just isn't as much fun with three people as it was with the whole class.

Some days, it seems like they don't "get" anything. And then they prove me wrong. Some little something did sink in.

Give Me Your Eyes

2010-10-26T16:14:00.002-04:00

After a horrible, awful, rotten day with my boys yesterday, I climbed into the car to head for Zumba. I had the radio tuned to K-Love. The first words I hear are the chorus, "...give me your eyes for just one second, give me your eyes so I can see, everything that I keep missing, give me your love for humanity..."

Oh, to be able to look at my children "for just one second" with God's eyes. To see the beauty of His creation that He sees even in our worst moments of our worst day, to love them the way that He loves them. Just for one second. I'd love to know in advance that the second was coming so I could grab hold of the picture in my mind's eye and hold the feeling in my heart. To be able to go back to that second and remember even when the sight and feeling are gone.

I love my boys, just not as well as God does.

Tigers Week in Review and {GIVEAWAY}

2010-10-24T14:22:00.008-04:00

Once on a tiger's back, it is hard to alight.

Actually, once you start this Download N Go unit study it will be hard to stop. I don't know what it was this time, but both boys kept insisting on calling them lions this week. I know. They are strange children. They get it from their father. :)

We created a fun lapbook using the components included in the unit study. My printer is out of yellow and until the lack of color overrides my ~~cheapness~~ frugality, I won't be changing the cartridge. But when I do, I will print a nice colorful cover for the front.Q. What do you get when you cross a tiger with a sheep?
A. A striped sweater!

Terrific Tigers Daily Objectives
Day 1: What is a tiger?
Day 2: Getting to know tigers
Day 3: Where are the tigers?
Day 4: The science of tigers
Day 5: Cool things about tigers

Download N Go is a unit study/lapbooking series created by Amanda Bennett and The Old Schoolhouse for grades K-4 and is intended to take one week to complete, though with all the resources available it would be easy to expand that. They are bright and colorful and loaded with information. DNG studies have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I spent a little time looking through the entire study before working on this with the boys. You could use this time to decide how many pages you will print, what household objects you will need for the week and what library books to reserve.

You can purchase your copy of Terrific Tigers for $7.95.

Download N Go is allowing me to give away a copy here to one of my readers. There are several ways to enter.

First, the required entry, go to Download N Go and look around. Come back and tell me which DNG title is your favorite.

After that entry, you can get one entry for the following:
1) Tweet about or share this giveaway link on Facebook or your own blog. Must link to this blog entry, not my main page or the blog hop page. (One entry)
2) Follow my blog. (One entry)
3) Tell me the last time you saw a real tiger. (One entry)

So you can enter a total of four (4) times. Post a separate comment for each entry. Be sure to include your email address or that I have a way to contact you. Otherwise I will have to select a different winner and that would be unfortunate.

Winner will be selected on October 31 using Random.org.
TOS/DNG affiliates including the DNG Review Team and TOS Crew are not eligible.

Check out the blog hop of Terrific Tigers reviews and more giveaways.

***I was provided a free copy of Terrific Tigers in exchange for my honest review.***

Where's Xav?

2010-10-19T11:34:00.005-04:00

The littles love playing hide and seek. Unfortunately, they aren't very good at it. They always hide under a blanket or under the table. Xav was hiding in my recliner and Mal was looking for him. Mal sat down and leaned back on Xav and asked me if I know where Xav is hiding. Meanwhile, Xav is giggling up a storm under the blanket. This is what ensued.

Daddy's Occupation

2010-10-19T11:20:00.003-04:00

It was my turn to teach Xav's Sunday school class the other day. We talked about Esther and how it was God's plan for her to become King Xerxes' wife. We also talked about what God's plans might be for the children (2-4 year olds). I asked each of them what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Xav: I want to be just like my daddy.
Me: Do you know what daddy does?
Xav: He goes to work and he runs.
I explained that daddy does run a lot, but that isn't his job. Daddy is an engineer. Xav gasped and got all excited with eyes as big as saucers.
Xav: Daddy is a ENGINEER?!
Oh how I could see the wheels turning in his little head. His daddy drives a TRAIN! I had to break it to him that daddy was not a train engineer. He was so sad. I am still laughing about it two days later.

Making Orange Juice

2010-10-19T11:12:00.004-04:00

Geode

2010-10-15T18:40:00.006-04:00

From Wikipedia:
Geodes (Greek γεώδης - jē-ōds, "earthlike") are geological rock formations which occur in sedimentary and certain volcanic rocks. Geodes are essentially rock cavities or vugs with internal crystal formations or concentric banding. The exterior of the most common geodes is generally limestone or a related rock, while the interior contains quartz crystals and/or chalcedony deposits. Other geodes are completely filled with crystal, being solid all the way through. These types of geodes are called nodules.

The boys were gifted with a geode this week from our good friend Diane. We started in the kitchen inside a cardboard box on a wooden cutting board. I quickly realized the place to crack this puppy was going to be outside.

The boys took turns for a while and then I gave it a few whacks. Eventually, we got it open.Nice, huh? Thank you Dianey!

Ow. Ow. Ow.

2010-10-15T11:30:00.000-04:00

Ugh! I got sucked into a 30 Day Shred challenge at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. Not sure what the 30 Day Shred is? Well, I don't watch The Biggest Loser, but I keep hearing this Jillian Michaels is tough. I have just finished the seventh consecutive day of the Shred. I've also continued my regular hour long Zumba classes on Monday and Wednesday. This has been an achy, but exhilarating week!

The Shred is not an easy workout by any means. Jillian makes big promises. I have some hope for delivering on that promise. It has been interesting to notice the flow of ache through my body this week. The first couple days it was my calves and lower abs, then my shins developed an ache that I wouldn't exactly call shinsplints, but... Yesterday, my back and thighs were achy. Now I just have the all over ache that feels like I'm coming down with something (hope I'm not). I'm still on level 1, so it was strange how the ache shifted from muscle to muscle over several days.

I am disappointed by two things at this point. You can't fast forward, skip, or menu out of her intro so I have to watch her blah, blah, blah every single day. Jillian also has a bit of a potty mouth. She's no sailor, but I do have two small children. I realize you can turn her off, but how am I supposed to know when to switch exercises for the ones where I can't watch the screen?

Mean Girls

2010-10-14T18:36:00.002-04:00

I was listening to Casting Crowns tonight. Something struck me as so completely mistaken in the song If We Are the Body.

"The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know."

No. It very likely isn't. They know exactly how far their hurtful words and laughter are traveling. And that fills me with sorrow.

I was a pretty "good" kid in school and so were my friends. But all this time that has come and gone and I still remember an absolutely deplorable act in about tenth grade. I was pretty mean to a girl who liked my friend's boyfriend. I offered up a fake apology. And then we all laughed about it. Loudly. Pretty rotten. The worst part was that the second I did what I did, I realized that I could have *really* injured her. I don't even remember her name now. But it makes me sick to think of hurting that girl.

Girls can be pretty mean. Sadly, some of us grow up to be mean, petty women. Christian ladies, I beg you, let's all show someone God's Love this week. Let's be His body.

Rocking Robots Week in Review

2010-10-08T22:40:00.011-04:00

UGH! Do we have to watch the Mars rover videos again?

That was me after a full week of the boys asking for the rover videos every. single. time. I got out the laptop and announced school time. We have a couple of future astronauts in this house. Remember this post?Well last week we learned all about Rocking Robots from Download N Go. Since we were down to one car, I never made it to the library for my usual "browsing of the shelves" to look for great books to use alongside our unit study. Guess what? It didn't matter one lick that I had not one single robot book in this house. It went quite well without them. Except for the little matter of the Mars rover videos!

Rocking Robots has daily objectives, just like all of the other DNG.
Day 1: What Is a Robot?
Day 2: The History of Robots
Day 3: People and Places of Robots
Day 4: Science Secrets of Robots
Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Robots

We laughed our heads off watching a fantastic robot soccer video. Someone did a splendid job on those guys! Xavier enjoyed it so much, he used the little paperboard robots we colored and his small acorn collection to reenact a wonderful soccer game of his own!I love that the youtube videos open up in a special DNG window, but even so, we got sucked into watching the next recommended video several times. I mean, who could resist watching squids attack an underwater robot? Not us, obviously! Actually, the same thing happened during our Roller Coasters study! Not the squid part, just the video part. :)

We even made a robot cake. Xav did a great job outfitting this robot with all the necessary gadgets! He loves to cook. Download N Go unit studies are created by The Old Schoolhouse and Amanda Bennett. Geared toward grades K-4, I have found they can be adjusted a bit for the older and younger child. Each study is intended to take one week to complete, but can take longer. Each DNG study covers topics such as spelling and vocabulary, history, geography, science, it's all in there! And best of all, the work is done for you. The only time you need to spend ahead of time is checking out library books and choosing which pages you'd like to print for the lap/notebooks. It does not get any easier than that. A real blessing for busy moms!

Check out the blog hop for Rocking Robots.

***I was provided a free copy of Rocking Robots in exchange for my honest review.***

Thursday Think - Egg Yolks

2010-10-07T14:36:00.003-04:00

So during French toast preparations for lunch the other day, Xavier and I were surprised by a double yolk. We got the egg from the neighbors. It wasn't that big of a deal to me because we used to have some hens and one laid double yolkers almost daily. But it's always kind of neat to get one unexpectedly.

I was kind of wondering *why* double yolks happen. I ~~googled~~ NoJoed it and found this website that explains not just double yolks, but double shells, no shells, no yolks, and some really unappetizing egg oddities.

It seems our hen had some sort of hereditary ability to lay double yolks. Most of the time though, they happen when ovulation occurs too rapidly and two yolks get wrapped in one shell. Kind of nifty. And now you know!

Molly's Digest {Review}

2010-10-05T22:36:00.000-04:00

I was offered the chance to preview the October edition of Molly's Digest recently and I jumped at the chance. I keep eyeballing them when I see The Old Schoolhouse advertising them, but I've never purchased one. Can you believe that? Well, now I know what I've been missing.

Just what have I been missing? Well, there were recipes and cooking tips (the tip for cleaning up the turkey after dinner was worth the cost of this digest alone!), frugal decorating ideas, a great and sometimes humorous list of October "holidays", planned leftovers which is also called cooking once and eating twice, and so much more!

The October feature is Socks, Suds and Savings. You'll get tips on making your own laundry soap, organizing and managing the laundry and in the kids corner, your littles can start learning how to do laundry! I've made my own laundry soap before and a five gallon bucket full has lasted us just over a year. It cost less than $10 to make!

The one thing I *loved* about Molly's Digest and have found myself wishing for when I've purchased other ebooks with clickable links, is her directory of links. Every URL in the digest is all typed out AND the recipes are there without pictures for quick, easy printing.

You can purchase your own copy from The Old Schoolhouse for only $4.95!

***I received a copy of October 2010 Molly's Digest at no charge, in exchange for my honest review.***

He's a Lumberjack

2010-10-05T22:25:00.003-04:00

and he's OK.Two fewer cherry trees in the yard to menace my house.
And he managed not to pull anything down on his head.

Theme Bags

2010-10-03T11:07:00.003-04:00

Recently, I "discovered" something super fun at the library. St Albans Free Library carries Theme Bags! What's a theme bag? Well, the library has very kindly thrown a bunch of resources of various types and one topic into a bag and you just take the whole thing home. We get to keep it for up to three weeks, but I will probably swap them out more often.

We picked up animals last time. Yesterday, I grabbed transportation. The Transportation Theme Bag contains a floor puzzle, a dozen toy vehicles, books, a video about how cars are made, and a fireman puppet.

You'll find fun subjects like arts & crafts, music, building, and dinosaurs. Then there are the helpful topics like potty training, health & safety, and parenting bags (toddler and preschool to age 8). Coping bags cover such subjects as adoption and divorce. There are even bags for grown ups with chick lit, mysteries, history and crime.

I found this website where a teacher has posted the theme bags (she calls them take home bags) for her class. If you are interested in seeing bags similar to the ones in the library and creating some for your children/students, take a look.

Xav's Telescope

2010-10-03T09:40:00.001-04:00

While helping dad with the heater, Xav finds a telescope.

Puppet Show

2010-10-02T19:39:00.002-04:00

Mal's ~~socks~~ puppets perform songs, get tired and take a nap. You won't be able to hear much of it though! :)