Christmas Baking Anyone??

I have fallen in love with the blog

"Confessions of a Homeschooler"

I discovered her a few weeks ago

and have been pretty much obsessed ever since.

This lady has got her act together!

And her site is a great place to start for new

homeschoolers with young kids!

I am not copying -

well, I guess I kinda am...

but like I said -

she is a great resource 

and a great place to start!!

She does monthly meal plans

weekly lesson plans

created her own curriculum for 

preschoolers and K4

(both of which I plan on purchasing).

She has figured this thing out!

I used to be pretty good at meal planning.

When we lived in NC, I would STOCK

my freezer UP when meats 

would go on super sales

at our local grocery store.

Due to the competition between

5 grocery store chains

(not including the 2 mega stores that sold EVERYTHING)

every day prices were a little high but the sales 

were AWESOME!

So I always had meat in the freezer to use.

Then we get down here in good 'ole Texas

and there is basically ONE

grocery store chain!

YEP

ONE!

Then there are the 2 mega stores too.

So there really is NO competition

like there was in NC.

So my buying stuff super cheap and stocking up days 

are kinda over.

Instead, I am attempting to

plan and purchase for 2 weeks at a time.

We will see how that goes.

I am headed in the right direction and 

have planned out meals and snacks for the 

next two weeks.

I wasn't really giving the kids snacks like they 

think they need.  

So I have been inspired by 

Confessions of a Homeschooler...

and

we are baking!

We would be doing a little anyways.

But when I put things on paper

and on a calendar.

It is easier to stick to!

Last week we made & decorated 

Christmas cookies

while my folks were here.

(will have more about that on another post)

Today

After we put the babies down for naps

- yes "we" - the boys put Ms. Priss in her bed

I put the baby in his bed - 

we made

Christmas-y Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

1) Dump

2) Pat

3) Bake

4) Cut

5) Devour!

(six thumbs up!)

Then we started decorating our annual gingerbread house.

I helped/supervised for a while...

then went and worked on something else.

This is what happens when you leave 2 boys

with 3 bags of icing!!

Can you tell that these are supposed to be

the sides of a gingerbread house??

Can't wait to see what the completed house looks like tomorrow!!

Budget Woes

During my research

I am discovering that this 

homeschooling thing

ain't cheap!!

You can do it cheap

You can do it pretty much as cheap 

as you want to...

HOWEVER

I want/need

some structure

and accountability.

And there is a

TON 

of stuff

out there!!

I have found 

some different vendors

that have different

pieces parts 

or subjects.

Then there are the 

"all in one" 

type curriculums.

Some of these can run you 

$800+ per year

per child!

Um, no thanks!

There are very highly 

recommended programs

and resources 

that seem reasonably priced

until you add

all the pieces of the

"program"

together.

Then you remember,

that it is just for

ONE subject!!

Again

HOWEVER...

I have multiple children

and we are starting rather young with 

my oldest...

SO...

assuming we like doing this

homeschooling thing

we can reuse the same resources

over and over

just having to purchase 

"student manuals"

(or the consumable part of the resource).

So far I am looking at:

Math - Saxon

Reading & Spelling - All About Reading/All About Spelling

Science - The Young Scientists Club

And as I add all this stuff up...

I feel like we will QUICKLY 

approach that $800+

per student 

per year

number.

UGH!

Hopefully,

I can figure out a way to 

do this on the 

relatively 

inexpensive...

BUT

I will NOT

sacrifice 

the kids

education.

So we will see what we wind up with.

Signs of Progress...

Today my parents left and headed back to NC.  

We had them for 4 whole days and 5 whole nights.

Now how long is it going to take

to undo all the spoilage??  

Don't care...

Its worth it!  

(It will get undone just in time for the other

grandma to arrive and do it all over again! - HA HA!)

While mom and dad were here

they helped me purchase 

these

to continue to work on 

putting together our work area

for the kids school.

Here is what it looks like in place...

Now we have to find nice chairs to go with the desks the boys got for Christmas

last year from Grammy.  And they will FINALLY

be using them for their intended purpose!!

These look GREAT!  

I am getting so excited about this!!

So the workboxes are in place...

now we start implementing them!!

(hopefully sooner than later)

We are getting there...

We made the decision to homeschool shortly after 

we arrived in Texas in

mid October...

So we are quickly approaching 

mid December

and I am still struggling

with a curriculum.

We started out

using

**Time4Learning**

(www.time4learning.com)

It is a GREAT starter and basic

on-line program...

BUT

we need more...

I have enjoyed it, 

the boys enjoy it,

miss priss enjoys it...

and 

I plan on 

starting little miss

on it soon.

(since she begs for school)

It keeps up with their 

progress & success

too!

So I can show daddy 

where we are in the year and

that we are actually 

learning and accomplishing 

something!

HA!

I have spent a TON of time

picking brains

at homeschool groups

when I meet other moms.

And have fallen in LOVE with

another blog...

where I learned about

"workboxes".

I had already come up with something similar

I was going to put different activities:

legos

a craft

puzzles

worksheets (in a folder)

stuff like that

in a plastic bin that each of the kids

would use through out the week.

Anytime we had downtime...

go to the box and do something in the box.

THEN...

I found this workbox system.

It requires 

planning

and 

organization

(both of which are lacking right now

BUT

I am working on it)

Unfortunately, 

we can't just run out and buy all

this awesome stuff...

so I find ideas

then do my best to implement them

on a shoe-string budget!

So right now I am trying to find 

two - 10 drawer carts

to use for our workboxes.

So we are getting there...

I have tons of ideas...

I have joined yahoo groups...

And follow a few blogs...

But implementing all of these 

GREAT ideas...

We are getting there...

**As a member of Time4Learning, I have been asked to review their online education program and share my experiences. While I was compensated, this review was not written or edited by Time4Learning and my opinion is entirely my own. Write your own curriculum review or learn how to use their curriculum for homeschool, after school study or summer learning.

A Texas Sized Thanksgiving!

Our first Thanksgiving in Texas was pretty low key.

We hosted my father-in-law and new step-mother-in-law

at our house.

We introduced them to 

southern green bean casserole

and 

sweet potato casserole.

They were both shocked at how good

those two items were!

We had 2 turkeys...

one smoked

and

one deep fried.

We have been eating leftovers!

The hubby is still ok with the 

plain 'ole turkey...

but I will soon 

have to start repurposing

this turkey!

One idea around my house growing up

was turkey salad.

My husband LOVES

turkey/chicken salad

made with 

smoked

turkey/chicken.

My little sis suggested 

this

kind of turkey salad...

might have to add 

a little franks red hot!

I also plan on making 

Tortilla Soup!

YUM!!!

We are planning on getting our tree 

this weekend.

We will be driving to a little farm

just east of Austin.

http://www.elginchristmastreefarm.com/

Its not the NC Mountains...

but my husband said it would have to do...

he was NOT hoofing it to the

NC Mountains

to cut down our tree this year.

We have been cutting our own tree

down each year since

our oldest was born...

and we even made it to the NC Mountains a few 

times...

what an experience!

A few years ago,

it was actually snowing

while we were picking out our tree.

Makes me smile and cry all at the same time.

What beautiful memory!

My husband braved the chaos

at Wal-Mart on Thursday night.

I braved the laptop

and the chaos with 

websites crashing.

But we are NOT

Black Friday lovers.

That was a first and last for us!

I hope you and yours had a

wonderful and relaxing

and THANKFUL

Thanksgiving.

The norm is to say what you are thankful for

on Thanksgiving...

This year - 

I am thankful for the opportunities that God

has presented to our family

and thankful that He gave us the courage

to see where these opportunities might take us

even if it is all the way to Texas!

Wedding Weekend!!!

About nine months ago,

my father-in-law informed us that he was getting remarried!

And knowing that we were planning to come to 

Texas for a visit sometime this year,

he inquired about our schedules

(well the kids year-round school schedule)

in order to plan the wedding at a time

we could make it down.

(Its nice to be that loved!)

The wedding was scheduled for 

November 19th (our fall trackout)

Then for those of you following...

things changed in our house

and we wound up

MOVING 

to Texas.

So needless to say - 

we were definitely here

for the wedding.

The festivities started Friday

and didn't stop

til Monday night

when the last guests finally went home.

My sweet sister agreed to 

fly in for the wedding

to help us out.

She came in Friday night

we did the "girl thing"

Saturday morning

Me

my sister

my daughter...

We got our toes done and went shopping.

It was nice.

Then home to 

QUICKLY 

get everyone all dressed up.

I got the kids matching outfits

that are going to double as their 

Christmas picture

and

Christmas Mass

outfits. 

One child at the wedding actually referred

to us as

"the red twin family"

HA!

(not the best focused picture - but you get the idea)

The kids were AMAZING

considering they had to sit at a table most of the night.

I will admit that we had some 

electronic help with the boys behavior

and boredom!

My daughter was the hit of the wedding

(besides the bride and groom, of course)

She LOVED dancing and stayed on the dance floor

the whole evening

wearing mommy & daddy out!

(I have no idea what Jackson is doing...)

My husband's grandpa

had a 

"dance-floor-side" seat

and he thoroughly 

enjoyed watching

his 

"tiny dancer" 

all night. 

My sister was AMAZING

and 

took the kids home

so my husband and I could

stay and enjoy 

connecting/reconnecting

with his family.

When I came back in after helping 

my sister get the kids in the car,

I sat down beside Grandpa 

and asked if he needed anything.

His only response...

"my dancer".

AWE!!!

I got to practice my spanish and re-met 

all the Texas cousins.

It was nice,

very nice!

And we had a great time...

It was nice of them to throw such a great

"welcome to Texas" 

event for us!  

HA!

(There were more pictures taken,

I will try to upload them as I receive them.)

What's New??

So what's new in this household??

Not a lot...

we are getting into somewhat of a routine.

I haven't totally developed a schedule yet.

The kids & I are enjoying 

Homeschooling.

It affords us the opportunity to do 

different things throughout the week.

We attend a weekly PE class.

We go to the children's museum for "science"

about once every other week.

We go to the library about once a week.

We are planning a trip to the zoo next week.

I am still researching and figuring this thing out as we go...

Its amazing how little time is really needed for this though.

Most of the time spent in schools on these subjects

 is teaching to 24 students

making sure everyone understands.

When you only have 1 student...

the lessons are

a LOT

quicker!

Between researching homeschooling stuff.

Doing homeschooling.

Attempting to organize

the house

and our finances...

(just got Quicken and I have to manually enter 

8 months worth of financial information! - UGH!!)

Keeping up with my household chores

(including blowing up a vacuum!!)

yes - you read that right...

we have had the same vacuum for close

to 10 years 

and it has been fine...

no complaints really

that is until yesterday...

I started vacuuming...

got one good swipe in

and then it made a funny noise

then came to a complete

STOP 

and started 

SMOKING!!

Smoke literally started billowing 

out of my vacuum!

And stinking up the house...

not exactly sure what happened.

But needless to say - 

I will be looking for a new one

during Black Friday!

(among other things)

Happy (belated) Halloween!

Yes

I am a little behind!

I have been struggling getting pictures from 

my phone

to the computer.

I tried downloading them to google docs,

sending them to myself via e-mai,

having Joey send them to me...

then FINALLY 

dug the USB cable

out of our

"cable bin"

and connected my 

stinking phone directly

to my computer!

Why hadn't I done that before?

Couldn't find the cable!

So that will hopefully not happen again,

and I should be able to update

WITH pictures

more easily!

With the move, Halloween was

kinda put on the back burner...

luckily they sell costumes here

in Texas!  

We took the kids to the typical

kids costume stores:

Target

Wal-Mart

Party City

R thought he wanted to be something gross and scary

Like those ghoulish things that scared him silly at SeaWorld?

Yep - like those...

That is until we went to SeaWorld and he saw all those things...

So he went with a Vampire.

J wanted to be a ninja again.

First, he was a ninja 2 years ago and I keep all of their

costumes in a "costume bin" in the 

bottom of their closet...

so if he wanted to be a ninja, he could

dig the old costume out!

Second, I wasn't digging that idea,

cause we do calendars 

(thanks to my sisters for the idea YEARS ago)

of the kids each year for the aunts & grands & godparents.

So I didn't want the same kid in the same costume.  :)

So we finally caved and let him be a different ninja.

A was hung up on being a witch.

Not really sure where the idea came from, but whatever.

So she kept talking about a witch at 2 different stores.

At Party City, they have pictures

of all the costumes 

lining the wall from floor to ceiling

divided by age group and gender.

There were 2 little witch costumes at her

eye level and this little tiny girl

turns to her big ole daddy

and grasping her hands 

looks up at him 

and says

"Please, please, please"

A-DOR-A-BLE!

(but where the heck did she get that from?!!?)

So the next question, did it work?

Yes, it did.

Daddy said she could have it.

Then he picked her up

and she became eye level 

with a Hello Kitty costume.

And my almost 3 year old daughter is

OBSESSED

with 

"my kitty"

(as she refers to it).

So she squealed with delight and 

just started exclaiming

"my kitty, my kitty".

(this child starts hollering 

"my kitty, my kitty"

ANYTIME we see ANYTHING

Hello Kitty 

in the store -

including items on other little girls!)

So the witch idea QUICKLY 

rode out the window on its broom!

She got her Hello Kitty costume.

The kids all chimed in and helped pick out 

a little costume for 

Tony Cruz...

I present you with...

Halloween!

(here are 3 of the 10 pictures we took)

(this is the only one in focus with all 4 kids looking 

toward the camera!) 

The Haul! 

HAPPY (belated) HALLOWEEN!!

Weekend of Fun!

I think we are slowly getting used to our new life.

We are all enjoying the new work hours 

for daddy.

For as long as we have been working,

I think the earliest my husband

has been home from work on a 

daily basis 

was when he worked for 

the government and we lived

about 15 min from his office.

We would see him about 5:30pm

Since he has gotten used to getting up and into the office

before 7am (owning your own business will do that to you)...

he kept the hours going here.

When we owned our business back in NC,

he would be out of the house by 6:30am

and we wouldn't see him 

until 6:30pm.

That is 12 hours!

And to us - that wasn't a whole lot of fun.

He kept with the early to work mindset here...

but now he gets home around 3:30pm!

None of us are quite sure how to act!  

HA!

Because of these awesome hours...

we are able to do things in the afternoons

after daddy gets home.

School is done,

naps are done,

no homework...

So we decided to take a little time to do some fun stuff

as a family this past weekend.

(Weekend before Halloween)

Friday
 Daddy got home around 1:30pm

We had some errands to run, but loaded up the kids

and headed out to SeaWorld!

SeaWorld San Antonio is only about 15 minutes 

from our door!

And my father-in-law, purchased us season tickets

as a "welcome to Texas"

gift.

So we ventured out to SeaWorld on Friday afternoon.

SeaWorld apparently does the holidays up right!

There is something called "Howl-O-Scream"

at SeaWorld.

They had the whole park

decked out in 

pumpkins,

jack-o-lanters,

ghouls,

and 

other 

Halloween creatures.

We had a great time, until we ventured into the

"Scare Zone".

And discovered that the 

ghouls and goblins

come out in force

in the Scare Zone

after 6pm!

I was VERY impressed

with the production 

that this park put on for 

Halloween!

My children -

not so much!

Taking a 7 yo, 5 yo, 2 1/2 yo and 1 yo 

through a "haunted" theme park...

not the best idea.

My oldest two boys were crawling up 

UNDER 

me and my husband.

The little ones were pretty clueless

but not the bigger ones.

I was worried that we would have 

both of them staring us down 

in the middle of the night

begging to crawl into our 

bed...

surprisingly we made it through the night

with no extra bodies in there!

Unfortunately,
I didn't think to take any pictures
of the ghouls and goblins...

I did, however, get a shot of daddy
taking three of the kids on a ride.

T.C. enjoying
"The Monster Mash"

I am going to try and flip it but
was to anxious to share...

Saturday 

we went to

the library

to paint sugar skulls

for

Dia de los Muertos.

Sunday

After the rest of our "stuff"

arrived from North Carolina and was unloaded...

we traveled about 30 minutes south of San Antonio

to a little town called Devine, Texas

to visit

Devine Acres Farm.

I am a LOVER of

Hillridge Farms in Youngsville, NC.

I absolutely enjoy

taking the kids there every year...

I was hoping that this place would be similar.

Not so much.

It was nice

but unfortunately

it has pretty big shoes to fill

and it left me a tad

disappointed.

But we had fun anyways

and 

got to scope out potential 

Christmas Trees

on their farm!!

TORCH

Ever since we decided to give this 

homeschooling thing

a shot...

I have been eager 

to get in touch with some other

homeschool moms.

Last week, 

I sent out a few e-mails to different groups 

trying to get info on their next meetings

hoping we could attend.

It just so happened that two different groups

had a meeting type thing

today - at the same time

but at two different locations.

Understandably.

I decided to hit one and then 

hoped that the other would still 

be going and we could hit the

tail end of the second.

The first turned out to be a 

park play-date

we were one of the two 

families that showed up...

the other family,

was the organizer!

So that turned out to be a huge

disappointment.

We cut our 

park playtime short

and headed off to the second one,

hoping it was still going.

It was!  We got there a little late

but it turned out to get almost

perfect timing!

It was a WONDERFUL group!

I am so excited and 

it was uplifting

to see all those homeschool families there!

I spoke with quite a few moms

some that had kids younger than mine

that were homeschooling

(so they were newbies too)...

and I spoke with a couple of moms

who have been homeschooling for 15 years!

And they are still a part of this group!

I definitely think this is going to be a good fit.

And can't wait to get 

involved

and

 some ideas 

and 

encouragement

and 

support

on this endeavor.

Its also odd not feeling like I am the only one with a large family!

I don't feel like we are that big of a family

and when we were at this meeting...

we weren't!

It was great!

I am so happy to have found TORCH!

Two-Fer...

Since I am so behind...

I figured I would give you a 

2 for 1 today!  

Aren't you excited?!?!

So we had been here a few days and I had decided that I was going to

keep the kids out of school for a few weeks

and do some fun stuff.

We are used to a year round school schedule

and the kids were due for a break in a few weeks.

So I figured we could do our break now...

and go and visit the zoo

and the children's museum 

during the non-peak season

(while everyone else was in school)

BUT
was constantly threatening the kids

when they got unruly 

that I was going to send them back to school 

the next day!

Then we went down to the neighborhood school

to get the required information

to sign them up.

While there,

I didn't get this 

warm fuzzy -
"I want to send my kids to school here"

feeling...

I got a ton of pressure from the front office staff

about why I needed to enroll my kids THAT DAY

and get them to school the next day.  STAT!

And just in time for them to teach

my 5 yo and 7 yo

how to

"Say No to Drugs"!

Um, excuse me, what??

My kids have NO IDEA about "drugs"

and personally I would like to keep it that way for a little bit longer.

They are my kids and last I checked my opinion 

is really the only one that matters

as to their schooling 

(well daddy's too).

So this along with LOTS of other 

little things that had presented themselves

previously:

like us considering homeschooling before R started school 2 years ago

Rico telling me he doesn't like school multiple times

he was bored at school

the list goes on...

SOOOO...
with all of these "things" presenting themselves to us

AND

the fact that we had just moved
and it was as good of an opportunity as any...

we have decided to take the leap into 

HOMESCHOOLING!!!

ACK!

We have only been at it for a little over a week,

but so far the kids seem to enjoy it

and they have told me so a few times.

We have visited the library twice for storytime for the babies.

We have become members of the local children's museum

which they ALL loved!

And it has science experiments every week!

 Bubble kids...

 A gave it a couple of tries...

 Then big brother had to help out a little...

The aquarium kept them entertained for about 30 seconds!

 Yes, my boys are milking a fake cow...

 Then there's the miniature grocery store...

the kids could have spent HOURS in here.

They had short shelves (seen in the background)

stocked with real (yet empty) items!

Miniature shopping carts,

and even working cash register computers!

It recognized the items as the kids scanned them...

they had a BLAST here - 

I have other pictures, but they were really blurry

(due to the pitiful camera on my phone).

Then we moved on to the science experiments...

First, we made

"Glow in the Dark Slime"

Then we played with

"Disappearing Ghost Balls"

(or something like that)

these clear balls disappeared in a cup of water

VERY NEAT!

Then there was 

"Ghost Bubbles"

Then T.C. got to enjoy the ball room!

Phew - I am tired just thinking about that day!!

We have had an extremely busy weekend too - 

I can't wait to tell you about that -

but won't bore you with a 

3-fer!!

Forgotten Detail from Road Trip...

So after our Texas shaped waffles...we piled back in the suburban and headed south again...

-New info starts here-

We got about 9 minutes down the road before someone had to potty...

imagine that!

Luckily we thought ahead and put a little potty

in the car for Alexis so we didn't have to stop every time she thought she had to pee.

Needless to say - it wasn't her we were stopping for.

We stopped at a rest stop just out side of Temple, TX

and it was a VERY nice and well built

rest stop complete with a nice playground.

So even though we had only been in the car

for 9 minutes...

we took a 30 min break!

But 

all 4 of the kids (and the Nana) 

enjoyed it!