Tot School

When we decided to start homeschooling

I wanted to make sure I had some items for Little Miss.

She begs to do school with us.

As you have seen before, 

I really like 

Confessions of a Homeschooler

She has wonderful ideas

and 

has created some pretty neat items

for the younger crowd.

For Preschool:

Letter of the Week

For Pre-Kinder:

K4

I have also enjoyed using some

items from 

1+1+1=1

I really enjoy looking at all of these 

wonderfully creative ideas!

Then I automatically feel guilty

because I don't have all thes 

wonderfully creative ideas

for my littles to do during school!

I have started doing a "little"!!

When I ordered the boys Abeka books

I also ordered Little Miss a couple of books

Child Art for 2s

Arts & Crafts with Amber Lamb

Readiness Skills K4

I have finally started letting her start her books.

Well, she started one book.

Then I printed off and laminated 

quite a few items from the 

Letter of the Week program

mentioned above.

It is a CUTE program

and I had been waiting until I thought she was

ready for it to start

printing

and 

cutting

and

laminating.

She was completing each of the 

little activities quicker than I was getting them made!

I am not sure I will print all of the activities

for each letter, 

just the unique ones.

She does repeat a lot of activities,

which is easy and makes sense...

but I am not sure I have the desire to do that.

Here is Little Miss working on her
"school work" this week with us.

They are both working on the letter "A".

 After she finished all the activities I had for her,

she made a drawing for me.

Now I just have to figure out a way to keep up with 

this one's desire too!

Recommendation, Warning & Let the Games Begin!!!

Recommendation:

We have ALL seen the 

rotisserie chickens

that the local grocery stores 

have for sale every day.

And if you have ever tried them, 

you know that they are scrumptious!

BUT - unless you found somewhere 

that has them for $3.50 each...

its hard to pay $7/chicken.

(well for me anyways).

Back at my favorite grocery store chain in NC,

they would occasionally run these super specials

on chickens and you could get them for $0.59/lb.

So me being the frugal person I have always been,

I would buy as many as they would let me and

load my freezer.  I was known to have 12

chickens in my freezer at once.

(outside, garage freezer)

Then I had to come up with ways to cook all those

silly chickens!!

I decided to bite the bullet and buy a rotisserie.

We did NOT buy one new.

(remember the frugal statement above)

I wasn't convinced we would love it and use it,

so I wasn't forking out the dough for a new

kitchen toy.

So we found on on Craigslist for $40.

It had ALL the pieces and the lady

said she had only used it a handful of times.

That was the BEST $40 we have EVER spent.

I have learned how to truss the birds,

without those goofy strings they sell specifically 

for trussing.

(I just use cotton thread!)

And after some trial and error -

if you have never brined a bird...

oh good heavens,

you MUST!

There is NO other way to do a chicken!

You have to play with the seasonings in your brine.

But your loved ones,

will be asking for you to make

"one of your rotisserie chickens".

(oh and a little Lawry's seasoning on top is the kicker)

You gotta try it!!

Warning:

Along with the frugalness,

referred to above,

I do my best,

and always have,

to know where our money is going.

When we sign a contract to buy a house,

I want to know where all of those 

costs are coming from on that 

"good faith estimate" 

they present you with.

When we buy a car,

why aren't these numbers adding up?

I ask questions...

Tax documentation,

double check it!

Most of the time,

they are correct

and legit,

but occasionally,

by you asking questions

and double checking,

you can find errors

that could cost you 

literally 

HUNDREDS of dollars.

The past two days, 

I have spent crunching numbers

only to discover an error

significantly to our disadvantage.

So now we have to get it fixed...

let the fun begin!

It doesn't take long,

just give it a shot.

Trust me,

you will thank me one day!

The Usual:

Nothing too exciting this week.

I actually got ALL four of the kids

at the table and occupied this week

(once)

it was beautiful!

(albeit fleeting - I'll take it)

A few years ago,

I discovered dried beans

as a sensory item!

My kids have LOVED them.  

Its easier than rice and sand inside.

But give them: 

different color beans

funnels

bowls

measuring spoons

measuring cups

aluminum pie pans

and 

watch them go!

They will spend quite a while occupying themselves that way.

Just stay close, cause when the beans start flying...

or TOO many are hitting the ground...

they are DONE!  

haha!

Let the Games Begin!!!

Our new sports season is officially in full swing and

we had our first Saturday FULL of games today.

MERCY!!!

10am - A's soccer game

2pm - J's soccer game

4:15 - R's baseball game

This is about what our Saturday's look like

for the next 8 weeks.

OY!

And, of course, the field is too far from the house

to justify going home between games

(most of the time).

Which makes for a VERY long day

with an 18 mo old in tow!

Below are a few pics from our day...

Soccer Girl!!!

Home Sweet Home

(we had to get something but that thing had NO airflow and it was HOT!)

Camera man, videoing his brother's soccer game.

T's perch most of the day.

(poor thing)

Action shot, after a throw in.

J's is doing AMAZING this year in soccer!!

Luckily the camera snapped when it did - cause the ball went

right through his legs.

I would have HATED to get that on camera!

Haha!!

Team M!

Accountability Check In:

1) Getting up before the kids...

not every day.

2) Working out before the kids get up...

NOPE, not at all,

but I have been getting my workout in 

before they get up from their newly 

implemented rest time,

does that count?

3) Dave Ramsey/Budget - 

Done, let me just say, I have NEVER 

looked so forward to the first day of the month

in my LIFE!

Brand new squeaky clean budget to work with!!

Welcome...

Welcome to our new site design!!!

I love it!

I have been gaining readers

(thank you!!!)

and 

heard that my previously 

chosen font was a little hard to read.

So...

WELCOME

to the
NEW

and

IMPROVED

"Are We Really Doing This???"

Hope you like it - 

I do!!  

As usual, 

we are always busy in this house.

First,

our first bean growing experiment was a

FLOP!

Well, let's just say - 

it STUNK!

Yes, 

pun intended there!

I wanted something without dirt

that would allow the boys 

to watch what was happening.

Being newbies, I decided we would follow

some directions on the web...

even though it was a bit contrary to what I thought...

they had success, 

so I figured we would try it.

Well

it didn't work for us.

I chose NOT to cover

our container to keep the moisture in.

(per directions, but against my better judgement)

So our paper towel would dry out.

Apparently I was making it 

TOO

wet when I re-moistened it.

So this is what we got...

I *wish* I would have thought to have snapped

a picture of the boys faces when I suggested 

they smell them.

HAHAHAH!! 

(Is that mean??)

Then of course we used that as an 

opportunity to briefly discuss

"rot".

So here is round 2.

I started on Saturday.

And as you can see,

this time chose to 

put plastic wrap over the top

to keep the moisture in.

And guess what...

This morning (Monday)

here is what we found!

WHOO HOO!!

S-U-C-C-E-S-S

That's the way we spell success.

(Did you do the cheer in your head with me?)

I have been starting to think about what curriculums to use next.

I like most of what we are using and will keep with it.

But am considering different options for math and language arts.

We will see what we come up with.

J is doing a GREAT job with his reading!  

Makes a momma proud!!

The K Abeka language books we are using is actually 

going too slow for him,

so I looked through it last night and we are going to

speed things up a little

and skip some pages.

We are supplementing with

ReadingEggs.com

and

Starfall.com

(the free trials/versions).

We dropped Time4Learning about a month ago.

Did I already say that? 

It was a great program and I highly recommend it,

BUT

I wanted more hands on stuff with my kids

and 

less computer time

and

it was $35 a month.

I would rather put that into more

books for them

instead of computer stuff.

R is doing great with math and language as well,

but they are still not moving quite quick enough for me

and 

I HATE to waste this stuff,

so poor thing is doing a LOT

of reviewing lately.

But I think we are going to start getting to some interesting

stuff in a few weeks (I hope).

Either that or I am just going to 

break down and let him take a bunch of the tests

and just see where he starts struggling

and start from there.

Cause we have GOT to

get to some challenging stuff

SOON!

I have been struggling to come up with some stuff for A to do.

She is slowly dropping naps.

(NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!)

So today,

we hit Michael's for some 

some ideas.

I bought some pom poms

and we had a pair of tweezers that came with 

a bath toy.

(Don't ask)

Then I had some silicone muffin cups.

And viola...

A worked on sorting

and colors

(with a little tutelage from J)

 today!

This girl sat at the table for

OVER an HOUR

today with us working

with these few items.

She actually pulled it back out while I was cooking dinner too.

I gotta come up with more more of these things!

(That don't require tons of supplies and prep work!)

This weekend was busy too.

I *think* we have found a home church!

It has only taken us 4 months.

I also think we have finally found a section of town we want to be in.

(Sort of)

While at church on Sunday,

the Cub Scouts were 

recruiting.

So we stopped and chatted.

R was in Scouts 

back home

and J always wanted to go.

Well, this new group is letting 

J join early!

So starting next week...

both boys (and daddy)

are headed to scouts!!

I am so excited.

And it seems like such a great group!

Can't wait to start posting pics of my 

scouts!

All 3 of them!!

Because of the delay in getting started back with Scouts

we didn't want R to miss anything

or be behind...

so he and Daddy started going through his

requirements for his

Wolf Cub badge.

He has done most of it, 

but there are a few things left to do.

So, we are going to work on those together.

One requirement left

 is "Health and Nutrition".

One thing you have to do is 

help plan and prepare a meal.

So daddy and R are worked together on 

dinner Sunday night.

He took the 

"Set it & Forget it"

motto literally.

And,

A has a candy stash!

HAHAH!

The kids got some candy in goodie bags

from last weekend's 

birthday party.

The boys put theirs on/in their desks.

A chose to put hers in 

one of her kitchen 

cupboards!

I thought that was 

all too fitting for a female...

already hiding her candy in her kitchen!

Love it!!