Homemade Tye Dye

Do you have food coloring at home?

Do you have any white coffee filters lying around?

How 'bout some vinegar?

Then you can make these!



Aren't they pretty!

Not quite sure what you can do with them but Colton had a good idea.

"We can glue them on t-shirts!"

{imagine gracie giggling here}

Gracie while shaking her head with a grin (I'm sure she was thinking 'that brother of mine doesn't know anything') says...

That won't work but we can sew them on!

That's my girl! She's always got her thinking cap on!

Now why didn't I think of that!

Well, yeah...that's true. They probably won't hold up so well in the wash will they?

Oh well, whatever we decide to do with them, I sure like looking at them!


{colton especially liked the way this one he made turned out with the blue C on the left side.}


{gracie was surprised to see that this one she made turned out with hearts on it!}


{so that lead us to try making some with hearts}


Now go have some fun and give it a try!
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Beautiful Creations

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My boys, together enjoying one of God's beautiful promises.





Could there ever be a bigger, more beautiful sea grape leaf than this one? This big guy fell off of one of our trees during tropical storm Fay and we couldn't believe our eyes when we saw it. I don't know how big they can get but this is definitely the biggest I've seen! Sea grapes have always been my all time favorite tree.



One more beauty. Publix's $.99 gladiola special. Enough to make me smile : )



Well okay, just one more. Check out what this beautiful creation does every time I go to hold his big sister.





This is a blurry picture but it shows what happens as soon as I put her down. He takes a deep breath then he's completely calm again. He doesn't necessarily want me to put her down to hold him, he just doesn't want me to be holding one of my other "babies".



Now you know I couldn't resist quickly setting my camera down to scoop up my littlest baby into my arms and wipe those crocadile tears away, don't you. That's just what mamas do you know.

The Classical Way

*** Sorry for this long and very boring post, but I wanted to share with you a little bit of what our school year looks like. Some have asked what this new program we're doing is all about so here's just a little bit about it.***
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We are just in our second week of the "official" school year, but have accomplished so much already and are having so much fun!
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Yesterday was our first class with our new homeschooling group, Classical Conversations, CC for short.
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All I can say is IN-CRE-DI-BLE!
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It's a curriculum that we use at home to do our schooling, but we also attend class each Tuesday from 9-12 with other students doing Classical Conversations. The children are divided into classes by age, and have a trained tutor (which is one of the moms in the program who have stepped up to do the training) who leads the class along with the parents to help when needed. Then the other days of the week, we continue to practice the memorization work which we learned in class.
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Yesterday at dinner time, after our first class and learning all new information, the children told Daddy what they learned today....
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In 1492, Columbus made the first of four trips to the Caribbean on three Spanish Ships. The Nina, The Pinta, and the Santa Maria. (Yes, I know it's a mouthful but the tutors teach us fun ways to remember our facts).
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The four types of tissue in the human body are... connective, muscle, nerve and... ep.. ep.. (with a little cue from mommy)... epithelial.
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They also recited the first 8 major events in the bible timeline starting at "Creation" and going up to "The First Intermediate Period of Egypt".
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Counting by 2's from 2 to 24, quickly without hesitation.
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They learned Latin prepositions... in (in), apud (with), per (through) and sine (without)
(They teach Latin for several great reasons. After wondering why and looking into this, I am grateful that we will have the opportunity to learn it.)
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And they learned the states and capitals of 5 states.
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It blew Josh's mind how Colton was rambling off, "Boston Massachusetts, Providence Rhode Island, Hartford Connecticut", and so on. We have never worked on this before so it was completely new learning for them.
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This was all in ONE day of learning!
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Each week we will learn new facts on each subject, then review the previously learned facts.
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On top of this, at school we have a morning assembly where all the families gather and we start with prayer, pledge to the flag, pledge to the Bible and one family a week gives a presentation on a topic of their choice. In their classes, they also did a science project and an art project. Throughout the year, they will be learning how to read music, play the tin whistle (similar to a recorder but this is actually used in real symphonies), learning about famous artists, composers, memorizing the presidents and so much more.
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I must admit, when I signed our family up for this, I was a little apprehensive and slightly overwhelmed by the amount of material we would be learning in one year, but after being part of it just one day, I can see why they have such a huge success rate with their program and I am more excited about it then ever!
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It continues all the way through High School so the kids had fun peeking into the big kids classroom yesterday to see what they were doing.
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Classical Conversations believes that in the early years, children are capable of memorizing so much. If they can memorize all these "pegs" of information, when they get to the next stages of learning, they will already have such a strong foundation of the most important pieces of history, bible, math, geography, science, art, etc to build upon.
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I am excited to be doing this because it gives me a second chance at learning all these important facts. And believe me, after looking through what will be learning this year, I have a lot to learn! I am also excited that my children will be building a solid Christian education surrounded by a wonderful group of people. I think this program is allowing up to have the best of both worlds. They'll have all the benefits of homeschooling, while still getting to experience the classroom environment without having to be there for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week.
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And Fletcher gets to come to school too! They have a toddler room where the littlest students get to engage with one another and have their own fun while their big brothers and big sisters are learning in their own classrooms.
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The best part about this type of schooling is we all have a common goal... "to know God and make Him known". That is what comes first when we do our schooling. Without Him, what do we have? What is our purpose in life? Why do we do what we do? And how is it possible to do what we do without loosing our sanity?
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Welcome to our school.
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At CC, they allow a maximum of 8-9 children per class so the children get lots of time and attention devoted to them. I love this!
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Colton's class with their wonderfully fun and creative tutor, "Miss" Christie.

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Gracie's class with their super sweet, Jesus loving, and highly animated tutor "Miss" Nadine.


Here are a few pictures from Gracie's class. The moms rotate between their children's classes so this week I was in Gracie's class and next week I will be in Colton's class. I loved watching Gracie learn in a classroom environment and being there to help the children as needed. I am looking forward to going to school with Colton next week!

{here the kiddies are doing their map work}

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Class dismissed! Thank you for joining us!

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Delicioso

If you have a weakness for yummy bread (like I do), then you have to try this one!

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Not only is it so delectably delicious, your kids will think it's pretty fun to make too.

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WARNING: making this bread may cause you to eat more than your share.

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MAKE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

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Steps to make this bread:

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Take a large gallon size ziplock bag and fill with the following:

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2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

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3 cups all purpose flour

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(you can skip the whole wheat flour and use 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour if you prefer white bread, which I've heard is even more delicious by the way... I've just never made it this way to say.)

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Then add 2 packages of Rapid Rise yeast OR 1 1/2 tbsp. of instant active-bulk yeast.

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Add 1 1/2 tsp. salt

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THEN... squeeze all the air out of the bag and zip completely closed.

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Have your little helper have fun using his or her hands to squish and mix this all up.

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Then, when your first helper gets bored, send him out to the dirt to go find these...

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Okay, this isn't a required step to make this bread, but in our home, this is usually how things go.

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Recruit a new helper to come and help.

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Add 1 2/3 cups very warm water. (If too hot it will kill the yeast, if too cool it will take forever to rise.)

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Then add 1/4 cup softened butter

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And finally, 1/4 cup honey (or a little more if you prefer it even sweeter)

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I add 2 tbsp. of milled flax seed for an added health bonus, but this is not necessary.

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This is our favorite part!

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Again, squeeze all the air out of the bag and zip. Squeeze, mush and pound the bag until the dough is well mixed and starts to pull away from the bag like the consistency of play dough.

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Then take the dough out of the bag and place it on a floured surface and kneed a few times.

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Cut the dough into three equal parts and roll them each like you would when making a play dough snake.

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After you have your three snakes created, you braid them all together.

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Then mix 1/4 cup corn meal with 1/4 cup sugar and sprinkle on your greased cookie sheet.

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Plop your braided dough on the pan and let rise for about an hour.

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Preheat your oven to 350. If you'd like your bread to have a bit of a shiny appearance, then brush the top with an egg white. When your hour is up, bake the bread for about 4o-45 minutes.

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Grab a big 'ole tub of butter and enjoy! Believe me, you won't be sorry you made this big mess!

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Frugal Living

In my attempts to ease the pain of living in a one income family during these financially tight times, I have been putting an extra effort into living more frugally.

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Instead of going shopping for new (not completely necessary) items, I'm finding ways to change or make do with what we have. And learning how to do more for myself instead of paying others to do it for me.

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And honestly, it has more to do with how I want to raise my kids than anything. I desire for them to grow up to know a different way of living. To not be completely dependant upon store bought items to get them by in life. I want them to grow up to know how to do things for themselves. And even if they don't put these things to use someday, at least they will know that there is a different way. I want them to see how back in the "good ole' days" people actually made their own cleaning products. They used to sew their own clothes. They didn't make their weekly visits to Publix to stock up on foods laden with preservatives, additives, hydrogenated oils and of course the good 'ole corn syrup and expect their kids to grow up healthy as we do in our culture.

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So, one thing I've been doing, is I've found a new love of thrift shopping. The last time I went "junk shopping" as my mom would call it was in her perfect company. So it had to have been at least four years ago or more. It was something she found pure joy in doing and now I completely see why.
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I bought an old sheet that I used to make this shirt:

I made it using this pattern found here.

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Does this qualify for fitting the 30 year old homeschool mom image?

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Well, even if it doesn't, I don't care because it's my shirt and I like it! And watch out because I'm excited to make some more.

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That's right, I did say 30! Well, I'm almost there anyway. I'm just getting used to saying it so when it hits me in exactly one month today, I won't have such a hard time spitting it out.
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I also scored on lots and lots of books for $.25 - $.50. And these are some GOOD books too! Mostly books that I can use for school but also some fun reading books too. If I could have fit more into the stroller, then you can guarantee I would have. I truly couldn't believe it! It felt like I was hitting the homeschoolers jack pot. Each book I purchased was in nearly perfect if not new condition. For a quarter! That's totally unheard of! Did I say how much I love thrifting? I'm totally hooked!

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I bought some canning jars like this one for $.25 to use for our yogurt making (which you'll read about below) and an old metal platter for $1.00. All it took was a little Krylon spray paint to turn them into these. (Yes, I did the research to make sure it was safe to paint over serving wear. Everything I read lead to the fact that it is completely safe but I feel especially so knowing that I'm only placing food on it short term as a serving platter. Would you put a cookie or cracker down on a painted dresser only to come back and eat it several minutes later? It's basically the same concept.) I'm sure it won't be the last time I do this because I'm all about instant gratification and this surely did it for me!)

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Although it looks even better with this yummy strawberry banana bread in it. You can find the recipe here.

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I even found this cool blanket for $.50 that someone obviously devoted some loving time into making. We will surely put it to use and enjoy it on our many picnic's that we take.

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Yes, it keeps on going. I told you... I'm hooked.

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This adorable dress that looks completely brand new, $3.00.

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A pretty white shirt for $2.00 (and as you know, girls can never have enough white shirts)

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to go with these... Gracie's FAVORITE of all...

A air of Bloch tap shoes for $3.00 in perfectly good condition. I wonder if they've even ever been worn. She is LOVING these so dearly! We might just have to add a tap dancing class someday to the list of our many activities.

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So, if you're ever in the need of anything, think of it as recycling. Go visit you're local thrift shop. You'll be amazed at what you find! I know I was.

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Some of the other things we've been doing include making our own homemade yogurt. It's blissfully free of corn syrup and saves quite a few bucks in our wallet. We were going through a ton of Stoneyfield organic yogurt which we use for making smoothies, frozen fruit pops made from left over smoothies and just eating the french vanilla flavor alone or along with fresh berries. This became too costly for us yet it was still important for me to feed my kids good wholesome yogurt without all the junk in it especially with the amount we consume. So If anyone is interested, I'll post the recipe on the blog. It's yummy and fun for the kids to see how yogurt is made!

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Another money saving thing you can do is to make your own laundry detergent. I use the recipe found here and it truly creates more detergent than you'll know what to do with (unless you are washing for 5 that is : ) The website says this detergent costs an average of 1 cent per load! Can't beat that one! The only downside is you'll have to get used to your home and laundry not smelling like the fragrant commercial laundry detergent does, but with the help of some essential or fragrance oil you can customize it to your liking. I tend to like lavender. I think because it reminds me of being in labor with my baby, Fletch. Yes, believe it or not, that actually is one of my happiest memories (along with my other two births) that I like to recall it as often as possible. For some reason during Fletcher's birth, I couldn't get enough of it! I walked around the house with the bottle up to my nose and even had Josh sprinkling it in the tub as I was bracing for "the moment". Back to doing laundry, other popular scents tend to be in the citrus family, lemon, grapefruit and the often favorite, orange. I've even heard that cinnamon oil can be quite nice but I haven't tried that one. Happy washing!

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Oh, and happy thrifting! There's so much more to be thrifty with but I think I've written enough for today. I've got to get back to cooking my frugally conscious dinner!

Monster Truck Maddness

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So we finally got around to taking the kids to a Monster Jam show. To say they loved it is an understatement! When I ordered the tickets a few months back, I was wondering if we should find a sitter for Fletch or not. He's not the type to sit still to watch anything (except for a little Barney of course). Well, so I thought. Now I know, if it involves monster trucks, then he will sit for hours!
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When we arrived (running behind as always), I quickly whisked the two youngest kids into the bathroom to empty their bladders before the show. We could hear some loud bands as the show got started and Fletch started yelling "Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!" It completely caught me off guard. His speech is expanding so rapidly, I can hardly keep up!

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He was totally mesmerized by the complete show. Not only were there trucks, but racing 4 wheelers, stunt riders on street bikes, and dirt bikes doing super cool tricks.

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The whole show really was incredible to watch!

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Even Gracie who was a little nervous at the thought of going, couldn't get enough of it.

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We'll definitely be going back for another one in the future.

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The driver of the kids favorite truck, the Grave Digger, decided to get out of his truck at the end of the show and come up to greet his fans right where we were sitting!

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What a fun way to kick off our school year! This was my attempt to get the kids excited about the upcoming school year anyway. Can you hear me now? "As soon as it's time for school to start again kids, we'll get to go to the MONSTER TRUCK SHOW to celebrate!" There was a very rare question asked around our home, "Mom, how much longer 'til school starts?" Yay! I love success.