Well the countdown to Christmas has officially started here. The kids are super excited after St. Nick stopped by sometime late last night. They had left their stockings on the table before bed and woke up to a big surprise!
They had been talking about our previous St. Nicholas Day celebrations and how they forgot to put their stockings out last year… Oops!
Don’t worry… that heater was not on ‘HEAT’ as we only have the flames going this morning but it has been doing great job at keeping us warm and cozy so far.
St. Nick did not disappoint with a variety of small toys, coloring books, and other holiday items plus a tiny bit of candy. He also left a couple of new books and a holiday music cd for them. They are looking forward to a midday snack of gingerbread cookies and hot cocoa too!
He didn’t forget about the grownups either and even left a small gift for Nanny J and Papa O. He left Momma some much needed kitchen items, some holiday jewelry, and CHOCOLATE!
Santa had even decorated a little bit and put these cute covers on the chairs.
And he must’ve met up with the UPS man at some point to grab our new Advent wreath for us. It had been stuck in delivery status as the driver couldn’t locate our house.
It is so much prettier than it looked on the internet! I had a hard time deciding what color to get but thought this was a good choice even though it isn’t the traditional Christmas colors. Now we are just waiting for the candles to arrive. After all this excitement it was time for breakfast:
This year I added the chocolate chips to the pancakes while on the griddle for our Santa Claus Pancakes. I forgot to pick up some fresh strawberries and blueberries so we made do with what we had here. I also didn’t realize that Mr. Jacob had added a couple of extra chocolate chips to Santa’s beard… lol!
Have you been crazy busy this first week of December? How many of you have finished your shopping? How many haven’t bought the first gift yet? Well, I have been busy and my shopping is somewhere in between the two but I have a few ideas here that the kids can help with and they could double as really great gifts for grandparents and family members too!
Some of these links are affiliate links but there is no extra fee if you purchase through these links… it just means we may get a teeny weeny kickback which helps support our blog and our family.
I also have a TON of ideas saved on my Pinterest… my newest board is Christmas Crafts 2018. Here’s a screenshot of just some of the ideas I’ve found:
I think we are going to get really busy with crafts so be sure to keep an eye out for lots of pics! If you aren’t feeling crafty or just don’t have time to shop for craft supplies then check out the following links for Amazon deals that can be shipped right to your home and most of them include everything you need to start crafting and keep the kids busy while you finish your shopping!
I feel like I haven’t posted a new recipe in a while so I thought I should share these yummy treats that we had over the weekend. I make a double batch as they seem to disappear as quickly as they come out of the oven.
My kids loved helping with these. They can measure and stir as well as practice kneading their own little batch of dough and then cut out their own little biscuits too.
Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits
Ingredients:
Biscuits:
3 c. self rising flour
2 t. baking soda
1 T. cinnamon
1 c. butter or shortening
1 1/2 c. raisins
1 1/2 – 2 c. buttermilk or you can use regular milk with 1/2 c. sour cream
**This post does contain affiliate links which help to support my blog and my family.
As a Momma of 9 I am constantly looking out for my kids. I worry about them, like all moms do, and try to be there for them any way I can. I am also constantly looking for new ways to encourage them and keep their curiosity and eagerness to learn alive.
They really do love learning however sometimes they get bored with what we are learning or the way I am teaching it. I admit I get bored sometimes too but I love homeschooling because I am learning right along with my kids. Seeing the look on their face when they finally ‘get’ something is priceless and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
On the other hand I often feel frustrated and tired because things don’t go as planned. We also experience A LOT of interruptions in our day to day life and that can cause some frustrations too as I feel like we just aren’t GETTING ENOUGH DONE in our day.
Not to mention how exasperating it can be when you plan a lesson or activity only to have your kids totally HATE IT! Hours and hours down the drain on what you thought was going to be such a FUN LEARNING EXPERIENCE.
**This post may contain affiliate links to some of the products and resources that we have used. These are provided at no extra charge to you and help to support our blog and family if a purchase is made through these links. -Thank you!
My kids love to play Tic-Tac-Toe and they love to be outside so this combines both of their loves into one great game. It’s really simple to make also. I really like the fact that most of the items can be found at the dollar store too!
**Note: You can omit the boxes, beans, and two colors of duct tape if you happen to have 2 sets of bean bags (four of each color)
Directions:
Cut a 5 ft x 5 ft or 4 ft x 4 ft square out of the shower curtain liner. Lay it flat and draw lines to divide it into 9 equal sections with the marker. Use one color of duct to cover the lines.
If you don’t have bean bags you will need to make some really simple ones. Cut the cardboard into twenty 7 inch x 7 inch squares.
Place two pieces of cardboard together and use one color of duct tape (different from the liner grid) to seal three sides. Fill the ‘bag’ with beans and seal the remaining edge. Cover any visible cardboard with duct tape. Repeat to make a total of 5 bean bags for this color. (You can mark these with x’s, if you want.)
Repeat Step 3 with the remaining squares, beans, and colored tape. (Mark with o’s, if desired.)
Grab a friend and start playing by standing a bit away from the ‘board’. Take turns tossing the bags and try to make a row of the same color/symbol. The row can go across, up or down, and/or diagonal.
Have fun!
If you have a sidewalk or concrete you could also draw the board with chalk and use chalk/bean bags to play.
Not a DIYer? No fear you can buy something similar from Amazon:
**This post does contain some affiliate links which could possibly earn me a small commission if a purchase was made through them. These links help to support our blog and our family.
Hmmm… have you thought about what you’ll be feeding those hungry learners? If your kids were in public school you may not have had to think much about it before. If you plan to homeschool then you will be feeding them at least three meals a day and maybe a few snacks in between.
This can turn into a chaotic juggling act if you aren’t prepared. How do we prevent meal time chaos in our home? By meal planning. I even plan out snacks sometimes so I don’t forget to include them on my grocery list. Check out this link for some Healthy Snacks to Go.
It might seem like a lot of trouble but when you find a system that works for then it is so easy. It will actually save you time and money in the long run. This is also a helpful thing even if you don’t homeschool.
**This post does contain some affiliate links which could possibly earn me a small commission if a purchase was made through them. These links help to support our blog and our family.
I can remember how excited I always was on my first day back to school. I loved school as a kid and I was always so eager to learn. My best memories were of the teachers who let us play games or gave us special treats on that first day. Maybe they were just trying to bribe us but it was something I remember.
**This post does contain some affiliate links which could possibly earn me a small commission if a purchase was made through them. These links help to support our blog and our family.
If this is your first year homeschooling this is an important step to making sure you get your year off on a good start.
You don’t need a huge Pinterest perfect school area as I’ve talked about in this post but you do need it to be organized if you want to be successful. Having stuff here and there is a surefire way to get overwhelmed in a hurry. Trust me, I know this from experience.
Our main area is our dining table. We have some bookshelves which hold the majority of our books plus I have another shelf with the books I am using that are specific to our curriculum for this year. Continue reading Is Your HomeSchool Area ‘School Ready’?→
As promised I will share the recipe for the cookies we made earlier today. These are super easy to make and I had made two batches, or about four dozen cookies, in less than 30 minutes.
I’ve always called them haystacks but Mr. Awesome knows them as Noodle Cookies. You can probably add other ingredients, desired or maybe even swap the butterscotch chips for chocolate ones.
Mr. Awesome likes them without marshmallows but with plenty of peanuts. The kids like them with marshmallows. That’s how I ended up making two batches.
Haystacks aka Noodle Cookies
Ingredients:
11-12 oz bag butterscotch chips
3/4 c. Peanut butter
10-12 oz Chow Mein Noodles
1/2 – 1 c. Salted peanuts, optional
3 1/2 c. Mini marshmallows, optional
Directions:
Line two baking pans with wax paper.
Place the chips in a medium to large size bowl. Microwave on 50% for 1-2 minutes or until mostly melted.
We have had quite the week again. Fun and crazy as usual. Keep reading to find out about some of our many adventures here in the little house on the pond. We have included affiliate links to some of the products mentioned in this post. These help to support our blog.
Monday
Elephant fuzz here, elephant fuzz there, elephant fuzz everywhere… sounds a bit like a children’s book, doesn’t it? So what is elephant fuzz? I asked the same thing when I first saw this all over the house:
The kids were quick to reply that it was ‘elephant fuzz’…. ok, but where did it come from? Here is the answer:
It appears that this little pillow has a hole and is leaking elephant fuzz… lol… kids come up with the darnedest things don’t they? Well, I got the hole taken care of and hopefully that’ll be the end of the elephant fuzz.
Monday our regular club dance was ‘dark’ to support a reunion dance that was being held locally. Here is a short video from the event:
We had a good time and got to see old friends plus we made some new ones while we were there. Afterwards we ate at Texas Roadhouse and an exceptional server named Terrence.
Tuesday
I got a call from the Florida Gardiner Scholarship telling me about a glitch in the system which had caused some of my orders to be denied… this meant I had to go back into the system and resubmit the orders… oh what fun!
I also figured out that I can ‘Air Drop’ pictures from my phone to my tablet… this makes life so much easier!
The kids are loving their new routine chart:
I am working on ordering some different magnets because the stars don’t stick very well. I may also paint or paper the board. There will be a post about this sometime in the future.
We read a chapter from the Laura Ingalls Wilder biography before bed and had a short discussion about the things we learned from the chapter. The kids are super excited about the new school year.
They were also very happy that I had ordered more of their favorite toothpaste:
We all love the lemon flavor and I love the fact that it works so great! I always buy the triple pack and the first time I ordered I bought the multipack so we could try out all the flavors. The kids didn’t care for the peppermint or cinnamon as they thought they was too spicy. Some of us older folks liked the wintergreen flavor but lemon was the majority vote.
I actually found a little time on Tuesday to paint my nails too! Mommas need a little bit of pampering from time to time. 😊
Wednesday
Wednesday morning we changed our breakfast routine a bit. Instead of Muffins the kids had a bowl of fresh fruit and a cup of yogurt.
I’m really loving this new fruit bowl I got earlier this month. It is so much bigger than the one we had, plus it’s not as fragile. The banana holder is a great feature as well. It keeps the kids from dragging out and bruising all of the bananas just to find the ‘perfect’ apple.
While cleaning the bathroom I got a call from Walgreens …. NOT… it was a telemarketer call disguised as a local business. I HATE these kind of calls. They wanted to help me with my interest rate on a card they knew nothing about.
After politely asking a strongly accented Chris Sawyers to remove me from the list I had to threaten to report them to the authorities for FRAUD. He asked me to hold online while he removed me from the list. I did hold, with the phone muted and the receiver set on the shelf, and an hour later I was still on hold… haha Mr. Sawyers from card services you’ve won a mention on my blog. Congrats!
After our morning chores were finished we played one of the new games that we’ve gotten:
Bugs Building is similar to the once popular Jenga game. They had a lot of fun playing the game but then we had some major midweek meltdowns!
Luckily I still had a hidden stash of FREE chocolates…
Thursday
Hmmm… Thursday was a kinda gloomy day, very rainy and windy too. We didn’t get our laundry done because of the weather but it got finished up on Friday. We were also without power for a little while that morning.
The kids made the best of no electricity and played some board games. I think they thought they were getting out of chores but everyone had to help finish up the chores when the power came back on. Then it was time for some lunch which was Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.
After I got the kids down for quiet time I got this text message from Mr. Awesome:
Oh boy do I love these kind of messages. I dug my outfit out of the closet and got to work on making some dinner. I had planned to make Spaghetti but opted for Sloppy Joes when I realized I didn’t have any noodles.
Unfortunately I didn’t get any pics of the Pink Cadillac Dance or our super cute outfits because my phone was acting up again.
Friday
Friday was Moon Day and we celebrated with some Moon Pies for an afternoon snack. That morning we finished up the laundry for the week and caught up on few things that needed done around the house.
After paying a couple of bills I went ahead and renewed our ABC Mouse that the kids have been begging for. They wasted no time getting on their and taking care of their virtual pets. Joey also made sure to update his avatar:
Those glasses look almost like his and they are just too cute!
That afternoon I went to make some our favorite Cream Cheese Chicken with Rice and Green Beans only to realize I didn’t have any cream of chicken soup… I don’t know what happened when I went grocery shopping last week but I guess I didn’t do a good job. I did finish dinner and it was really good with the substitutions I made so I’ll try to get that updated recipe posted soon.
That evening we went to the square dance. Again I didn’t get any pics because my phone died but I did get that video finished. I’ll have it at the end of the post.
Saturday
I had planned to get the porch cleaned up a bit but the constant thunderstorms kept us inside. The morning was spent tidying up around the house and then we went out to eat at Golden Corral. It wasn’t the best experience and we probably won’t visit that location again but the kids enjoyed it.
After eating we headed to the movies to watch the new Ant Man movie. It was pretty good and everyone had a great time. All in all it was a good week and we are really looking forward to a great time in the upcoming week.
This week I plan to get some of the lessons entered into the Homeschool Manager app and also set a date for us to start school. I will also be working on a couple of more promo videos for square dancing as many clubs will be starting classes in September.
As far as cleaning the FlyLady missions will be in the Master Bedroom this week. I just need to do a tidying up in there so I’m not really sure how much I will get done in there. I would really like to get the porch cleaned off and have some usable space out there but the weather hasn’t been cooperating.
What are your goals for the upcoming week?
Below are some other things that we’ve done this past week and that video we put out for square dancing.
I decided to celebrate the middle of the year with a look back on my blog’s top ten blog posts for 2018. Can you guess what they were? The results certainly supervised me!
So it seems that everyone really likes recipes and food as those post had half of the top ten spots. Of course we have to balance that out with holiday ideas, special promotions, and just good ole’ family stuff.
Anyway I just wanted to take a minute and say thanks to everyone for such a great first half of 2018. It really does mean a lot that everyone reads and follows along on our adventures.
Teach Kids These 5 Habits for Lifelong Healthy Eating:
What are the best habits you learned from your parents? What are the most important habits you’re teaching your kids? #2 on this list is especially good:
