5 Random Things ~ January 8

5 random things

KIMG01961. When Dragonfly was born, Will got me one of those adult coloring books that’s all the rage right now since he figured I’d have a lot of down time while I recovered. Well, I hadn’t had much opportunity to color in it due to a combination of healing from the c-section and Dragonfly being *so* small. Now that’s he’s a bit bigger (meaning, he actually sleeps in his crib for naps and about half the night), and I’m fully healed, I’ve been finding more time to color. I know a lot of people use those as stress relievers, but I don’t find that I have a lot of stress in my life, so I color just for fun. And I really have been enjoying it very much. (Mine is a Harry Potter book.)

2. This was our first full week back to school since the baby was born. I think it went very well!

3. Wednesday was Will’s and my anniversary. We’ve been married for 15 years now. We didn’t do anything super fancy to celebrate. We ate dinner at home and then left the big kids there (since Seahawk is 12 now, we feel comfortable leaving him to babysit) and took Small Fry and Dragonfly out with us while we went to a record store and a book store to browse around.

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The bottom shelf of this table holds our records as well as Small Fry’s read-aloud picture books.

4. We recently purchased two record players – yes, the old fashioned turntables that were how you listened to music in the 70s and 80s. Will has one in his office and we have one in the living room. We’ve slowly been purchasing used (and a couple of new…) vinyl records, but only from the record store – not Goodwill. The record store guarantees the quality of their records whereas Goodwill does not, and before we instigated the “no Goodwill” policy, we wasted a few dollars on records from there that didn’t play properly due to warping that you couldn’t see until you put it on a turntable. Our collection is now up to 14, plus a single (Doris Day’s Que Sera, Sera) on a 45. Even though I’m  not much of a “music person,” I’ve been voluntarily listening to records more than I ever listened to CDs or MP3s. It’s nice 🙂

5. We’re in the early stages of exploring switching to “Family Cloth.” More on that in another post when we actually make the plunge.

Blessings,

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A Huge Variety of Homeschool Lessons in One Place – SchoolhouseTeachers.com Review

As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, one of the biggest blessings I receive is a free Yearly Membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Crew reviewers are invited to continue their membership for free as long as they remain on the Crew, and I’ve opted to keep mine up each year (I’m beginning my third year as a member). I don’t always remember to utilize this amazing resource, but I’ve spent the past couple of weeks re-exploring it, and I was reminded of just how awesome it is. We’ve already started using some of these lessons (this is our first week back after baby and Christmas), and I definitely see us using more of them in the near future.

The two classes that we’ve just begun are Keyboarding by David Kimball and Dinosaurs and the Bible by Patrick Nurre.

keyboardingKeyboarding is a 10-lesson typing course for students of all ages. Each lesson can last as long as needed for mastery, from one day to a week or more. I didn’t learn how to type until I was in 9th grade, but times have changed since then, and it’s really not all that realistic for younger student not to learn how to type. So many things rely on the computer these days that it doesn’t make sense to keep them away from this generation of children, even for parents (like myself) who would prefer to have our students work more with “real” things like books and paper.

Each typing lesson focuses on a small portion of the keyboard, starting with the home row. It uses a combination of video (explanations that require visual), audio (oral-only explanations, instructions, and music to type to), and written (a printable student packet with letter combinations and words to type). It might be tempting  to skip the printing of the student packet, but don’t do this. This keyboarding class’s goal is to teach students to type accurately without looking at the keys or the screen.

Dinosaurs and the Bible will be our science course for the next several weeks. We dove into it this week, and it’s not so different from the science course we were using before in method – a video paired with worksheets. This may not be everyone’s favorite way of teaching science, but for us at this stage in our family it works very well. Like with most things involving worksheets, I’ve been hand copying them off of the website for the boys.

The Dinosaurs and the Bible course is currently active, which means not all of the lessons are available yet, but more are added each week and will continue to be until the entire course is complete. Once that happens, the archives will remain available on the site indefinitely. That’s one of the things I love about SchoolhouseTeachers.com – that they leave every course up once it’s there. This means that you can use the material any time, not just when  it’s new and active.

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is an amazing resource for homeschooling families. The two classes I talked about are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. This website could easily provide the core curriculum for your students. There are classes in nearly every subject for all grade levels, from preschoolers to high school. There are also printable planners and other resources for parents, and the membership includes free access to Right Now Media, a faith-based video streaming company.

The fee ($12.95 per month or $139 for a full year) is per family, not per student, so it’s quite affordable. To make it an even better value, I have a special deal for you today. Sign up for a Yearly Membership during the month of January and get 50% off using the coupon code CREWFOLLOWER. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Blessings,

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Click here to read more reviews

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What We’re Reading in January

Happy New Year!

Christmas brought a lot of new books into our home, and I’m excited to share about them over the next couple of months as we begin to read them all 🙂

Wendy (that’s me!)

Will found two books for me from some of my favorite authors, and I’m really excited to read both of them. The decision of which to read first came down to the one that felt better in my hand, especially since a lot of my reading happens while nursing Dragonfly. So this month, I’m reading At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen (author of Water for Elephants). It’s a period piece that takes place right at the end of World War II about a woman, her husband, and her father-in-law as they search for the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland.

Seahawk (6th grade)

He’s working his way through several things right now… He hasn’t finished the George Washington biography I wrote about last time I did one of these posts. He’s also reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and we got him a Star Wars special edition magazine for his “something to read” for Christmas that he’s enjoying.

Munchkin (4th grade)

Munchkin, as regular readers will know, is my reader. This kid will read anything you put in front of him. He was recently quarantined to his bedroom for 4 days while he recovered from pneumonia. He spent the first day of that quarantine sleeping. He felt better after just a day or so on the antibiotics, but because we have an infant we weren’t comfortable letting him out to risk passing the infection on to the rest of us for a few days after that. This was borderline a treat for him rather than a problem – it meant he had 3 solid days to do nothing but read and draw without his older brother giving him grief about not playing! During that half-week, he read the first three Harry Potter books in their entirety. He’s now about halfway through Goblet of Fire. His goal is to read the remainder of that series and then dive into his Christmas books. He received a single-volume Chronicles of Narnia that he’s excited to dive into, among other things. We won’t need to hit the library for him for the next 6-12 months at least!

Small Fry (3 years old)

Sometime in December, this guy decided he was really into trains. I’m not entirely sure what prompted it, but when asked what he wanted for Christmas, the answer every time was “Trains!” So we got him a beginner train set with the understanding that if he’s still interested on successive birthdays and Christmases, it would be easy to add on to. Additionally, we found on sale a book that had 6 Thomas the Tank Engine books all in one volume, so we picked that up for him. He’s loving the book, and will easily sit through 3 or more of the stories at once – assuming he can find someone to read that many to him!

What are you reading this month?

Blessings,

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Pecan Cookie Balls (Recipe)

Pecan Cookie Balls recipeOne of my very favorite cookies is a recipe I inherited from my grandmother. I don’t make it often – about once every other year or so – but that doesn’t negate its place at the top of my ideal cookies list.

There are a couple of things that make this cookie special (excluding the fact that the recipe is from my late grandma). First, there’s very little sugar in them – only a quarter cup. Second, they don’t spread and flatten like traditional cookies. Instead, they retain their ball shape, which makes them fun to eat. Last but not least, they are absolutely the most delicious sweet ever! I hope you’ll try them. Maybe they’ll become a holiday staple at your house.

Blessings,

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 I’m sharing this recipe at Try a New Recipe Tuesday.

Pecan Cookie Balls
Serves 60
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75 calories
6 g
8 g
5 g
1 g
2 g
14 g
20 g
3 g
0 g
3 g
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size
14g
Servings
60
Amount Per Serving
Calories 75
Calories from Fat 47
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 5g
8%
Saturated Fat 2g
11%
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 2g
Cholesterol 8mg
3%
Sodium 20mg
1%
Total Carbohydrates 6g
2%
Dietary Fiber 0g
2%
Sugars 3g
Protein 1g
Vitamin A
2%
Vitamin C
0%
Calcium
0%
Iron
1%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Ingredients
  1. 1 cup butter
  2. 1/4 cup brown sugar
  3. 2 cups all purpose flour
  4. 1/2 teaspoon salt
  5. 1 tablespoon water
  6. 1 teaspoon vanilla
  7. 2 cups finely chopped pecans
  8. 1/2 to 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
  1. Cream butter. Add sugar gradually and blend well.
  2. Add flour, salt, water, and vanilla. Mix.
  3. Add pecans and combine thoroughly.
  4. Shape into small balls - about 1 inch in diameter.
  5. Place on a cookie sheet (greased or ungreased - it doesn't matter). They can be placed quite close together since they won't spread and flatten. This allows you to get quite a few onto each cookie sheet.
  6. Bake at 350F for 18-20 minutes.
  7. While the cookies are still warm, roll them in powdered sugar.
beta
calories
75
fat
5g
protein
1g
carbs
6g
more
Ladybug Daydreams http://www.ladybugdaydreams.com/

TinyBeans

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Have you heard of Tinybeans? It’s like a photo sharing app, but without the requirement to share (like Instagram has).

I first heard about it in one of my emails from Mom365, the company that took Dragonfly’s hospital photographs. They sold it as simply a way to view those photographs on my phone. I thought that was a pretty cool idea, so I downloaded the app, and since I’ve become a bit more familiar with it, I’m finding that I like it more and more. Here are some of my favorite features:

The Calendar

Tinybeans encourages you to take at least one photograph per day in order to make sure you don’t miss any memories as your children grow. To aid in that, the photographs are arranged on a calendar rather than just in a “list” or “thumbnails.” The calendar format is nice because you can see at a glance exactly which days you have pictures from and which you don’t. This is very helpful if you intend to go back later and use your photos for anything – a gift for the grandparents or a family yearbook, for example.

The Reminder

Each evening at 6:00, if I haven’t taken any photos in my Tinybeans app yet, my phone chimes and reminds me to take at least one picture for the day. This reminder is good for days that are too busy with errands (and therefore not very “photogenic”) or too boring (when nothing “photo-worthy” happened). Even on those kinds of days, it’s nice to have memories.

Other Stuff

  • Besides being organized in a calendar format, Tinybeans allows you to mark who is in a specific photograph with just the tap of an icon (once you add in all of your children to your journal, that is).
  • You can add videos to Tinybeans, not just still pictures.
  • If you are a social butterfly who wants to share your photos and videos, it’s easy to do that as well, so long as the people you want to share with also have the Tinybeans app.
  • It’s free. Those are my favorite kinds of apps!
  • You can order gift items straight from the Tinybeans website that are comparably priced to the local digital photo services places. (In my case, a lot cheaper!) These include things like photo books, canvas prints, mugs, pillows, throw blankets, and many, many more.

I hope you’ll take a few moments to check out Tinybeans. It’s totally worth it!

Blessings,

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I’m not affiliated with Tinybeans in any way. I was not asked to write this post. In fact, Tinybeans doesn’t even know I exist. I’ve just discovered this app recently and thought it was really great, so I wanted to share about it all on my own.

Super Easy, No-Sew Scarfs

Do you have a last-minute gift you need to get for someone? Want to give something semi-homemade but don’t have the time to really make something? Look no further; I have the perfect gift idea for you!

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This is a simple cheat I learned from my late mother-in-law years ago, but never really put to use until this year. You see, I was planning to crochet scarves for the nieces and nephews to go with the hats I made for them last year. Problem is, it’s nearly impossible to find the time – and free hands – to crochet with a newborn. So I needed another option that I could do on a limited budget while still keeping with the spirit of the gift I had in mind. Enter the no-sew fleece scarf!

Fleece is the ideal fabric for this project because the cut edges don’t fray. That’s really important in keeping with the no-sew aspect for these. All you have to do is cut the fabric into strips – whatever width you’d like. I chose several different fabrics and had the lady at the cutting counter at JoAnn cut me off quarter-yard quantities. This gave me strips that were 9×42 inches – just about perfect for a child’s scarf. When I got the strips home, I cut off the selvage ends and then used my fabric scissors to cut “fringe” into the ends of the scarves. Then I tied knots at the top of each piece of fringe, but if you’re in a real hurry, this step is completely unnecessary. That’s it! A super easy, fun gift for kids that takes about $2 worth of fabric and 5 minutes of your time. Fabulous!

Blessings,

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5 Random Things: December 18

5 random things

1. I had my 6-week postpartum checkup today. It’s always so weird and feels so abrupt to go from frequent pregnancy appointments to just being done “cold turkey.” It’s good in that it means I’m healthy and don’t need to see a doctor regularly, but it’s still a bit of a shock to the system.

KIMG01342. We decorated our Christmas tree this week. A few years ago we switched from an artificial one to a live one (this is the third year), and it’s really nice. I like the piney scent that a live tree gives. Plus it’s a nice family activity to go to the tree sales places and pick the “perfect tree.” I think we really nailed it this year!

3. Homeschooling has been pretty lackluster since baby arrived. I tried to get us going again after three weeks, but that put us firmly in the Christmas season. I think it’s best if we just embrace the season and work extra hard in the new year, so that’s what we’re going to do. That gives me two full weeks to get ready, too, which will be good (and needed).

4. I’m excited to be a part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew for the third year. I’ve got a new role this year as Mentor, which means that I’ve been assigned three new members to take under my wing and help them out during their early reviews. I’ve been reading their blogs lately (As We Bloom, Our Whiskey Lullaby, and Scott Family Stories). They’re really good – these ladies are talented writers – and I hope you’ll check them out, too. One of them, Rebecca from Scott Family Stories, had a baby right around the same time I had Dragonfly, so I feel a bit of camaraderie with her 🙂

5. We’re doing the four-gifts-per-child for Christmas again this year: “Something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.” This will apply to all of them except Dragonfly. Because of his medical bills, his gift budget is much smaller than the others! Anyway, we already gave them their “something they need” gift, because, well, they needed it! The two older boys got new coats and Small Fry got some new socks. I’m a bit smarter with his socks this time than ever before, though. When he’s not wearing them, they’re safety pinned together in an effort at loss prevention. They go through the laundry pinned together, they go into his clothes basket (instead of a dresser) pinned together, and are only unpinned first thing in the morning when he puts them on. I’ve been doing this with Dragonfly’s socks, too, and it’s working like a charm so far.

KIMG0142And just for fun, a new pic of baby: his first caught-on-film smile 🙂

 

Blessings,

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Homemade Christmas Tree Ornaments

100_2196Will and I were talking a few weeks ago – right before Dragonfly was born – about wanting to keep our Christmas tree decorations simple but still commemorate our family life. We came up with the idea to find a tree branch, cut it into slices, and have the boys each put their handprint on one of the slices. Then I took it one step further and thought it would be awesome to do this each year, so we could see them grow through our ornaments. Great idea, right? And one I wish I’d had twelve (well, thirteen) years ago, so that we’d have those memories of Seahawk’s little hands. But alas, we can’t go back in time and start over, so we’re going to start now.

The only problem with this idea is that Seahawk is 12. His hands are bigger than mine! And that makes it difficult to find a branch with a wide enough diameter to accommodate his hands. So I started looking for another plan. I didn’t want to give up on my idea, but I needed another way to carry it out. A Google search found me loads of options for salt dough (which I’d never made) and this one, for Better than Salt Dough. Better?! Better is good, so I took a look at the blog post.

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The recipe was easy enough, and we already had the ingredients in the cupboard (although, I sent Will out for more of them anyway – we’d just gotten home from grocery shopping, and I didn’t want to dig through all the freshly put away groceries looking for the corn starch and baking soda). I made the dough in the evening and then left it overnight to cool enough to handle. The next afternoon, when we’d finished our lessons for the day, we got out the rolling pin and cookie cutters and made our own ornaments.

So… how did all this work out? Not as well as I’d hoped, I’m afraid. I’m not sure whether the problem was the dough or if we simply rolled it out too thinly, but most of the ornaments ended up cracked and/or broken after they’d dried out in the oven. Bummer.

Does anyone have other ideas/recipes for how to make this work? I’d love to know, so leave me a comment!

Blessings,

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