It's A Crazy Life.....

Here is the cake I am going to attempt

This year we've been doing a homeschool preschool program for Things #3 and #4.  Now, mind you, both Mr. CrazyLife and myself are public school teachers, so we are in no way against public school.  Or are we pro-homeschool.  We just feel that any education either at home or at school is important and that we should do all we can to keep our children on the right path and give them a headstart into life and education.


Since Auntie CrazyLife has been staying with the wee ones during the day, we decided it was easier to let her homeschool the preschool rather than find a new place for them and add extra running and expense into our day.  She's been trained in early childhood education, so it's a great choice for us.

So far this year, the kids have worked on their letters and numbers, both recognition by sight and sound.  I cut a vinyl alphabet with my Cricut and we hung it on our kitchen wall.  It looks quite nice, if I do say so myself.  =)  Thing #3 can now write his full name and Thing #4 can recognize and say all the letters in her full name.



They have also done units on "All about Me," "Halloween," "Apples," and "Fall."  Our kitchen/dining room is decorated so nicely with all the artwork they've done.  We've added to it with artwork the older children bring home from school.  It's a lovely way to decorate the house!

The children and Auntie also work on the weather and calendar every day.  It's so cute to hear Thing #4 singing the days of the week song all the time!

This past week, the kids and Auntie have been working on shapes and colors.  It's so funny to hear my wee two year old pointing out all the shapes she sees as we drive around town!  She can even draw her own circles and squares!

Next week the topic is Thanksgiving. 

Today we went to the library to find a book on the first Thanksgiving and about the history of Thanksgiving.  The kids will read that and do some answer comprehension questions orally and then draw a picture of what the first Thanksgiving looked like.  We also have some Pilgrim head crafts to make from  HERE.  I also found a printable book there about symbols of Thanksgiving and one about counting.

I also have used my QuickCutz cutter to make some Thanksgiving shapes (Boy Pilgrim, Girl Pilgrim, Boy Indian, Girl Indian, Turkey, Corn, Leaf) which will be used for a couple different things.  The kids will use them for making patterns, counting, color identity, shape identity and of course, storytelling.

So far, this homeschool preschool thing is working quite well.  With Auntie CrazyLife doing the main lesson during the day and Momma and Daddy CrazyLife filling in during the evening and weekend, I really see a lot of progess with the kids. 

Plus, it's been fun putting together units and making all the materials and planning curriculum.  I'm probably kind of a nerd in that way, but I love curriculum!  Look for more homeschool preschool ideas in the future!

I admit it.  I had fallen into the rut of doing almost everything for my children.  I picked out their clothes.  I made all their meals, packed their schoolbags, even picked up their dirty clothes off the bedroom and bathroom floors. But there came a point at the beginning of this summer when I said to myself, "Self?  What in the heck are you doing?"  This came after spending almost an hour picking up toys and messes after the children had gone to bed.  Why was I the one doing this?  I didn't make the mess.  If anything, I'd picked up that same exact mess at least three times already that day. Why? Why? Why?

I never intended to become the parent who did everything for their kids.  I wanted my children to be independent.  I wanted them to be able to take care of themselves.  And they were - they just couldnt' or more likely, wouldn't  do it.

So I declared war.  As soon as school was over this summer.  I made up a system to "help" them help themselves.  And it's worked....as long as I keep up on it.

You see, my children are just like myself.  In order to stay accountable to me, to them, to each other, we need a visible checklist, something we can see what needs to be done.  This can't be something you can hide away and forget - it has to stay constant, and you have to be able to physically manipulate it.

I mentioned in my last post about my love of the Motivated Moms system.  I keep the calendar in a 3 ring binder on my kitchen table.  I HAVE to mark things off the list before I feel like I can finish my day.

The kids are the same way.  Through trial and error, we came up with a system that helps them help themselves (and me in the process).  It's worked for the most part - vacation days kind of put us off.  But the biggest thing is that we keep it visible and that the kids are able to physically manipulate their list.

Here's what we do:

I made up a chore chart for each of the children.  I just used Excel, nothing fancy.  Each child has 7 chores per day.  These things include brushing teeth, making beds, picking up bedrooms, picking up toys, picking out clothes.  They also include some "extra" chores - setting the table, clearing the table, sweeping the floor, taking out the trash, putting away laundry.   Many of the basic chores are the same for each child, allowing me to use the same template for all four munchkins.

I post the chore charts on the side of the refridgerator.  That way, the kids can check themselves to see what needs to be done and I can check to see how they are doing.  When they finish a chore and I've checked it, they can put a sticker on the chart for that day.

Each chore is worth 5 cents of "momma money".  At the end of the week they can earn up to $2.45.  This isn't a real allowance.  It's Momma Money.  The wee monsters and I sat down and came up with a list of rewards that they can "buy" with their Momma Money.  The things included, dinner out, a date with mom/dad to the park, swimming at the college, a sleepover wih a friend; all things that are free or reletively free.  Or they can save up or pool their money to "buy" something larger: a trip to the zoo, a movie date, a toy from the dollar store, etc.

It's working pretty well.  The kids are saving up right now to buy a trip to the zoo for the Halloween event and Thing #1 wants a sleepover with 2 friends.  If they start to fall behind, a simple reminder of what they need to do and what they are working towards seems to help.

And we're all staying more accountable!

Bath Fizzies Baisc Recipe

1 C baking soda
1/2 C citric acid (available at drugstore/bulk foods)
1/2 C salts (dead sea or epsom)
1/2 C corn starch

Mix together all dry ingredients.

1 TBS water
1-2 TBS oil (any light vegetable oil will work; I've also used cocnut oil)
1-2 drops food coloring (if desired - makes for fun colors)
1-2 tsp essential oil (if desired - for fun)

Mix wet ingredients and add to dry ingredient mixture.  Now you have to work fast before the mix begins to set.  Take the mix and press into a mold.  Let them sit in a dry place, out of humidity for at least a day.  You can take them out of the mold reletively quickly as they will take shape and then let them dry out of the mold.  You can also use just about anything for a mold - ice cube trays, candy molds, plastic two piece christmas bulbs, etc. You can also take large scoops and use your hands to mold them into balls.

Today I'm writing about chickens.  More specifically, our chickens.  I love our chickens.  They are social, they give us eggs and meat.  And they're kinda cute.

And this is coming from a girl who HATES birds.  And I do mean HATE.

We started keeping chickens about three years ago.  We started with a small flock of Rhode Island Reds.  They were very happy with us.  We raised them up from young chicks.  They were just about to start laying eggs.......then the dogs got into them.  That was not a fun day, let me tell you.

We added a new batch of hens to our one lone survivior of the dog attack and waited out another egg-less winter.  Every day the wee things went out to the coop to check for eggs.  Every day all winter long, they were disappointed.  Then we started getting some warm, sunny winter days.  The kids were so excited on the first sunny warmish late winter day when we got our first egg.  They were even more excited the next day when we got a green egg - just in time for Dr. Suess's birthday!

We're now entering into our third spring with chickens.  Last fall we got rid of some of our older chickens and picked up a bunch of pullets.  We waited out the winter, watching them grow, fighting off owls and hawks (and losing about 6 of them to the predators), and now it's spring again!  Imagine our suprise that out of about 30 pullets, we ended up with 15 roosters! 

This spring was the first time that Thing #4 really got to enjoy the suprise and delight of the season's first egg.  She walked out to the coop with me and just about screamed when she saw the "eggie" there!  The brightness shining in her eyes was just melting a Momma's heart.  Then when she dropped said "eggie" a few minutes later and the overwhelming sadness there just about made it break.  Poor baby!

So this week, DH is taking our 15 roosters to a farmer we know and trading them out for some hens.  We're hoping for a good batch to add to our flock.  We did keep 3 of the roosters.  Big Red, our youngster from last year is the new dominent rooster.  We also kept Chicken Little, the first chicken we hatched out of our incubator last year (and a suprise rooster at that!).  And one cute little speckled guy that's a cross between a Barred Rock and something else (maybe a leghorn?).  We do need to find a new name for that guy though, because I think I saw murder in his eyes when Thing #1 called him Mr. Speckles.  I guess he wants a more dignified rooster name!

I love our "girls" and their men.  The kids enjoy running around with them in the yard and sometimes chasing them.  We love the eggs we get (in fact, I'm eyeing up some new egg recipes to try this year) and the meat they provide keeps us in poultry all winter long.  Not to mention that the eggs and meat taste so much better than store-bought stuff!

Yay for chickens!

Little girls' hair drives me crazy!!  My wee things have hair that never seems to do what I want it to, not to mention the fact that I' m not the best braider or hair-doer in the world.  In the hair-world experience my hair is not fine and when you put it somewhere, it stays there.  It's heavy and thick and well, it just stays put.  My girls' hair is so fine and it just goes everywhere.  It's pretty thick, but light and fine and it blows every which way.

Now I've pretty gotten down the ways to do piggies and ponys and I can even so a simple basic braid.  But anything fanicer than that and I'm lost!  And I so want my wee thingies to have super cute hair!!  Super cute hair looks so much better with the outfits I make them and put them in than just regular ole' piggies!!

And then I ran across this blog: Princess Hairstyles.  What an amazing find!!!  This mom has directions and pictures to all kinds of fantastic hairstyles.  Some a bit more advanced than I, but still...something to work towards.  Check out some of these pictures:

The other day when the kids and I got home from school, we decided to do a little craft project slash science project.  So we made ice cube suncatchers.  It's easy to do and fun for the wee things to make.  They like to to see how the food coloring changes the color of the ice and how the water goes from liquid to slush to solid.  Plus, they look really pretty hanging outside in the snow, catching that late winter sunshine!