No Zombies

I have learned something about myself this week. I am caught up on watching Downton Abbey and I don't have another show I'm currently watching, so I decided I needed to pick something new from Netflix. My options were Once Upon A Time or The Walking Dead. I actually watched a good portion of Once Upon A Time the first season, but because of my work schedule and not having DVR at the time, I got behind and finally gave it up. I liked it, but for some reason I thought I should try watching something really new - to me.

Sooo... during Zachary's nap the other afternoon I put on the first episode of The Walking Dead. Now... I read a lot of books... a lot of paranormal and fantasy books. I have watched and read about werewolves, vampires and witches, but apparently I am not cut out for zombies. I watched most of the first episode, but I was kinda grossed out by the time Zach woke up and finally I just turned it off. Something about that rotting flesh, I think. No zombies for me... back to messed up fairy tales I go. =)

Malachi has been home sick a lot the last few weeks. Kindergarten is kicking our butts lately. A couple Sunday's ago he threw up so hard that he broke all the blood vessels in his face! I had no idea that could even happen and kinda freaked out and took him to the doctor. He was totally fine the next day, but I kept him home until I could get a note from the doctor because his poor face looked so bad.

He's home again today with a bad cough.... I am so ready for all the sickness to be gone!

Other than that we're just laying low at the moment. Zach is turning into a little two-year-old dictator and driving us all crazy. I think I am about ready to dig out my Mommy School stuff I did with Malachi about this age. 

My husband and I are currently exploring options for Malachi's school next year. We are not too impressed with our neighborhood school and we're not too convinced a new teacher next year is going to help the situation. This month has going to a couple different informational meetings to see what else might be out there for us to consider, so that should be interesting if nothing else.

Lately....

So I've been a very bad blogger lately. I know it. I guess I don't have much interesting going on at the moment. =) Or the interesting things is the stuff I'd rather not post about. Although I don't like to be a fake "everything is awesome always!" person, I also don't like to post about sad things, so I think that's taken the wind out of my blogging sails the past couple weeks - that and laziness. =)

Things I have been doing:

• I've somehow read over 25 books already this year. I've been doing a lot of reviews for authors that don't require posting to a blog, which is nice. I don't mind putting reviews here... but when I don't have a lot of other content it turns into a book-only blog. If you're interested in seeing some of my other reviews, you can follow me on Goodreads or the Little Sprout Facebook page to see those.
• I've been collecting supplies to make these Survival Candles. I think they will be fun to make with Malachi. I had to get the supplies, PLUS I realized I don't have a metal bowl to use as a double boiler, so I found one for less than $2 at the Goodwill! Yay me!
• I have also been researching supplies for homemade soap, which was one of my 2015 Goals this year. I've been searching for a cheap immersion blender at Goodwill also, but unfortunately, no luck so far. I could buy one from Walmart, but what if I only do it once?? Then it's ruined for using in real food and I'll have to throw it away.....

Earlier this month, I spent the day with Malachi at his school for his 100th day of school activities and parade. With all the disappointments of early in the school year it was kind of good to see we made it to a milestone!!

We've also had some crazy nice weather here in the PNW - earlier this week it was up in the lower-60s! We lucked out that Malachi's mid-winter break fell on a couple of those days. We set up a playdate with a friend one day and went to the park the next!

Okay, well that is all for now. Now I have to get the little one to nap before I head off to work this afternoon!

It's All Fun and Games Until....

Well, we are having quite the interesting experience in public school this year. If you've been following me at all, then you'll know I've not been too excited about it all along. I've been trying to keep an open mind and I've also been telling myself it's going to get better..... but it has really yet to do so unfortunately. I feel like every week something happens to frustrate me and they are starting to really build up. 

Malachi seems to be having a good time so far though. His favorite subjects are PE and recess (of course!). He seems to be doing well and getting along okay with the other kids. Most of my complaints stem from the fact that there are 23 kids in his classroom and only one poor teacher! I think she seriously needs some help other than us parent volunteers once or twice a week.

Last Friday I got my first call from the school nurse. I'm actually surprised it took this long to happen. =) Apparently Malachi and another kid collided on the playground and Malachi came away with a big bump on his eyebrow bone. It's been quite interesting to watch the progression of colors everyday as it heals. 

I am in no way blaming this one on the school... this was completely an accident caused by rambunctious boys playing. It's almost comical how terrible his eye looks considering it wasn't actually his eye that got hit. I'm almost afraid to take him out in public because of the comments and stares we get! I told him it looks like he was in a UFC fight!

It is now Wednesday of the week following this collision and his eye still looks basically like the one in the fourth picture. Good thing school pictures have already been taken! I was taking daily pictures (obviously) but when I figured out how long it was going to  take to go away I decided to ease up. =)

Anyway... here's hoping to this being the only incident with the nurse this year. =)

Smooth Mornings

Who doesn't want their mornings to be as simple as possible? Probably everyone, but it's especially nice for people like me who are not morning people at all. If it were up to me, I'd probably lay around it bed until 10am everyday (maybe its a good thing its not up to me!) When I actually DO make it out of bed (at 7:30 if I'm lucky, not 10), I'm really not too awake for awhile.... and if I worked the night before until 11:30pm... I'm probably really not with it.

Sooo... I've tried to make our mornings to school as easy as possible. I make Malachi's lunch the night before and stick the whole packed thing in the refrigerator. The only thing I add is a frozen tube of yogurt as we walk out the door (amazingly I've never forgotten this).

One of my favorite time savers was part of a project I started back before summer ended. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to do it or if it was really going to be worth it, but it turned out great! (I originally got this idea from TheGunnySack blog)

I had purchased this 6 cubbie hanging shelf at Target for about $6.99, I think. They had a nicer, sturdier looking one, but it cost more, so I didn't get it. I wasn't sure if I'd want the 6th shelf eventually, so I have temporarily pinned it up with a super fancy binder clip... I know... really amazing right? Honestly, I think I could use the last shelf for Sunday morning church clothes, but then it starts getting down around his shoes...... so I"m thinking of just officially tacking up the  bottom shelf.

My mom is amazing and made the little hanging days of the week tags for me. I think she printed on the fabric with her printer (using the tutorial from the originally blog post, I think) and then she sewed them to the blue background. They are nice kinda thick, so they don't get bent up. 

I wasn't sure how I was going to attach them, but I finally just decided to take the old needle and thread and tack the corners. They are easily removable if I ever wanted to do something else with it (or possibly get the nicer hanging shelf and move the labels over to that one).

Anyway... it is great!!! So worth the effort! On Sunday, I just look at the weather report for the week and make sure he had the right clothes. I put everything in the cubbie for that day including socks and underwear. When the weather was nice and he was wearing shorts, I'd even put his sneakers in the Friday cubbie, so he'd remember he needed them for P.E. that day and couldn't wear sandals. He just gets up in the morning and puts on those clothes for the day. I don't have to worry about if he's matching, wearing something weather appropriate or if there are enough clean pants for the week... it's all done! Hooray!

Now... if I could just talk my husband into dropping him off at school in the morning, so I don't have to do it, my mornings would be about as good as they could get. =)

Back to School

We have been in a bit of a crazy mode with Malachi starting school this month. It always seems that everything starts all at once! 

Malachi has school... can I just say I'm not enjoying getting up in time to get everyone fed and out of the house each morning. I'm only thankful that he doesn't have to be there until 8:40 am... any earlier and I'd probably die.

Can I just take this time to make a public service announcement? It is never okay to go out in public without a bra on? There are actually people who drop their kids of (and then pick them back up at 3:00 pm!) with no bra on. So you're wearing a sweatshirt? Too bad... they rest of us can still tell you don't have a bra on. Sorry to break it to you. And if you don't care.... hm... I'm not sure what to say about that.

For me, MOPS and Women's Bible Study have started up again. They are now much easier to get to those places on time because I'm already up and dressed. 

Because of Zach's evaluation with the school district last year to get him his needed physical therapy, he now qualifies for a free parent/toddler class. I didn't quite realize when I said we'd join that it's EVERY Thursday morning. Sigh.... another commitment.  It was very good though and I think he really enjoyed it. It is fun to do something special with just Zach. I did something similar with Malachi when he was a toddler. I might have to cut out something else... I haven't decided quite yet.

Malachi has become obsessed with Hot Wheels recently. He's watches demonstrations on YouTube.... he would rather watch that on TV than regular cartoons! Crazy! Now when he plays with his own Hot Wheels he wants me to video him and post HIS videos to YouTube. They are hilarious!

I have a bunch of projects I want to do. I thought I was going to have all this extra time with Malachi in school.... and I do... but I still don't feel like I've been very productive. I honestly almost feel more tired! I have a dresser to paint and use as my media console and I want to build a book caddy thingy for Zach's room (okay...actually I want my husband to build it so I can paint it). Hopefully I get to those things in the near future and then I'll have something to post here that seems productive!!

Summer Wrap Up

I can't believe it's the end of summer already!! How did that happen? In our house, we're gearing up for the beginning of Kindergarten! I'm a little terrified, but I think it will be good. 

Yesterday I received an email from Malachi's teacher to set up our "Kindergarten Interview".  Honestly, I have no idea what to expect from this year.... being homeschooled from 1st-12th grade doesn't give you a whole lot of practical experience for the public school system. To say I'm a little skeptical is a bit of an understatement. I think there are a lot of awesome teachers out there, but they can only do so much with a broken system. I'm willing to give it a try though, so hopefully it is a good experience.

We also went shopping for school supplies with grandma and make a trip down to the outlet stores for new school clothes - of course mommy and grandma got a few things also. =)

I've also been trying to figure out how to streamline our mornings. I'm not a morning person, so anything to help me out is great. I took this idea from Pinterest @TheGunnySack for organizing clothes for the week. I went to Target yesterday and purchased a six-cubbie haning shelf organizer. Malachi thinks its cool (??) and so hopefully that will get us going. This way he can get himself dressed in the mornings and I know he's actually match.

We've been trying to fit in all the stuff that I didn't get to earlier in the summer.... like swimming lessons! Last year I only got Malachi in for a week of lessons at the YMCA. This year I didn't think I was going to get him in at all, but then I got told about a local place that was a good price AND they had one last session for the summer. Hooray! Only 3 kids in his class and he's doing really well this year having gotten over his fear of putting his face in the water last year. 

We happened to see Zachary's physical therapist at the swimming place. It was exciting to show her how well his walking now!! Last time we saw her he had only taken a few steps between us. Hooray for finally walking!!

We're going to try to "quit sugar" in our house. I was offered this book to review by the publisher and didn't plan AT ALL to want to do it.

But after reading it I've discovered that I already agreed with a lot of what the author had to say, but had no idea how to go about implementing it. Sooo... I'm actually really interested in trying it. She has a 8-week sugar detox program, so we're ALL going to try it. Convincing my husband with the sweet-tooth ("does this mean you're not going to make cookies anymore?) took some doing... but he's on-board too. We'll see how it goes......



Lastly... found this precious picture today of Malachi holding his new baby brother in the hospital.... awwwww......

Introducting Chapter Books

A couple months back I found a set of the first 10  Magic School Bus chapter books on a local free/wanted/for sale site. I wasn't sure Malachi would be ready for something with only minimal pictures, but he loved watching the Magic School Bus cartoon, so I thought I'd pick them up anyway. I got the set of 10 books for $5 - which considering each book originally cost about that much was a pretty good deal. (This person also sold me over 20 Magic TreeHouse books for another $5!)

Well, come to find out - Malachi loved listening to these books! We've finished the set we have and have started on some new chapter books. We've started Dinosaurs Before Dark #1 in the Magic TreeHouse series and I just got the first Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book by Betty MacDonald. He does an awesome job of just sitting and listening to the stories. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has even less pictures than either the Magic School Bus or Magic Treehouse. 

I am thinking of what other books I might be able to read to him now! This opens up a whole new set of options!

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Kindergarten Bound

selfie

My oldest is growing up way to fast. I know that's totally cliche and all, but seriously, how have we gotten to this day? I just picked up paperwork for Kindergarten... for this Fall... for MY child. Yikes! 

Didn't I just bring him home from the hospital as that adorable little baby? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since people have been asking me since this past Fall why he's not in school. He's so tall that everyone assumes he should already be in Kindergarten at least. I've been proudly declaring to them all "he's only four!" but that doesn't really work anymore.

I've had some plans for this coming year - I was hoping to get him enrolled in an out-of-district Montessori school, but we are very far down the waiting list, so I took that as God's way of telling me he's not meant to be there - at least this year. But we've been working on that awhile and it just felt like it was still so far away. This seems closer - too close. 

When I went to pick up the paperwork today they informed me that they are having a "Kindergarten Round-Up" or some such craziness where we can go see the classrooms on Wednesday.... what? I'm not ready for that! Malachi on the other hand thought it sounded really cool. And of course I want to meet the teachers and see the classrooms... really.

Anyway... I am just not ready for it. I'm nervous and maybe a tiny bit heartbroken that this big milestone means he's growing up. Good thing I have all summer to adjust! =)

Preschool - Letter E

I am really enjoying my time with Malachi every morning as we do school. He is doing much better than I anticipated and looks forward to it every day!

We start every morning by going over our calendar - month, date, current weather, etc. We also review our Bible verse for the week and our shape/color (which he really already knows... but we do it anyway)

Next we pick up his Daily Notebook. In this he traces the letters of the day of the week, fills in the date circle and we practice writing the number. Some days I want to skip this, but he really likes it, so we always do it.

Lastly we go through the folder of activities for the day. Today we had things like making a fun foam elephant, patterning block activities, Do-A-Dot letter E picture and a letter E collage.

I've been really impressed with his attention span and how much he enjoys everything. After the first few days he hasn't given me any attitude about any of it. I think he knows that he's going to like it and so he just goes with it now.

I feel like I'm going to have an advantage when he finally gets to school because I'll know what he can do and how long he can do it. Obviously being in a classroom full of distractions will make a difference, but I'll know he's capable of doing everything.

I was thinking that when I saw everyone posting their pictures of their kids going off to school (and preschool) this past week that I was going to be sad.... or possibly regret my decision to keep Malachi home with me this year.....

...but what I found myself thinking instead is how tiny they all look! I have decided I'm very, very happy to have my boy home with me one last year. I know that that no matter what I decide to do next year - whether sending him to preschool full-time or kindergarten - he'll be gone forever. Maybe that sounds a tiny bit dramatic, but seriously, they are only home with us for such a short period of time. Five years in my case. Then he will spend at least the next 12 in school... away from me most of the time. That doesn't even count all the endless hours of sports or clubs or whatever he's involved in!

Anyway... I am happy that I'm happy with my decision. =) Nothing worse than wondering if you did the right thing or not!

We have spent 2 weeks on the Letter A in our curriculum. Last week school started on Tuesday and this week we had morning commitments Monday and Tuesday, so I just decided to make it work with Tuesday-Friday last week and Wednesday-Friday this week. I have my lessons all organized and ready to go for the next 3 days including supplies. Hooray!

Lastly... here is a super cute picture my mom snapped of the two boys last week. She was babysitting and they were watching Transformers. Apparently Malachi was worried that Zach might get scared during certain parts of the movie...

Isn't that sweet?? Keeping his little brother safe. =)

Pre-school Starts!

Today was our first official day of "doing preschool". We're not taking ourselves TOO seriously, but I picked a curriculum finally and we're spending an hour or so during Zach's morning nap working on our activities.

I've been channeling my inner homeschooler. I was homeschooled 1st-12th grade myself and I've always said I wouldn't homeschool my own kids. Not because I had a bad experience - quite the opposite - but I'm just not sure I'm cut out for all the WORK involved in teaching my children! My mom spent hours and hours preparing and teaching me all those years.

But - I have to say - I've gotten pretty into my preschool preparations! I chose to go with the Letter of the Week curriculum by Confessions of a Homeschooler. Despite the "official educators" who said it's not a very good program research-wise, I thought it sounded fun. Which was my main objective anyway.

I have spent a lot of money already on sending files to be printed at our local copy and print place, decorations for our calendar/weather station, and a laminator (got an awesome deal on that though! $15 for a $50 laminator on Amazon! whoohoo!)

But it's been really fun and I think Malachi enjoyed our first day.

This is our calendar, weather station and the palm tree will eventually be covered with our letters that we've learned each week. Our weekly Bible verse and color or shape is also here.

I've also got each day organized out into Monday thru Friday folders. If he doesn't do something one day, I'm planning on just moving into the next day. For example, today he's wasn't that into coloring and there were two coloring activities. I had him do one and then saved the other for tomorrow since we had less planned anyway. I'm trying to get together EVERYTHING we'll need for the days activities including scissors, crayons, glue sticks, etc. That way we're ready to go when Zach goes down for his nap.

I'm sure we'll check in with progress again soon. =)

What To Do About PreSchool?

Malachi is 4.5 and I debated long and hard earlier this summer about putting him in a preschool program. I feel that this is an expectation of parents now - preschool. I'm not too sure how I feel about it. I'm not anti-preschool... but.... I don't really know. I feel weird about it. And I have a stubborn streak that balks at the idea that I should put him in preschool because everyone is doing it.

I have already made the decision to wait until he's six (which will take us to the 2015-2016 school year), so I figure I have next year to put him in preschool if I want to, but I'd like to work with him at home some this year.

The last couple years I've tried to do some of the units from OopseyDaisyBlog.com's Mommy School. This has proven to be very time consuming for me to prep. I really enjoyed the ideas, but some stuff was too hard or too much prep and it took me a long time to go through the pages and pages of ideas to pick the few we wanted to attempt. 

I am a pretty organized person, but I think I'm one of those people who kinda needs everything spelled out for me. A lesson plan - but I don't necessarily want to make it all up myself. I want something I can grab and prepare for the stuff already on it, not pick all my own stuff from 100 random things.

I started researching some homeschool preschool programs and here's what I found:

1. There are SOOOOO many options. It is incredibly overwhelming. Everyone has a different opinion about which program is better, more researched, has more learning potiential, etc. It's kinda horrible actually. Trying to sift through this information has had me almost giving the idea up several times.

2. The super expensive programs (as in - it's over $100 bucks):
Sonlight ($285)
Horizon's ($179)
Oak Meadow ($130)
Timberdoodle ($229 Basic)
I am not against spending some money - but I'm also not convinced I'm willing to spend $100-$200 on a preschool program that I'm not sure how good I'll stick to it. Maybe that's the key - if you spend that much money, you'll for sure use it....

3. The affordable programs (under $100):
Before Five In A Row ($35 plus the cost of books if you choose to buy them) - we already have this program and the majority of books that go with it. Many people seem to LOVE it, but Malachi isn't very excited about the activities I've tried with it. I love the books (and so does he), but it is a lot of intentional reading which we do anyway. I still might try to use this more, but I don't think it's a great fit for my oldest - Zach might be more into this?
Letter of the Week ($15 download version/$20 CD version) - this program is created by a homeschooling mom. Many reviews I read sung the praises of this curriculum, but there were a few dissenters who claimed it's not teaching letters correctly.... hm.... I have a feeling it has more to do with your child and style of teaching more than anything.

4. FREE!
1+1+1=1  - This looks like a pretty comprehensive program considering its free. 
Ambleside or Charlotte Mason - This really starts at more of a Kindergarten level, I think.
Mommy School
HubbordsCupboard

At this point, I think I'm leaning towards the Letter of the Week curriculum. In spite of the "trained professionals" who discounted the program, it sounds fun and fairly easy. I'm all about easy and making learning fun at this point, so I think it sounds great. I also have a copy of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons that MY homeschooling mom used with me during my education. I begged her not to sell it at a curriculum sale one year, so I obviously loved it. 

Hopefully I'll make a decision soon.... the new school year is basically here!

Currently:

I feel like this has been a very busy season for us. I've been having trouble finding the motivation to really blog. I feel guilty blogging during the day when the kiddos are awake and am tired in the evenings or am trying to spend some time with my hubby!

I DO have some things going on though that I'd love to blog about! If I can find the time!

• Zachary's Hypothyroidism diagnosis
• I'm planning a fun new DIY project with this interesting stuff->
• I've been reading up on Montessori preschool ideas for Malachi. Some equipment projects may be in my future.....
• My mom got me this nifty lid for my Homemade Coffee Creamer!

Every week I think our lives are going to slow down, but it doesn't ever seem to happen! This week Malachi and I got invited to join some friends at the local Children's Museum. We hadn't been since they moved to their new facility - and it's very nice! Our last visit was before Zach was born and I can't believe how much bigger Malachi looks this time around!

One of the new features of the latest museum is this wall with vacuum tubes attached. The kids can stick soft balls or scarves into the tube and it's sucked up and around through the maze of tubes and then spit back out at them!

They also have some great props to be "builders" as Malachi calls it or vets or even a fireman!

In other news - it's my husband's 35th birthday today and we're going out to dinner! Hooray for date night! We're having a little party with family tomorrow, but it will be nice to get out by ourselves tonight.

Zachary came down with a nasty virus yesterday while I was at work accompanied by a fever. Poor guy... I felt so bad since I wasn't home. But Daddy held down the fort and after I explained where the Tylenol was everything seemed to be okay by the time I got home. Now we're just hoping the rest of us don't catch it!

Today I've been attempting to catch up on some thing around the house. It seems like so much needs to be done that I've decided to set myself 15 minutes on the timer and see how much I can accomplish in that amount of time. Then I reset it and move on to another area... seems to be working pretty good... except my children don't seem to understand that if I'm doing a concentrated 15 minutes.... that I can't stop and help them in the middle... ah well...

And here's a typical picture of my little guys. =)

"Toast & Sandwiches" Thankful Tree

I saw this idea on Pinterest quite awhile ago and loved it so much that I pinned it in my Fall/Harvest/Thanksgiving board hoping I would remember to come back to it!
(Check out the original blogger's idea here)

The Thankful Tree

First I took a roll of $1.00 brown shipping paper from the Dollar Tree and drew out a free-hand tree. I'm not usually a very good free-hander, but I figured I could handle a tree. =)

Then I had to find a wall that it would work on and stuck it up with some green super sticky masking tape.

Next I took some glittery foam Fall leaf cut-outs that I had in the craft box from the $1 bin at Target last year and traced them onto some construction paper.

I'm now in the process of cutting out millions of little leaves.... yay. I think it probably would have been easier to go to Michael's and buy some paper leaves... but oh, well. I'm eventually going to pile them at the bottom of the tree like the original blogger, but I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm also going to fill in with a few of the glittery ones around the bottom for some extra color and sparkle. =)

Lastly, each morning when we get up I asked him what he's thankful for today. When he finally decides on something, I write it on a leaf with a black Sharpie and let him stick it to the tree wherever he wants.

I have to say, this has been a great exercise so far for Malachi. It's been hard for him to come up with things to say he's thankful for without prompting. I'm trying NOT to prompt him and the first things he came up with are the things he says he's thankful to when he says his bedtime prayers. It's either going to get harder as the month goes on because he runs out of things or easier because he figures out what he's supposed to do... we'll see.

So far we have:

Day 1: Toys

Day 2: Jesus

Day 3: Mommy & Daddy

Day 4: Grandma & Papa

Day 5: Toast & Sandwiches

Day 5 makes me laugh. He LOVES what he calls "toast," which is actually just un-toasted bread with peanut butter and honey or jam on it. It figures it would make it up there in the Top 5.

I am also noticing that he is placing each new leaf on a different branch of the tree. I'm not sure what he's going to do when he realizes he's run out of branches... start over or figure he's done.

Back to cutting leaves for me!