Books Books Books

I had this brilliant idea to do something useful with this oddish space we have. I think it turned out really well =)
Thank you Pottery Barn Kids!!

Christmas Break is over!

I really thought I might have blogged a little more since I had "nothing to do" during our little break here, but I just wasn't thinking. Obviously I was way busy with my husband and all of the Christmas fun we were having!

Today we started back at homeschooling with great success! It really eases my mind to have dropped out of co-op and have a full 5 days to get school 'done'. Xander really loves doing all of his 'book work' which is really such a blessing. Who can complain about a kid who wants to DO so much. It's actually hard to get him to stop. After lunch he was so happy from all of his school that he even cleared the table himself! It's great to not have 'work' to do or places to go.

I've also managed to clean out what should be the downstairs coat closet and found a lot of goodies that I bought for Christmasses or birthdays that were then forgotten about, so we had a few extra gifts to play with today.

In other news our washer is flashing one of its dreaded codes again so I am hoping we can keep it running until the repairman comes. Of course I didn't hear back from them today and I probably should have called them...

I also ordered a little birthday present for myself with Christmas money from my family plus birthday money so I am just eagerly awaiting my new toys! I just need more friends with babies to experiment on!
No Photos this post. Maybe I will post them separately tomorrow... well maybe I can post a Santa picture =)

A Cleaning Post

First, you have to make sure all the children are well contained and hopefully not doing something destructive while you are tackling a cleaning job. You could even send them off to do their own chores while you do yours! Wouldn't that be super efficient? Sometimes mine can sort clothes or other little jobs, but today I just let them lounge in the living room.


Meet my new friend. His name is Hoovey.
And that is my old friend, Clorox Wipe. If you haven't been well aquainted with Clorox Wipe he is pretty handy. You can even use him to wipe down your spotty toothpastey mirror and there will be no smears. He wins against other wipes. You can leave him in the bathroom and train your boys (and girls) to wipes down the toilet if they make a little sprinkle. Seriously good friend.

Mr. Hoovey is my new all-terrain carpet washing/vacuuming contraption. He also does hard floors. New toys make cleaning fun.
Look at how dirty this carpet was? Yikes. Who knew?



It's kind of amazing actually.

After the floors I spot clorox the rooms. You could also do this before you cleaned your floors. Either way.



Look at all the yuck on this door jam!


After!


Now let's do the kitchen floor. I let it get nice and seasoned to test the new machine.

Oh but first we have to dump out the dirty water from upstairs and then put in hard floor cleaner. Look at the gunk left! wow!


You can refill the hoover containers right in the sink unless you have a big tonka truck there.



Now, here is the dirty floor.


And here it is after the Mr.Hoover!



Definitely a success!

I had previously been using a hoover 'floormate' for my floor but its hose broke and it started leaking. I think the new hoover will do an excellent job with the benefit of being able to handle carpet. It definitely takes a few passes to get up those 'juice spots' on the kitchen floor so I will probably go back to pre-scrubbing it with a little water beforehand and then letting the machine suck up the water and do light scrubbing.

Coloring pages for Advent & Christmas

So today I am scouring the internet for some coloring pages and I've found some really good ones to share.

First let me tell you that one of the best purchases that I got this year for homeschooling was this laser printer (see image at the bottom). It's actually supposed to be wireless too but we don't exactly have that set up right now. Maybe I can get on Dan's tech schedule!

Click here to find this guy on amazon.


Having a laser printer means that you can now water color or BINGO marker and no longer will you have ink bleed!

Now for the coloring. You HAVE to check out the Tomie dePaola site for coloring pages! Specific look at this cool little Christmas ornament you can make. Click here for the PDF. SO cute! The directions are on a separate page so I'll clue you in that you cut this fellow out and then the top gets folded and becomes his hat! You can glue a cotton ball on the top and maybe just thread him through a little metal hook to hang him.

You can find Tomie's official coloring page here. I have to point out one more and that's the nativity that is listed on that page.

I'll add that for these projects I put a little heavier weight paper in the printer. Right now I'm using the stiffer "premium" drawing paper from discount school supply. It looks like it's just listed as "heavyweight" I guess. I wouldn't exactly call it the best paper (it bothers me that it is slightly off white) but it is a nice compromise for not buying super expensive water color paper.






Another 'trick' I've learned is to take out black ( and brown if you feeling extra confident!) from the water color tray. It makes sense to me because the black just destroys the other colors and it overpowers everything usually resulting in a blacky-green mush mess. You can even buy separate colors and just present the color combinations you want them to work with. You'll have to decide if this is stifling creativity or helpful herding =)

Simplifying

I don't think I'm going to do a lot og explaining on this blog but I am just stating for the record that I am a full on Hyperemesis Gravidarum sufferer while pregnant. It is making it nearly impossible for me to keep up with all the commitments and activities that I thought we would continue into the Spring. Hard decisions have been made and many extras are being cut. It has to be done because I need to be very careful about where I spend my energy. Driving around is really out. So we are refocusing, less stressing and turning inward to our little unit. I'll be spending the next few months focusing on household learning and using extra energy for the fun field trips I want to get them on. I'm really sad to see Max's preschool go but it is too far away right now and in the scheme of things.. I could have stayed home today and watched POLAR EXPRESS here instead of sending him to school to do it. I will just never understand showing movies at school to 3 and 4 year olds.

Turkey Roll Ups?

So... preschool is having Thanksgiving. I get the idea of simplifying it for the kids...but you know.. I remember having real turkey, mashed potatoes, and veggies at my Kindergarten Thanksgiving. My kid's menu reads like this:

turkey roll ups (lunchmeat slices rolled up), popcorn, cheese cubes, grapes, cupcakes and cookies.

I'm not entirely sure if I am so put off because I am PG or if this is really as heinous as it strikes me. Something in me really is opposed to this whole "lunch meat" thing. Isn't it just riddled with sodium and preservatives?

Guess who is bringing the turkey rolls ups? Yes, of course it's me. It was the only thing left on the list. So really it's all in my hands. If I don't want to bring lunch meat I guess I don't have to!

I'm wondering if it's really about 'food safety'? Like, lunch meat you sort of take from the store and its ready to eat so it should be safe. As in-- a parent cannot be trusted to cook a turkey because they might screw it all up!

I'm wondering if I could find some precooked strips of turkey. This should be interesting.

2 things

I actually have pictures of my kids to post but I don't have time to sit here and do that much work so I will have to post just this link and then comment on something that so bothers me.

First, check out this reform site for the CCHD. If you don't know what the CCHD is you'll have to click the link because I have no time to explain, but if you are Catholic there will be a collection THIS WEEKEND! The cool thing about this idea is there is a coupon to print out that basically shows our solidarity. Aren't you sick of our money being sent to organizations that do nothing for true social justice?? Check it out.

Second, this is probably related but I have to say I am flabbergasted that this new B. Spears song is being played on air. If you don't know which one don't find out. you don't want to know. Where is our outrage as a people? I think the answer is we aren't because this is just more evidence of how far we've fallen from traditional Christian values.