Moments to Remember: Little Sister and Snail Mail

Moments to Remember was developed as a simple way to look back on our week as homeschoolers and find photos that encompass the memories we want to remember.

 

The week may have been tough, there may have been more bumps than smiles, but in the end these are the moments that keep us going, the ones we need to remember.

This past week involved two memorable moments.

First, Renly as the new in house observer!

Once upon a time this was Taitum's favorite past time - sitting in the high chair, watching her big sister work away on school things.

Now Renly is utterly enjoying these moments, watching her big sisters' every move!

Look out for more and more such appearances!

Second is the excitement of new curriculum arriving in the mail!

Pipe was so excited when the FedEx guy came to the door.

She is beginning to understand that his arrival usually means new school stuff for her which excites her to no end!

She doesn't look overly thrilled in the pic but this is due to the fact that she was investigating her new workbooks and didn't want to be pulled away from what she was doing to smile at the camera! Haha!

I'm so glad she shares my enthusiasm about such things!

Soap Nuts and Dryer Balls

It's Earth Day.

I like the earth.

But to be honest, I'm not the best at being earth friendly.

I am trying really, really hard to change that though.

Want another confession?

I have an easier time doing the things that don't just benefit the earth but also save me money.

Am I a terrible person?
Oh well.

I 'm trying and if a little ulterior motivation is what it takes, than so be it!

Quite the intro to my save the earth/save some money post, huh?!

This one is all about laundry.

And has a whole background story to boot!

It all began when I began using cloth diapers (a story for another day).

The thing with cloth diapers is that you can't wash them with just any ol' detergent.

Thus began my search for the detergent that worked best for us.

To make a long story short, I came across EcoNuts on Baby Half Off and loved how well they worked for washing cloth diapers.
Fast forward to this winter as I was preparing for the arrival of a new baby.
I am generally a little majorly paranoid about chemicals being on my baby's skin.
I figured usng EcoNuts was the best option for washing the new baby's clothes.
But why stop there?
I began washing all our laundry with the EcoNuts.
Clean clothes, no headache inducing scents, no paranoia!

Here's how they work:




And in terms of cost effectiveness, check out this chart!
Yes, yes - they're eco-friendly, too!
You can simply throw those used EcoNuts into your compost...if you do that kinda thing...

In the meantime, I'd been looking into a cost effective way to control all the static.
I have to buy the hypoallergenic, scent-free ones since the smelly ones give me awful headaches.
Of course, they are the most expensive ones!

My search lead me to dyer balls.
But dryer balls are usually about $10 apiece and to work effectively you need 6 or so.
Granted, they last forever but I just couldn't bring myself to fork out $60 for the things!

Enter my good friend Andrea.
She was there with loads of info when I entered the world of cloth diapering and shares many of my domestic interests.
Anyhow, without me even mentioning that I'd been looking into dryer balls she had gone and made me a few!
That's right - she made them!
Here are some pics she took of the process:

Materials: an old wool sweater, wool yarn, pantyhose

Cut sweater into scrap pieces.

Twist into ball.

Wrap the ball tightly with yarn.

Tie tightly and separately into leg of pantyhose.

Wash on hot.

Dry completely.

And voila!

Goodbye dryer sheets, hello dryer balls!

You can read more about the process here and here!

They work wonderfully and are about as earth friendly as you can get!

Give them a try!

They are well worth the effort!

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

The ABC Bunny {BFIAR}

This week we 'rowed' The ABC Bunny by Wanda Gag.

The girls loved this book and it provided lots of different things to learn about and discover together!

"F for Frog - he's fat and funny.

"Looks like rain," says he to Bunny.""

We made Clouds in a Jar.

Quite simple but delightfully fun!

Fill a jar half full with water.

Add shaving cream to the top.

Provide a pipet and colored water.

Instruct them to add the water to the top of the 'cloud' using the pipet.

It made for a very pretty rainfall!

And ended with some beautiful designs on the paper towel!

(Piper spent so much time with this! First, the Cloud in the Jar. Then adding the water to the paper towel. Finally, mixing the cups of water to see what colors they would make when mixed together!)

"P for prickly Porcupine. Pins and needles on his spine."

Playdough and toothpicks = oodles of porcupine fun!

"I for insects here and there.

J for Jay with jaunty air."

I filled a tub with birdseed (a treat for the jays!), toy insects and a foam alphabet.

The girls went right to town searching for letters ad insects, scooping and pouring the seeds.

The best part?

We got to do it outside in the beautiful sunshine!

Piper figured out the beginnning sounds for each of the animals in the book and added a clothespin to the corresponding letter in record time!

Seriously, this kid knows her letter sounds!
(Printables from Homeschool Creations)

"H for Hail!"

This little game from Homeschool Creations kept these two busy for a LONG time!

They would roll the dice and then add the correct number of 'hailstones' to a print out of the little bunny and a cloud!

"O for Owl with bookish look."

We painted and assembled the cutest little toilet paper roll owls!

This also lead to a discussion about nocturnal animals.

Piper was blown away by the thought that there are creatures that sleep during the day but are awake all night! 

"L for Lizard - look how lazy."

A field trip to the pet store to observe some lizards....

"K for Kitten, catnip-crazy"

And to buy some catnip for a beloved kitty!

"M for Mealtime - munch, munch, munch!

Mmm! these greens are good for lunch."

We made some kale chips so we could munch on greens, too!

The girls tore the kale into pieces and placed them on the baknig sheet.

Then they sprayed them with oil.

Sprinkled, er, dumped salt on them.

And taste tested them....

They weren't so fond of their 'greens'!
But I was proud of them for trying!
If anything, they found the process of making them enjoyable!

We also listened to the song that accompanies the book.

They had fun dancing around and doing their twirly girly thing while listening to it!

Happy 7 Months!

Dear Kallahan,

I express it every month, that you are growing up too fast but really sloooow down little man!  Your first year is going by a lot quicker than it did with big brother, Keeler.  It doesn’t help that you are hitting milestones faster than he did too.  You have “grown up” so much in the past month.  You have the cutest little personality.  Still such a happy baby.

Over the past month you have got in two teeth! You are eating first stage baby food like a champ. Your top favorites are bananas and prunes, but you also like carrots a lot. Other foods you’ve enjoyed include sweet potatoes and saltine crackers. How you can make such a mess with a single cracker amazes us.  We’re afraid that you may have had an allergic reaction to milk products recently…hopefully this is something you will grow out of.  However, we found you immediately broke out in little red bumps around your mouth when you sampled some of our ice-cream. 

Sleeping, what sleeping?!  We have had some hard nights lately.  You have been waking up several times during the night and just want to be held.  You’ll go hard back to sleep but as soon as we put you down you were back awake.  So, after a couple weeks of sleepless nights Mommy and Daddy made the decision that it was time to finally start the sleep training.  I love rocking you to sleep and since your crib was in your brothers room we really couldn't let you cry long, in fear that you would wake Keeler.  So, the first step was we moved the big crib into your room.  The past two nights we have used the Ferber Method.  It's going well, after the third time of checking on you both nights, you were out.  Best of all, you've been sleeping all night!  Way to go Kallahan! :)    

You are a mover.  I don’t know if we are ready but every day you get a little closer to crawling. As soon as you are put on the ground, you prop up on your knees and start rocking.  All you need to figure out are how those arms work with the motion.  Baby proofing needs to be become our number one priority. Let the fun begin!

Happy 7 months, Sweetbaby. We love you.

Mommy

We have been blessed with some awesome weather recently.  Keeler is enjoying our nightly “family walks” and playing with his outdoor toys.  

 After baths last night, I put the little cowboys in a set of their matching pajamas.  

I tried to get some together pictures.  This is the best I could do.  Tyler even tried to help me.  We wondered how do photographers do it? Ha!  Oh well, they look cute and I think I captured their "true selves"  a.k.a., just goofy! :)  

Keeler is on an oatmeal kick.  It doesn’t matter what time of day it is, it’s oatmeal.  He loves to watch his cartoons at breakfast but complains that he can’t see the TV from the table.  This morning I pulled out his little kid table and let him set in front of the TV…he thought it was the greatest.  He said, “it’s like a restaurant!”  Then he had to get a chair for George.  I am looking forward to a weekend of playing with my little cowboys.  TGIF

Mommy's Little Multitasker

Remember how I burned the bottom of the slow cooker oatmeal?

Taitum got the lovely job of scrubbing it clean.

(Much to her delight. Really.)

 

She figured she'd kill two birds with one stone.

Clean pot, clean curls!

This girl knows how to multitask!

Banana Coconut Oatmeal {Slow Cooker}

My kids love breakfast.

They wake up with the hugest of appetites.

They shovel all their food in and more often than not, ask for more.

It's nice since it kinda balances the other meals out.

You know - the ones with the "I don't like that"s.

The thing is, I get bored with the same ol' thing every morning.

So I try to change it up each day.

Toast, eggs, pancakes, cereal, oatmeal.

We do it all.

But let's face it - with a 3 month old in tow sometimes anything more elaborate than Cheerios doesn't get doled out to my hungry little monsters!

Then I saw this on Pinterest:

Source: theyummylife.com via Gina on Pinterest

Eureka!

An oatmeal that cooks as you sleep and is ready when you wake up!

And the banana coconut flavour intrigued me.

Saturday night I hauled out the necessary ingredients...

Threw them into my slow cooker...

And would you believe it?

Yummy oatmeal waiting for me when I stumbled into the kitchen that morning!

Now, before you get too excited, there was a bit of negative feedback.

1 - my husband was expecting a sweet, dessert-like breakfast. This is not it. In fact, you have to add some brown sugar to the top of it just like any other oatmeal.

2 - The recipe calls for sliced bananas. Piper had issues with the chunks of cooked banana. I wasn't a fan either. Next time, they will be mashed!

3 - The bottom of it burned because, well, around here we sleep for more than 7 hours. (Please don't hate me!) If this isn't a problem for you, the bottom of your pot should be just fine!

Overall, I found it to be quite the early morning treat!

 Next, we are going to give the Apple Cinnamon flavour a try!

For a more dessert-like oatmeal try the irresistible Baked Oatmeal Recipe!

Uh-oh!

Look what I found this little stinker doing today...

Following in the footsteps of one of her older sisters perhaps?

I've been replacing it with her soother and she doesn't seem to mind too much.

I have to admit - I do find it pretty adorable...