New Workboxes

In homeschooling there is a system called "workboxing".  I am not a pro at this at all but basically the jist of it is that each subject is in it's own little tub.  It's a way for kids to see how much more they have to do and what they have to work with.  If you have more questions about how the workboxes can work, check out this page.  It's Sue Patrick's page and she invented the workbox system...pretty smart cookie :).

Last year the thing that I really didn't like was Emma's one question she seemed to ask all of the time:  "Are we done yet?"  It was like being on a really long car ride with her asking if we were almost there.  A long car ride...every.single.day.  Not so fun. 

So this year we are going to try workboxes.  I have high hopes so hopefully it will go well.  This system will help her visually see what is left.  No more having to ask Mommy.  I have "DONE" labels on the back of her tubs so when she is done with a subject she can flip it around and see which one's don't say done yet and which ones already do...hopefully evoking a feeling of accomplishment for her. 

Emma has 6 workboxes and Cal has 6 too.  We are pretty sure that we will be homeschooling him but I still want to check out how his attention span is doing and his ability to listen to me and stay on task.  This will be a way for me to put 6 activities together for him and then evaluate how he does.  I am not going to be giving him 6 worksheets or anything, but there will be fine motor skills, handwriting activities, and fun stuff.  Hopefully he thinks it's neat and will stick with us. 

I read Just Laine's website over the summer and fell in love with their workbox system.  Thankfully her and her husband put together a tutorial of how to build it.  You can find that on her site here.  It was so detailed and Maw-velous!  It even had instructions on how to have the sheet of wood cut at the store in the most efficient way...loved it!!!  What a Godsend their family is to us...we never could have done this without her blog.  So thank you so much Laine and husband!

The bins are from Ikea.  Ikea has this system where you can pick what bins you want and how much but their system was over $200.00!  So I bravely approached Nick with the plans from Laine's site.  I figured it would never get done.  Not because he's mean or lazy or anything, but because the guy is working ALL of the time!  And he is alway busy.  He has to compensate for a little wife staying home, yo.  So I figured this would be a back burner kind of project!  To my surprise it only took him two weeks!  And he built me another shelf system too (I'll show that to you some other time).  I am amazed at what a talented husband God gave me.  If Nick doesn't know how to do something, he figures it out.  It's just amazing.   He really has God given abilities and I am just so thankful for him. 

Anywho, here's a look at my new workbox system...eek!  Im so excited!

 This is the system...isn't it neat?  It's painted with Dutch Boy's "Clam Island" door and trim paint...all of the trim in our house is this color, well, because we are in love with it!

 Here are all of the labels.  I made these on word and it was pretty super easy.  I took them to United Art and Education to be laminated.  It was crazy cheap to get them laminated there.  Something like 25 cents per foot or something.  Seriously, if you have one of those around and need something laminated, go there.  I know lakeshore laminates too, but I'm not sure of their prices.  Those are the only educational stores around us...do you have others?

 Here's the front of one column of bins and the backs of others.  See?  They'll just flip them around when they are "done" and it will say "done".  Okay...done saying done :) 

 One of the other reasons I am so excited is that the workboxes are going to hold all of my junk.  It's just amazing to me how much stuff we have accumulated in the past year of schooling.  These are stored in...

This bin!  Ha!  Pretty self explanatory! 

When we bought bins we bought big bins for storage and little bins for the kids school work every day.  I am so happy that we did because I still have one empty big bin and already our classroom looks much more organized.  Granted all of the books are still around, but what the bins are good for are all of the things that just weren't uniform in shape...all of the math manipulatives, the english games, the supplies for science experiments, the art supplies that are uber expensive and aren't just for anytime.  Basically all of the stuff that was coming  out of their boxes and toppling all over the floor.  Now they all have their own little home in our home.

In the next day or two I'll take pictures and give you a little tour of our classroom.  And please let me know if you have any questions about the workboxes.  Or if you have any other educational stores around you in other parts of the country let me know!  I love these kinds of stores and would love to shop them online or the next time we are on vacation!  :) 

two days

Nervous and scared. 

Not really sure why. 

Well I do. 

Because school starts in two days!  Two days!  In two days our lives are going to be turned upside down while I smoosh emma's face into the floor with my shoe and try to cram as much paper into her ear as I can. 

Okay, while that may not be quite how I get things into her brain, it does often times feel like that needs done.  Desperate times call for desperate measures. 

Last year (for those of you just now tuning in) was my first year of homeschooling.  Boy was I wet behind the ears!  It was good in that we are all still alive.  It was bad that I had to learn as I went how things were going to go.  We all were kind of frustrated and irritable at times of the year.  I lost my patience a lot.  Emma refused to participate a lot. 

We seemed to get better though and succeed towards the end of the year. 

Every year is going to be a challange.  A time of getting them back into the groove and ready to have some fun.  Hopefully it will be oodles of fun and we'll learn so much and I will be super duper laid back. 

But I know some times I won't be.  Some times I won't be so nice.  Some times Emma won't be so cooperative.  And in those times I pray I can still be her light.  Her light to point her to Christ.  To be her hero.  To be her best buddy.  Because in the end, that's what I really want. 

But when I look at this huge school year on our horizon I again feel nervous and scared.  Nervous and scared that I'll make the same mistakes.  That I'll fail.  That I will be ashamed. 

But that's why God gives us faith.  Why He died on the cross.  Because those sins of mine from last year. Those times when I didn't show love.  They're gone. 

Zilch.

Nada. 

Can't be found.

Blank canvas waiting for us to paint. 

And so in two days I will pick up the paintbrush and paint us a new picture. 

A picture of 2nd grade.  Hopefully there will be no tears.  No smears.  Blameless in His sight.  And if I mess up and tear a corner or a huge gash in the canvas, I can paint a cross and start again.  It's because of Christ's cross I can even pick up a paintbrush and start anew.

Our Monthly Grocery Shopping Trip

Well I think I've mentioned it in passing.  We've talked about it.  But I thought that I would finally write and tell you all about our monthly shopping trip. 

 

We started this at the beginning of the year.  When food prices were jumping and that horrid business of that gross pink stuff being in your ground beef came up. 

 

There had to be a better way. 

 

Just had to Jerry.  Just had to. 

 

We are HUGE proponents of shopping local.  We love it.  We live it.  We try our best.  But we live in a big city.  One where fresh food doesn't just jump out at us.  Sure we have Farmer's Markets but not a lot of people hacking up cows for us to buy. 

 

So we decided to visit the Amish.  Or the Amo's as I like to call them :) 

 

Please understand that this is not a "run out and grab something" kind of trip.  For us, this is an all day trip.  One that means we are driving a lot.  We try to make the most of it...meaning we do our best to arrange our shopping on a day when Nick's mom can take the kids.  It's just a lot of shopping for them.  What kid wants to go grocery shopping?  Let alone a trip where you are shopping for nothing but groceries at several stores that require a lot of driving. 

 

I've had people ask me this so I think it's only right...we do go shopping other times.  But we do this shopping at the beginning of the month (or preferably at the end of the previous month) so we're ready to rock and roll.  In this shopping trip we are getting the main portion of our groceries.  Think frozen foods, meats and cheeses that can be put in the freezer, canned goods, and cleaning supplies.  We also buy some produce but just for the week we are in.  Every week we still run out and spend about $20.00 on fresh fruits and veggies, milk, and oj.  But this monthly shopping makes things so much cheaper and easier.  I can somewhat plan for a month of cooking based on what is in my freezer.  And it is so easy to break out the stand mixer and make something with the kiddos on a rainy day if I know I have a huge stash of baking supplies ready and waiting. 

 

So onto our trip...

 

The first store we always go to is Rentown.  Sorry I forgot to take pictures.  It's between Bremen and Nappanee if you need to get there.  There are signs...drive around and I'm sure you'll find it :)

 

They have cheese and other products but the thing we go there for the most is cheese.  Is it worth it you ask?  Well, here's my thinking.  They usually have at least 2 or 3 cheeses on sale for 1.99 per pound.  That's cheaper than the kraft bags you buy and those are 8 ounces if you are lucky!  So trust me on this, it is worth it.  Things I also like to buy there are brown eggs (usually on sale for .99 a dozen), butter (1.99 a pound), peanut butter (10.00 for 6 pounds).  Nick really likes their ham salad and german bologna if you are lost in everything that they have to offer.  They also sell Lehman's mints that are our FAVORITE!!!   and they are a pretty good price.  In these stores you have to look at EVERYTHING!!!  They are always changing prices.  Sometimes you'll get a good deal here on one thing...other times it's best to just let it go.  Also, they have mixes of all kinds of stuff.  While I've never tried too many of them, I do get their cake donut and raised donut mixes.  My one key tip is to get the pamphlet on the shelf with it about how to use it.  Otherwise it's a little hard to figure out! 

 

We usually grab a soda and a snack and then settle in for our drive to...

 

 

 Martin's Butcher in Wakarusa.  This is off of 19 and again, there's a big sign.  This is the front of the butcher...

 And here's the back of the butcher.  See?  I told you...fresh.  :)  Just don't think about it!

 Here are some pictures of the price boards.  I am in no means saying that they have the cheapest prices in the world, but I am saying that they are VERY comparable to the super market.  But here you are getting grain fed beef, that is local and without chemicals.  And trust me, the taste is amazing!  There is definitely a difference.  If you decide to come here all of the time because you love it, you can pick up their business card.  It has an email address and you can email them your order so it will be ready for you...easy-peasy!

 I love stores that without appology's serve our King.  Love!

 While on this jaunt we see a lot of buggy's.  I love the Amish people and their simple ways of life. 

 They have the biggest gardens!  I love these flowers!

 I took this picture as Nick was driving about 70 miles down the highway, so I missed the house that the other side of the clothesline is hooked up to.  A pretty impressive system if you ask me :)

After driving we arrive in a whole new county!  In Shipshewana!  Here's the flea market

I love how you drive a while from home and you find different kinds of houses...cabins...whatever

Shipshewana has charming little shops all clustered together...love that!

I love tree canopied little places to walk between buildings...so secretive and fun.

In Shipshewana we go to this place, E & S Bulk foods.  We LOVE this place!

Throughout the entire store there are these little toys up on shelves above that they collect...so cute and nostalgic.

Check out the truck with the boat pull along behind Nick.  Here you can see Nick checking out the bulk foods.  I didn't take any other pictures inside because there were Amish everywhere!  And Amish people do not like having their pictures taken.  So out of respect I didn't pull the camera out anymore.  If you go to E & S, you need to know that you never know what you are going to find.  This time I didn't find everything that I was looking for.  Last month I found a case of greek yogurt for $3.00. I think it made it .17 a container!  For a long time they had Starbuck's coffee for $3.78 a bag!  Can you believe it???  This was the first month they didn't have any, and I gotta tell you, my heart sunk a little.  But oh, well.  That's the name of this game.  Maybe sometime they'll have it again...

On the way to go get the kiddos from Nick's mom we stop at this place that sells eggs.  It's the back of an Amish Family's house.  See the cute sign?

Here are those hard working chickens!  The first time we went here it kind of scared me to go here...I didn't want to just walk into someone's house!  But it's okay.  They have a little room with eggs, money, and cartons.  You just fill up however many cartons you want.  Then you pay on an honor system and write how many you are buying...they have scratch paper for math which I think is super cute!

Here's my husband filling up our cartons.  They have honey and other things too.  I love this because it so exemplifies a Proverb's 31 woman.  This sweet amish woman is selling eggs and honey on the side to help her family.  How awesome!

And this has nothing to do with anything except that I'm still trying to figure out the new camera...eek!  Boy do I love this man!  So glad I get to be his girlfriend.  He's so cute!  He'd look super tough if he could ever manage to not have a little smirk on those big lips :)

 

So there it is.  If you have any questions I didn't answer, feel free to ask!  I'd love to help with whatever you need :)

We're working on it

As Nick and I get older and deeper into our marriage, one thing is also true: the children are getting older.  Meaning they have more activities, have to be at more places, study more things and just overall need more of our time. 

For some reason I thought that this would be backwards by now and we would be savoring more marital time together.  However that seems to be the opposite. 

This often time makes me upset. 
Grumpy. 
I feel like our marriage is failing.
We aren't putting enough work into it. 
We aren't trying hard enough. 
Our marriage is in the crapper.
We are failing. 

Nick it totally a "if we're sitting still, we are doing okay" kind of guy.  I am completely a "if we aren't moving forward, then we are sliding backward" kind of girl. 

These two do not mesh well together. 

At all. 

Today was undoubtedly a hard day for us.  We were blessed with an entire day of just the two of us.  True, we had errands to run, but we had plenty of time for fun together too.  We started the morning fighting.  Ugh. 

Do you ever have these days too?  It's nothing that Nick did.  It's nothing that I did (okay it probably was me!) But somehow we were just grating on our nerves.  I kept telling myself "stop, stop, stop.  Just stop fighting with him!" But somehow did not.  I was annoying and a jerk and a big meanie. 

Finally we had it all out, we talked and we got it out. 

I tell him I scared we're growing apart. We don't have time alone like we used to.  I hate that.  We're going to end up like old people who order meals and then read to themselves until the salads arrive. 

I don't want that. 

I won't stand for it. 

We stopped today to get a shaved ice.  We sat on a glider picnic table. 

Nick brought it up. 

I love you more than you know.  just because the kids are older doesn't change that.  we aren't going to fall apart because we won't let that happen.  we're going to be okay.  Okay?

He made it okay.  He calmed my fears. 

Because whether we are going out of town to work on it or going on our monthly grocery shopping trip together to work on it, we're going to work on it.  This isn't the fairy tale version of love.  This isn't mushy love.  This is the real love.  The love of two people for one another who aren't going to let the life stuff get in the way.  We're going to work on it. 

Homeschool Planner: I made my own

Huge confession here:

 

I have quite the obsession with planners. 

 

I love the possibilities a new planner posesses.  Ah.  I love the crispness.  All of the neat places and slots to fill in. 

 

Last school year I used an amazing Christian Mom planner that Nick's cousin had given me for a Mother's Day gift.  I love her.  Her name is Jodee and somehow she always knows how to make people's day.  I shouldn't say "somehow" because I know how...it's a God thing, totally. 

 

Anyway, I loved it but I was also using a lesson planner and between the two I felt like I was always flipping between the one and the other.  Carrying them around with nothing else felt like I was going to class.  Not to Panera to schedule over chai. 

 

So this year I made my own. 

 

Shocking, I know.  I gotta tell you, it was WAY more frustrating than I thought it would  be.  Figuring out which goes on the front of the page and what will be on the back when  you turn the page was just about enough to put me in a straitjacket.  Fo' real. 

 

Here's a little tour of my planner...come inside:

 

 Here's the front cover!  LOVE it!  I want to eventually put a picture of the kids below the letters, I just haven't found "the one" yet.  I will though.  The front has a clear sleeve on it, so it will just slide in there nicely.  I had it bound at Staples.  Cheap!!!  I couldn't believe it.  I think it cost me $3.00. 

 Here's a close-up of my cover.  Proverbs 31 is my mantra in life.  I want to show the kids how to be a mom and wife for Christ.  I read it often.  Very, very often.

 I went through figuring out how to print off labels for my tags and I am SOOOO glad I did.  Now I have cute font on there!

 LOVE these planner pages I found at Artsy, Fartsy Mama!  She even has different color schemes to use!  

 Up until now I have always printed off my chore charts on a weekly basis.  I use Motivated Mom's lists and I HIGHLY recommend them!  I am such a chart and checker girl.  I get joy from the satisfaction of checking off my to-do's and feeling like I am actually getting stuff done.  So I printed off my sheets so I no longer have to remember to print them off!

 I slipped this sheet of tabs onto one of the tabbed dividers.  Now I can slip them on to something I need to remember...so handy!

 A few months ago I sprained ankle and after weeks of not being able to find EXACTLY what I wanted for my lesson plans, I made it myself.  I was couch-ridden and used the old ruler and pencil method to hack out what I wanted.  Sometime I'll try to enhance it so you can see what all I included.  Above is my first week of school...look at how planned it is. 

 And then we skip to week 5...nary a lesson has been planned.  Eek.  I know it seems lame-o but I can't plan too far ahead lest Emma gets behind and then I am in hot water with the planning ahead. 

 This section makes me the most excited...eek!  It's all together in all of it's glory.  The days of planning on the back of a starbucks napkin are over. 

 Here's what I like to see the most...being organized, I have been recording what I have been buying and need to send, wrap, etc.  I like being able to write "done" next to what I have already accomplished this early in the year. 

 I know it's dumb but I like to make goofy names for my sheets and lists.  That way when I am on the phone, stressed out and trying to find where the dumb post office lost all of my gifts, I can smile when I am writing on my "odd-ball" Christmas list. 

It's the little things.  Am I wrong? 

I like planning for this event...gotta be prepared, right?  Do you have an Ugly Sweater Party too?

 

I absolutely could not have done this without this website.  She explained how to arrange your pages and had oodles and oodles of templates to use.  Love this lady and I don't even know her! 

Do you make your own planner too?  Do you have any other ideas? I'd love to hear them!

Dirty Old Pee Mattress

I got some question as to how I clean a mattress when it has been peed on.  It took me a while to figure out how to do this.  Thankfully our mattresses have never stunk after accidents but I never felt thoroughly satisfied with how clean they were after mishaps...

 

until the joy of Pinterest found it's way into my life and I found this method. 

 

So sorry but I have no idea where I found this technique/method or I would totally credit that angel of a mother for helping a brother out. 

 

If that mom is you, please let me know and I will lift your name high on a pedestal and we will all celebrate you! 

 

Anyway, here's what I do...

 

 

 First strip the bed of the grossness.  Then I thoroughly spray the mattress with Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products.  I highly recommend Mrs. Meyers because it smells amazing and is a natural product.  But you can use whatever...

 Then toss on a few towels.  There aren't your fancy towels.  These aren't your guest towels.  These are your hardworking everyday towels.  They'll get washed and will be okay.  I promise. 

 Next you need to toss something on there that is weighty enough to smoosh the towels into the mattress.  Otherwise the liquid loveliness will just soak deeper into the mattress rather than up into the towels.  I have found that laundry baskets of clothes seem to work well.  I tried books but ended up with some throw-away books as the liquid (let's just say it, pee) soaked through the blankets.  With the baskets if the towels get soaked through you can just clorox wipe the bottoms of the baskets and be good to go. 
*Couple of notes: look at all of those clean clothes!   I promise they are clean!  I am SOOOO bad about getting those folded. And two smooshy is totally a real word...moving on.

 After the baskets have been flowerpressing the towels for an adequate time (I waited about 6 hours), I then sprinkle on Baking Soda or this lovely product seen above.  It's basically baking soda with a nice smell.  I then vacuum it all up.  I then sprinkle a little more on the mattress before I put the protector back on.  Just a little factoid...bedbugs hate baking soda!  If you are a spaz like me who is terrified of getting bedbugs you can sprinkle it on your bed, or around your bed when you stay at a hotel.  No, I don't do that...that would be insane! 

And where were the children while I was doing all of this? 

 Well, right here of course!

 And here!

And here!  Together!  Having a grand old sleeping party! 

If fairy tales converged this would be "Sleeping Beauties" and "Cinderella" combined!

Hope you now can feel better about cleaning your mattresses too when you have little oops moments in life!

5x7 Folded Card

Birthday Colors Blue Birthday Card

Shutterfly offers custom St. Patrick's Day cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

I love this card, don't you?  One of the ways  that I try to help my husband is to be a good steward of the money he works so hard to make.  And one of the ways that I do that is to look for free promo codes.  So far this week I've made two free cards and a free magnet.  I should note though that many times there is tax and shipping still charged.  No biggie as long as the amount is less than you would pay for a card at the store in my opinion.  If shipping ends up being $5.00 and you would only have spend $3.00 at target on a card, keep walking.  Personalized cards are neat and all, but they aren't worth it if you are spending oodles. 

So anyway, that is one way that I am doing my part to save money.  With an average of 3 birthdays per month to send cards out for, we spend $9-$12 each month on cards.  That's $108-144 a year, just on cards!  Anyway I can minimize those types of costs helps us in the long run.  It may not seem like much at the time, but everything adds up. 

Wetting the Bed

These days, as my blog name suggests, I am "Super Busy at Home".  Lately it's been..."Super Busy at Home Changing Calvin's Sheets". 

Ugh. 

He is only 4 years old.  I know that's still little. 

In the last weeks we have taking to having nightly accidents. 

And once in a while would be okay. 

But did I mention they are almost every night?

Ugh. 

So this morning I just cringed when I heard his little feet hit the floor upstairs at 4:20 a.m.

Lord, give me mercy on him. 

Help me not to kill him.

Help me, help me, help me...

Just kidding...I wouldn't kill him. 

It was just that ideal moment, ya know...first cup of coffee in hand. It was after all 4:20 in THE MORNING

So Mommy put the coffee down (put the coffee down and no one will get hurt just echoed through my head).  And went to get the little dearie. 

I ran hot water in the sink to wash him down, frankly because I was too lazy to run a bath. 

And do you know what he said to me? 

Don't wipe off my tatoo.

Classy.  Totally Calvin. 

Okay, baby boy.  Momma won't rub off the tatoo on your forearm.  Don't worry...not going all gangbangers on the scrubbing or anything. 

I've got the moves like Jagger, moves like Jagger...Oh sorry, sometimes I sing those things to myself while scrubbing down peed boys and it makes me feel all stealth...surely Mick Jagger's doing this fun stuff too, right?  :)

So tonight I gotta tell ya.  I was too sleepy to even remake his bed and track down another matress protector gizmo (what is that even called? Work brain, work!) I know.  I am a lame mom.

So I threw the kid in our bed. 

Emma's "not fair-o meter" has been recalibrated lately, letting her sense even the slightest discrepencies.  So she woke up too. 

She wants to sleep in our bed too. 

Yeah! 

So that's been my morning.  Anyone have any suggestions on how to get this kid to not pee? Or bodily functions I'm down with, but maybe he could do it in the toilet...novel idea!  In my wonderful parenting moves I've even threatened not taking him to Disney.  I think I said something like "Mickey doesn't want you peeing in his beds either" or something of the sort.  He just echoed back the glassy, sleepy stare that I am sure I have and didn't say anything. 

How come my best mom moves no longer work?   Why can't I make kids cry anymore? 

Ugh.  I'm so lame at my job. 

Now if you'll excuse me, me and my Jagger moves are going to go work on making a matress not smell like urine. 

Yeah! I've got the moves like Jagger!

Summer Fest

Today was our neighborhood's summer party.  Every summer the neighborhood comes together in front of our house; we roast hot dogs, have water balloon fights, and just get reaquainted all over again. 

 

I love our neighborhood...have I mentioned to ya before? 

 

It has it's faults.  Granted.  But here are some things I love...

 

 

 

Brick lined streets!  Yes we live on a street that is still paved with bricks and I absolutely adore that!  This is Emma devouring a piece of cake that the neighbor across the street made.  Yum!

 

 

 

 

 Cal liked it too!  In case you hadn't figured that out ;)

 Here's the cake that is being devoured in the previous pictures which brings me to something else that I love...the lady that lives right across the street, her name is Diana, and she makes the most phenomenal cakes!  I love that !  Frequently she'll send over samples to try.  Her husband works with Nick and they keep an eye on our house and the kiddos.  Love the neighborly feeling around here.

 I love that Emma's about to deck Cal with a water balloon.  I love it's a neighborhood where our kids can just be themselves and have fun. 

 Cal being crazy.  All of the kids seem pretty used to it.  There's no pretext or need to explain the kid to everyone...we all have our own Calvin's in our family's and it's cool.  I have to say, I love Emma's little smirk in this picture!

 Big mature trees and old houses...what is not to love!  In this picture they told the kids to "pick out a partner" so that's what Emma did!

 Calvin decided to grace us with his presence as Spiderman.  Love it!

 You never know when a good old fashioned sword fight is going to break out!

 Our neighbor's being, well, neighborly!   I love it!

 I threw Nick in the mix by volunteering him to grille.  He grunted and grumbled but once we got there I think he really enjoyed himself!

 The water balloon committee hard at work!

And we had Spiderman so for our next act...Darth Vader!  I think he had to be in costume to play with the big boys.

All in all we love our neighborhood and these events remind us why we are where we are.  We really are enjoying ourselves!