Weekly Wrap-Up: Fabulously Crazy

Well friends... it has been another fabulous/crazy week!  Or should I say fabulously crazy?!  We have been busy as usual, but in a super fun way.

In My Life This Week. . . (and some of last week)
First off, I need to back up to last week just a tad (remember my weeks are weird cause I work Fri/Sat).... I had a Friday night off of work!  *Insert here whistles, applause, streamers, and balloons!  It was weird.  But, we made the best of it! ;) Hubby and I decided we'd get the kids some bikes for Christmas, and ourselves too.  And, as you know great deals on Craigslist don't last. So Friday night, and Saturday morning we ALL got bikes. Well, except for Baby T.  She's going to practice on Little Bit's old bike, but will be getting a bigger one for her before Christmas.  Back to Friday night... we cooked together (even Bean Boy who usually prefers to be alone, joined us without being asked!), we had a family movie, popcorn, and just an amazing time together.  Saturday we went to get the rest of the bikes, we went to a little outdoor sale and got a free lunch, and just had fun.  Of course, then it was back to work...but 1 night doesn't really bother me! I feel like superwoman when I only have to do one night! :) Sunday, they woke me up at 3:00 begging to go for a bike ride.  I couldn't say "no".  Especially since Hubby spent Saturday while I was napping, cleaning out the garage to fit the bikes in!  It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time...even ran into a great friend!So, now, everyday I hear, "Can we go for a bike ride?" Which is great!  It will keep me accountable to exercising, and give the kids something other than TV to look forward too!

I've also been getting ready for THE PARTY.... Friday is shopping day.  I'm hoping Hubby will make the chili the day before (he doesn't know that yet!). Thursday and Friday will be organizing day.  I've got lists for what goes on which table (all number nicely like an organizing fool) and will put each list in its own box for each table.  Sunday, I'll sleep after work, then run over to my mom's house and get it all ready.  Thank you Mom for letting us use your amazing yard for such a fun party! I hope we can pull it off after me working the two nights before!

My crazy kids decided to beg me for Christmas music!!! It's playing in the background while the kids work on school and cleaning and such!  I love Christmas music, but feel like it's a little early.  We found our Thanksgiving joke book to offset!  I'll have the girls practice reading by reading me a joke a day until Tday!!!

In Our Homeschool This Week. . .
Well, I'm not going to lie... I'm still struggling with sticking to the plan.  I'm totally rebelling and wanting to do other things.  I think part of the problem is that I have yet to figure out, in my 7 years of homeschooling, how to maintain our home the way I like, and do school.  One or the other suffers...until I feel the walls closing in, at which point they both suffer.  And that is where I am now.  I can't stand the mess, the dirt I know is there, the kid-cleaned bathroom desperately needs mom's touch, my room is worse than any other place!  Geesh!  Ok... this part is supposed to be about school.  We ARE getting everything done, I just don't want to! hehe! With the girls, I'm doing a lot of games, and different things to practice with reading.  Math has been much of the same.  Because of Bean Boy's writing class, every week the girls and I spend an hour in McDonald's   working on our school- they get the bonus of hot chocolate and they work really well there.  It's nice to change it up every once in a while!

I Am Inspired By. . .
Well, while we were in McDonald's this week, an older gentleman (who I believe sat behind us last week) came up to me and said, "I've been bragging about you to my wife.  She is a school teacher.  I told her what a great job you're doing and she wishes that more parents were like you. Your girls are smart and beautiful." Well...even though I don't wanna do school some days, I think that will get me through the next 7 days till vacation!  Thank you Lord, for the encouragement!!!

Places We're Going and People We're Seeing. . . 
We had an impromptu lunch with a friend this week.  My son's best friend and his family, to be exact.  I felt bad, because it had been a long time since we had seen them.  We were already out for writing class, and the chiropractor, so we invited them out.  It was a special treat!  And, I'm so looking forward to Little Bit's birthday party...cause it's just going to be so cool, and because it will be a reunion with friends we love dearly and don't get to see often enough!

My Favorite Thing This Week Was. . . 
I have such an amazing family, that it is hard to decide what my favorite thing this week was.  But, I think it would have to be our times together.  It is a blessing to not have to send my kids away every day!  I love being with them.  Our bike ride, our family movie, school/park day, school at McDonald's, cooking together as a family, late night talks with Bean Boy, late night talks with Hubby, how can a mom decide?

Ya'll have a great weekend!

Review: Math Made Simple

I recently did a review for a friend from Hearts at Home.  I thought I'd share it with you guys!  Enjoy!

Math Made Simple Review

We were very excited to be able to review Math Made Simple.  I must confess that math is my son’s favorite subject, so in that way only, our review is slightly biased.  However, my 11 year old is reviewing (with me) the Algebra package, so it was a bit of a challenge. However, after watching the demo, he was hooked and wanted more.  

We found each lesson to be easy to follow, with step by step instructions, adding new, more challenging concepts one at a time.  This gave the opportunity to conquer one thing before moving on to a new concept.  I think my son’s biggest complaint was that the lessons were long.  They are each about 50+ minutes.  We would complete about half of the lesson a day.  It is easy to break down the lessons, because there are “sections” of each lesson which make it easy to find a stopping place. 

The lessons are arranged such that they are made up of mostly practice problems. The teacher (of whom you only see her hand) shows a problem, and solves it, step by step, on the video.  My son would pause the video and try to solve the problem.  Then he could see exactly where his mistakes were and remember to correct that before the next problem.  At the end, there are review problems which mix all the concepts together.  The explanations are also given for these.  The first lesson in the series had a lot of vocabulary which was very necessary for completing the problems and understanding the explanations in the rest of the videos. 

What is nice about this curriculum, is that it can make a great stand-alone curriculum…especially for people who are afraid of higher level math (you know who you are;).  In addition, each lesson is sold separately at a very affordable price so that if you need a supplement, a different person/way to explain a concept, a few more practice problems with explanations, or even just a break from being the math teacher for a lesson or two, you’ve got options!  The packages are a great deal too. The lessons never expire and are transferable to your other children, which makes the great price even better. 

                                                                                               

Thoughts from the student:   The teacher is easy to understand and she tries not to make it sound boring.  I like how they don’t give you a few examples and then give you 100 identical problems to do on your own.  The only thing that would make it better would be if the teacher told some jokes.  Overall, I’m enjoying the curriculum, because it’s math, and it sounds interesting.  

You can check out their website here.  

*It should be noted that the opinions expressed here are my own.  I have not been compensated for this review.  I have been given the curriculum to keep for review purposes.  

Epic Fail!!!

Thank God for grace....really.  Today I woke up without any motivation.  I was exhausted....didn't want to wake up kids, and certainly didn't want to take them to the park for school today like I promised. I tried to talk the kids into going on another day, but they declined.... so, I fulfilled my promise.  It took me a while to decide which park, too.  We talked about it, and I was going to try something different from our usual, but I remembered that people from our group sometimes go on Tuesday, and I didn't want everyone, myself included, to be distracted.  So, we packed up, and went to Subway (yeah for $5.00 turkey footlongs!), and then headed to the park...  The entire time I was trying to remember all the things I had to be grateful for, and trying not to remember all the times I was short tempered and barked at my children just this morning...

Enter here our arrival at the park.... I did check the weather before we left.  It was supposed to be a nice day, 10% chance rain, only 60% humidity (which is good for FL!), and sunny.  Well, the sun wasn't to be found. There were clouds everywhere. In fact as we drove over the bridge, I saw rain off in the distance.  I was, well, a little concerned, but hey, I'm a trooper, right?! So, we unpacked, me still extremely grumpy and trying desperately to be thankful and happy.  Trying desperately, but failing miserably! I was so tired that it seemed like work to keep my eyes open.  It was certainly work to keep my voice sounding kind and saying kind things, and was just too hard, and I failed at that over and over.  I did manage to find things to write in our Thankfulness Journals, but it was hard to mean it... I was glad to be able to take the kids to the park, but with the amount of wind we were experiencing, I was immensely frustrated.  We couldn't keep the tablecloth down...even with tying off the ends. We couldn't keep our Bible papers in one place.  I apologized to the kids for the frustration, for my grumpiness, for being mean and ugly, for not practicing self control... oh the list goes on...

That's why today I'm thankful for grace.  I was awful to my children.  I tried to just not talk so I wouldn't blow it again.  When the rain started sprinkling down, I apologized and just told the kids I couldn't do it anymore...while it would probably blow over and not amount to anything, (and I don't think it did) I needed to go home.  They agreed.... on the way home I stopped at DQ and got them ice cream cones as a means of reconciliation.  I went straight to bed...the girls put the food away and Bean Boys finished his school.  But when I was on the way to bed, Little Bit said, "You're the best mom ever, even when you're grumpy!"  I'm sure it was the ice cream talking, but I'm still so thankful for grace.

There were many moments today of which I am not proud.  But, there are even more moments that are memorable in a good way.  The best memory, while humbling, is of the kids forgiving their cranky mommy!  I'm thankful that despite my crankiness they still think I'm a great mom, I disagree, but I'm thankful for their perspective!  I'm thankful that tomorrow is a new day and I can start again trying to speak kind words and lifting my children up instead of tearing them down. I'm thankful that God has promised to forgive me for treating his children poorly. I'm thankful His mercies are new every morning!

Did you know you could do math in a tube? 

You can see the girls' hair blowing like crazy...this was after we moved behind the trees to try to block the wind a little!

It was actually chilly with all the wind...those two snuggled while we had our Bible lesson.  See the blowing hair?

  Linking with:

Weekly Wrap: First Concert!!!!

So, this is only 3-4 days later than usual!  My work schedule has been very tough to deal with.  In the last 2 weeks, I've probably worked over 90 hours!  I'm very thankful to my husband, mother-in-law, and friends who have helped keep us sane during the crazy....

Despite that, there are a couple of really good memories from the week that I wanted to share.  First, I re-started SOTW in order to "do it right". I had just been putting in the CDs and moving on.  For my son, that's enough...but for Little Bit, with no history foundation in the 3rd SOTW book, it was, well, just not fair to her.  So, I decided to actually listen with them (fortunately I can do 2 things at once!) and do some of the activities... This week's activity involved 10 lbs of flour... I couldn't imagine throwing all that flour away, so I threw it at my kids!  (Yes, we did this outside!)  It is a lesson I have learned...while the fun was hysterical, I STILL have flour on my driveway and car!!!  My husband is going to pay my son to pressure wash the driveway, and eventually, we'll get the car scrubbed... But, it was fun!!! The neighbor came out to get her mail and got a good chuckle while snapping a picture for us!

Baby T did not enjoy this...she got flour in her eyes. 

This is how it started...

The other fantastic memory was of Little Bit's first concert.  She is my music lover, and singer.  Through FB I discovered that Kari Jobe was coming in concert.  Who doesn't love to sing with Kari Jobe? So, we invited a friend for a girls night out, went to Panera, and jammed with Anthony Evans, All Sons and Daughters (bought the album and LOVE it!!!) and of course, Kari Jobe... It was fun to see the girls jumping on the pews, dancing, singing, worshiping!  Every song asking, when is Kari coming out?!  And what a beautiful first concert.  It wasn't huge like some are.  It was low-key...lots of kids at the front on the floor. Little Bit was fascinated with the lights, so I know the bigger concerts will be exciting for her too.  But, my friend was saying that her first concert was Cranberries...remember them?  So, I was glad that Little Bit's first had such a focus on worship... several times Kari was on her knees before the Lord. Hands raised more often than not, and just speaking the name of Jesus....it was lovely!

Breaking  my rules and showing "face"... but, I was shocked at how much she looks like me!

Sorry for the cruddy cell phone pic, but you can get the idea and see the worship in her heart! God is good!

This week should be better as far as being on time with my update!

Weekly Wrap Up: Keeping it Real

Well, I didn't meet my goal of at least 2 posts a week, but in my defense, I've been really sick!  As a nurse and mom, I don't do sick very well...though, I must be getting better at it because I got a ton of stuff done!  I did spend much of the day in bed on Tuesday which is the day I'd usually try to write my 2nd post, or 1st, however you want to look at it.

So, this week was our last of our short 2 week break.  :(  Seriously, unschooling sounds like so much fun!  We still had a lesson in saponification!  My mom and her friends came over, gave us a chemistry lesson and we made soap.  We learned about the exothermic reaction the lye makes when placed in water, and that saponification (soap making...and a really cool "big word") started around 2500 BC....I'm curious to know what they did before then?  We made glycerin soaps in the shape of skulls and crossbones and some lye soaps with different scents. I cannot decide on a favorite, honeysuckle, oatmeal and honey, special edition vanilla (different from your usual vanilla) are all at the top of my list, but we made a few more too.  Apparently I have to turn them every day for a couple of weeks, but that side of my kitchen smells really good.  My mom is so excited and wants to start a business with me!  I guess we'll see what happens. Hubby is on board.... I'm growing time on trees, instead of money of course!

This week we also saw my grandparents (2 sets) for lunch, had Hubby away overnight for his internship, had a "kid swap" with a friend so each mom could have time alone, made a trip to the "big library," and accomplished massive amounts of planning and plodding- nay, trudging through cleaning out the school room!  UGH... will it ever be done!?  Today I believe it will... if I finish, I'll add pictures in this post.

I also did one other thing... my mom actually yelled at me saying, "You know, the rest of us just pin stuff on pinterest and let it sit there.  You're making us look bad by doing the things you pin!!!" *Giggle!  That made me feel good...when do I ever get to do things special and extra? This week was full of them!  For the girls, I made "lampshades" out of plastic punch cups by covering them with material I bought at WM.  I then put slits in the bottom, and stuck lights through them.  I hung up one set on their bed, and have to find a place to hang the other set...I think they look pretty good.  

Yes, I snuck in while they were sleeping to take this pic!

Pretty cool, huh?!

My week at home ended with making chocolate chip cookies and going to Moms to use her cricket to complete our new chore chart....let's just say, I'm not a fan of gluing! This morning (Friday) I will finish up the planning and cleaning of the school room.... UGH!  Then, begins my 4 in a row!  Double UGH!!!  But, as the kind lady at the dollar store pointed out, only 6 more paychecks till Christmas!  :)


WARNING! WARNING!  This is where it gets real. IF you want to continue to think I'm the neatest person ever (snicker, snicker), stop reading HERE!

So, as I was eating breakfast, one in which I had to trick the children into thinking they had enough by making silver dollar pancakes because we didn't have enough bisquick, I realized just how awesome I made myself sound in this post... Ha!  That's funny!  I remembered the reason I started this blog wasn't to make myself look good, but to be real!  So, while yes, we did some really cool stuff this week, here is where I failed... I didn't make one homemade dinner! Or lunch! Today was the first breakfast I made all week! This after singing praises about different things I use to help in this area (here)! My school room still looks like it is under construction.  While I started planning and made good progress, I don't have much hope I'll actually finish.  My living room is and has been a disaster since, well, I don't know when.  Below is a picture of my work table in the living room....mind you, this is after most of the planning has been completed and it is about 2/3 smaller than it was before I thought to take a picture...  It had been my goal to get this area cleaned up too, but I'm not extremely hopeful for that either.  I have yelled at my children.  I did not take a shower yesterday.  I am truly real.  I told Hubby, I can do neat/fun things with kids, school, and maintain some order (though not sure where it is) OR fix meals... I can't seem to do both.  I have just decided I want our family relationships to come first.  I never want my kids to feel like a clean house was more important that them.... they should definitely think that!  Please join in my excitement with the fun we've had this week, be encouraged that all the bloggers out there are "real" people and we can't see the whole picture of their lives.  Be encouraged to spend every minute you can building relationships with your chilies and leading them to the Lord, whether it be through meals, cleaning, school, fun projects, or even, saponification! 

See! I'm real, with real messes that last for weeks and weeks...can't remember when I last saw that little table!

I am, as always, eternally grateful for the wonderful times, the mess, and the awesome family God gave me to share all this with!

I hope you all enjoy your weekend!  Blessings!

OK....It's done!!! Woohooo wooohooo!!! See why it is such an accomplishment here.

AND, while I didn't get to clean up my area in the living room, Little Bit straightened it somewhat! Sweet girl!

Linking up with Kris!  Run over to her site and check out this awesome giveaway!
 




And linking with:

Weekly Wrap-Up: Breaks Fly By!!!

How is it that when you are on a break from school, the week flies right past you?? It's just not fair!!! Although, I have to say this has been an ahhhmaaazing week!

 It started out with a surprise for my hubby. After he left for his internship on Monday, I packed the kids up and took them to my MIL's house. I came home, tidied the bedroom, put the new sheets on the bed, set up about 40 candles, and then texted him.... "Do you think you could come watch the girls while I take Bean Boy to the MD. I think he has strep." So wonderful Hubby texted when he left. It was a little too early... I hadn't gotten all dolled up yet, so I texted, "Bean Boy is begging for popsicles, would you pick some up on your way home?" Boy was he surprised when he walked in and found me all dressed up and no kids! I had pre-purchased movie tickets through Fandango so off we went; then out to dinner, then home where he finally saw the bedroom and the massage oil I bought for him. It was a great time... I can't remember the last time we had a date that lasted that long...usually it's just dinner!


While the date was great, the entire next day, home alone, was ahhh! I got a lot of school planning done, a nap, and some piddly stuff...I really need more days like this! I know you all just think I'm forgetful, and I am, but I truly don't know the last time I had the house to myself for more than a short time! Even the short times are rare!!!

 So Wednesday's plan was to clean out the school room... apparently, I really didn't want to, cause I got started in my laundry room. It took almost all day, but the girls and I cleaned out, organized, pitched stuff, and wiped off everything... we even moved some of the furniture around. I took a load to Goodwill and have a bag for the consignment store. It looks beautiful in there!

Very spacious... my Hubby built this room for me!

He built these shelves too!

So happy!

Thursday, I tried again in the school room. There is something about it, and I'm beginning to loathe that room! First of all, you saw how messy it was here... And while, yes the mess is overwhelming, I think the problem is more of the sadness I'm experiencing... I've got so much great stuff, and just no time to do it! I have many, many great aspirations, but we get in a routine, and my forgetfulness sinks in, I get tired (can't imagine why) and I get busy, and we just stick with our routine. The clincher was when I found an experiment book for water. I would LOVE to do this with the girls...study how salt dissolves and pepper doesn't, how water evaporates, how it always runs downhill, etc.... Sigh... they'll just have to be satisfied with learning about Land Animals of the sixth day and watching cougar documentaries on Netflix... And me, I'm really trying to remember to be thankful for the precious time God has given me with them, and not mourn how fast it is flying by! AND, I moved out of the school room and onto the next thing to give my heart a break. (I'll get back to it next week.)  We have a big drawer in our coffee table that got really clean! It was full of old crayons, so we decided to make crayon candles! How funny is that?! Spur of the moment trip to Michaels to get wicks, and then ALL AFTERNOON AND EVENING spent on making candles. I did use up MOST of the crayons. It was neat, and the clincher was when, during our family worship time, Little Bit shared what she was thankful for, "I'm thankful that mommy used our old crayons to make candles with us instead of throwing them away."

We soaked the crayons in ice water to help loosen the wrappers.  It took about 40 minutes to get the wrappers off all of our crayons!  The kids were very patient with the process, and I was surprised and glad!

The girls peeling, peeling, peeling! Notice the empty chair...

He's ba-ack! And as silly as ever!

I can't believe how long they stuck with it!

That's a lot of crayon wrappers!!!

That's a lot of crayons!

Melting, melting, melting!  It took FOREVER!!

Then we got some votives poured... please ignore the dirty pan of grease! LOL!!!

Tada!  I did some layered ones too in glass jars, but didn't take pictures...

I, like Mary, am treasuring these things in my heart! They are fantastic and wonderful, and I'm so in love with my family! Thank you God for the rich, rich family life we have, the wonderful blessings you pour out!

I'm off to work for the weekend!  Have a blessed weekend!

Wrap-up:  

School Room- The Ugly Truth!

Ok... so this blog is named The Mess Exposed, as a reminder to be truthful about the struggles and imperfections of homeschooling and not present a perfect front others can't live up to... and right now, I'm soooo wishing it weren't. I committed myself to participating in the iHomeschool network blog hop that is hopping weekly around different topics. Unfortunately, this week's topic is your school room. So, with red cheeks, I present to you the pictures of my school room...

UGH! It has so much potential, but it seems to look like this more often than not! My daughter's gymnastic mat somehow gets stored in here, the desk has become the "catch all," the kids apparently don't know how to put books away, or won't. Even though there are 2 garbage cans in here, there is garbage all over the floor! SO, most of the time I keep the door closed, and make the kids come back here for stuff, because I get sooo frustrated. There are 3 of them and 1 of me... A couple of years ago, we all drove to IKEA and got this great bookshelf. I came up with a great way to help my most unorganized child stay organized. I had a ton of letter trays, and fit them into the squares of the shelves. Each tray is to hold its own subject, and you don't even have to use the same tray each time. Just put it back into a clean, empty slot.  Somehow, even that is too much for him.  I tell him to put his school books away and come back here to find them on the floor, desk, or shoved in square of the shelf that doesn't have the letter trays... sigh...

About 5-6 times a year, I really clean it out and we use it and keep it clean for a couple of weeks...then someone comes over and everyone puts stuff in...you know, the stuff you're not sure where it should go. Then it starts getting to the point where I don't have enough time to get it, and the cycle starts over.  It takes me an entire day to get it clean, and if you've been following my blog at all, you know I don't have many of those.  But, now, I will try to work on it this week, so I can post a picture of it all clean!  When it is clean, I love it, and I love doing some of our school in there. I've got a corner desk outside of the corner, that way the kids and I can sit across from each other, all my supplies are right there and we don't have to wait or run all over to look at them, and I'm one of those nerdy people who love school supplies, school rooms, and school (elementary) all together....

If I'm able to get it back in shape, I'll post pictures of how it is supposed to look!  Hopefully you guys are having better luck with your school rooms!


This was so popular at ihomeschoolnetwork, that I thought I'd share here too...