Holiday Books

Give the gift of reading!

1. Elf on the Shelf:A Christmas Tradition (blue-eyed boy scout elf)...in case you've been living under a rock you must check out this amazing book! Parents be prepared...that elf is sneaky!

2. The Donkey's Dream...the sweetest book ever!

3. December...the new discover this season! It's the best ever!!

4. Welcome Baby Jesus: Advent and Christmas Reflections for Families (English and English Edition)...a simple and beautifully written way to celebrate Advent daily.

5. Polar Express 30th anniversary edition...one of my family favorites!

6. Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale...a lovely beautifully illustrated book.

7. The Crippled Lamb...this is the most beautiful book ever! Tears will flow! 

8. The Legend of the Poinsettia...wonderful story of the Christmas flower.

9. The Gift of the Magi...a happy ending story!

10. The Christmas Star.. A family fav!

11. Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend...I love this one!

12. The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale...a story you can enjoy now and at Easter.

From my house to yours! Happy reading! 

Stuff!

"Stuff" don't we all have too much?

Stuff laying around.

Stuff in drawers.

Garages. 

Attics.

On shelves.

In cars. 

Stuff makes me crazy! 

It truly causes me to have anxiety. 

It makes my heart beat so fast seeing things all over the counter. 

When I come in from being gone all day and I have to unload all of the stuff from the day...mail, my daughters creations, food, groceries, my husbands stuff...I can't do anything else until everything is put away...thrown away or recycled...or put into it's "place". Then I can breathe easier and relax a bit. 

It is so easy to keep your stuff to a minimum when you are single.

Then you get married and combine your stuff.

Now you have double the stuff.

Then have a child or two and then the stuff piles to your ceilings...drawers are full...garages even worse! 

Ahhhhhh! The stuff is taking over! 

Here's my advice...

1. Touch mail once.

2. Clean out your refrigerator. Guarantee you have something expired in there.

3. Clean out your pantry. Same for here...bet there's something gross in there.

4. Go thru your medicine cabinet. Check all dates. Toss anything that has expired. 

5. Give it to Goodwill. I make at least one trip a week. Yep a week! 

6. Give it to friends. I give away tons of things to friends....clothes...food...jewelry...anything I think they might like.

7. Kids stuff is tough...do it while they are sleeping. Most likely they won't miss it. See number 5. 

8. Take it to a consignemnt store...or do a consignment sale. I do these allll of the time! 

9. Sell it on eBay, Craigslist, or Facebook now have easy to use buy sell trade sites. Make some cash!

10. If it's ugly...if you hate it....if it means zero to you...why do you have it? See number 5. 

Declutter friends! 

It's makes life so much simpler! 

And it's so much easier to clean. 

These are pictures of my own home. It has taken me several years to declutter and become more simplfied in my living. #alwaysaworkinprogress 

First grade here we go!

We finished up Kindergarten back in April....and we really don't take time off.

I have found that time off leads to more time off which leads to us getting off schedule...and then crazy train happens. 

My child needs some type of daily structure. She needs to have a daily schedule. Its what works for us.

Our daily schedule is basically this:

Breakfast outside 8:00

School time...reading...math...etc. again all outside

Play time/free play

Clean up/chores/stuff mom needs to do...

Lunch violin poems

Hike 2.2 miles

Extra curricular activities...violin, gym(for me), dance...

Dinner bath bed 7:30

So this summer we basically did tons of reading...so far since January she and I have read almost 300 books. Either her silently, me reading to her, us doing shared reading, or her reading to me. 

We also started  Life of Fred--Apples math which she loves!  

So officially the following is our First Grade curriculum...just know that we've done a ton of other things in between the ending of Kindy and the beginning of First grade.

The Orchard Book of the Unicorn and Other Magical Animals - because I find it super important for children to use their imaginations and hear beautiful fantasy stories! 

A Child's History of the World - I love how this book it written...history written in a way a child can understand

Plus-Plus  - these are amazing! Made in Denmark...super cool leggo like but better! 

The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Workbook for Kids - we spent oodles of time outside...I think it is one of the most important things for children....hiking...learning about nature...trees...birds...animals...the environment! It's the hippie in me....

Exploring Creation With Astronomy  And Junior Astronomy Notebooking - we are Catholic and I am so excited to learn along side of her with these amazing books! 

Life of Fred--Butterflies - math...but way different than just rote memory of math facts! The best! 

Handwriting Without Tears Cursive Handwriting - Grade 3 - she asked to learn cursive...so why not! 

New Catholic Picture Bible

Evan-Moor Beginning Geography Book

Colored Smencils 10 Pack - we also have Halloween Smencils Sets,  Smarker Sets, and Glitter Gel Smens. She loves all of these! Uses them daily! Draws...colors....writes notes...signs...every single day! 


eeBoo Sun and Moon - we love these sketch type books for our drawings and retellings...we also 
have eeBoo Birds and Berries...Great quality paper. 

We also go to our new amazing library weekly....I love how easy it is to get books from there. We at any given time have 20 books checked out...so instead of buying books this year to go along with our core curriculum ...I plan to utilize library books. 

I am more excited this year than last. She's 5.7 but children at this age can grasp so many more concepts. I can't wait to start! 

Children's summer reading...

These are two from our Mensa list that we had never read....and wow are they both amazing! 

Read more Here about the Mensa book list...we've been working on it for awhile now. 

I highly recommend both...for old and young alike! Beautifully illustrated!  Great morals!

The Quiltmaker's Gift teaches about the importance of giving... It is a lovely book!! 

And If I Never Forever Endeavor....ohhhh how I loved this one! It's about always trying...going for what scares you...doing the thing you want to do! Wow...don't we all need to hear this! Even at my age....making ourselves happy...doing the one thing that you want to do but you are terrified to do it....

Isnt it always better to try and fail then to never try at all!?! 

And this this gem ...Freckle Juice....I was able to share with my sweetie...takes me back to my own childhood! I remember reading it for the first time! I don't know who enjoyed it more?? 

We have 12 more in our Mensa book list! Wow what a fantastic list of books we have read this past year! 

Reading....gardening....learning...

I love to read!

I love bookstores!

I love to read to my child!

I love her love for books!

However I find it hard to find time to read adult books...

But today I finished this little gem!

Amazing! 

I love the author! I feel like we are friends! 

Check it out for yourselves....

The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities

He did amazing things and built amazing gardens to help support his community.

Last summer you may remember I tried my hands at my very first container garden. Read more ....Here about how I started our first one. 

My flowers did fantastic...Pipiri and I loved it and learned together about the importance of watering, planting, pulling weeds, what works and what doesn't....we discussed so many thing together.

My veggies however didn't do so great. 

So this summer I decided to do just flowers. 

And they look great...I love them! I truly have enjoyed my little garden...it sort of makes me feel like a grown up...(as if being married and having a child don't). 

But....Will has inspired me...so our last trip to the library I noticed that they had many different varieties of seeds. For free! 

The deal with it is...once your plants or veggies have grown...you simply take some of it's seeds back to the library. What a great idea! 

So we planted a few types of lettuces.

I'll let you know how it goes. 

As always thank you for supporting and reading my blog! 

Next Bikini Show...?

After my first show I knew that I wanted to do another one...but only after I took home second place. I knew then that I wanted to try to bring home a first and do better in the Open category (I got 6th in the Open in the first show)...(Open Ctaegory is against all other contestants). 

Having to balance homeschooling... being a family... working out... being a mom...having adult friends...cleaning my house...the list never ends...errands...sick kiddo....bank....grocery...grocery...grocery....doctor apts...hair apts...

It's tough. It's life.

Prepping for a bikini show is very time consuming.

For me I workout 5x a week year round. About 1-1.5 hours per day. 

I eat clean everyday. It just works for me. I prefer living a super clean lifestyle. And eating super healthy works for me.  Except my one cheat meal a week..(lately I've had two cheat treats instead of a full cheat meal.)

So for the last show I had to amp up my workouts the month prior to the show. 

I worked out 6x a week. For 1.5-2 hours per session. 

Stopped all cheat treats and meals 3 weeks prior. Which is super hard!! 

So I am prepping now for my next show.

I have one more cheat treat next weekend. Then none until after the show.

And starting this week it's 6x a week at the gym. 

I also hired new posing coaches. I'm loving my new routine!! Which I will continue practicing daily until it feels perfect. (Posing is the hardest thing for me! And it's a HUGE part of these shows!!!! HUGE)!!!

Soooo.....

Here we go show number 2!!! 

Penguin Unit Study

We started a new Unit Study these past few weeks...as we school year round...it helps to keep her focused. We love doing unit studies in the summer...instead of sticking to a curriculum. It takes us on such great rabbit trails!

Check out our new unit study on PENGUINS!

We read Mr. Popper's Penguins...it is just the greatest book ever! Our friend the librarian told us he wrote his very first book report on it! We watched Mr. Popper's Penguins...not as good as the book but still super sweet. 

We also read Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems...
Penguins!...
National Geographic Readers: Penguins!

Face to Face with Penguins

Pierre the Penguin: A True Story

She drew penguins...we like to use really nice drawing pads...Strathmore 9-Inch by 12-Inch Spiral Drawing Notebook, 50-Sheet 

And I prefer for her to use these colored pencils...they make beautiful pieces of art...

LYRA Waldorf Selection Unlacquered Triangular Giant Colored Pencils, Set of 12 Super Ferby Pencils, Assorted Colors (3711121)

She acted out and has played "trapping" penguins for weeks now! Cutting, glueing, and making her own penguins.  

She uses this Penguin Popper and this cutie Wooden Emperor Penguin  as part of her imaginary play!

Happy Summer to you all!