Wordless Wednesday Week 27

 

Busy Mom's Guide To Family Nutrition {Giveaway}

Because my blog has increased in readers via Facebook, Twitter and other ways I wanted to thank you all by offering this giveaway.

As a mother it is very important for my family to stay healthy and to understand the facts of eating well and not to long ago I enjoyed this book helping me understand more than I did before. Busy Mom's Guide To Family Nutrition is wonderful! 

This book is helpful to those busy mom's that are looking for basic information and helpful tips here is what topics are within this great book:

Nutrition Basics

How To Make Healthy Food Choices

Vitamins & Minerals

A Weighty Problem

What About Diets, Medications or Surgery

Help For The Overweight Child or Teen

Giveaway is open from today (2/25) til March 1st. Open to US residents and winner has 48 hours to respond. Thank you so much for visiting our blog! Good Luck.

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Ostrich Lapbook

When we started school for the new year I made a commitment that I would really try hard to get back in my old groove of allowing the kids to choose a topic to dig into. So this 8 week period Alexis asked to study about Ostriches so the first stop I ever make is at Homeschool Share. They have great resources and free lapbooks!

I have posted many times about Homeschool Share and their Lapbooks so please if you don't know who they are take a few minutes and go enjoy their site here!

Over the course of the unit we learned many different details about an Ostrich such as:

Where they lived

Ostrich classifications 

Facts about the general height, weight and eyes. 

They live in herds and are social animals

They can lay up to 100 eggs per year

An Ostrich can not fly

An Ostrich could kill a Lion with one single kick

Her favorite piece of information she learned and laughed about was that the brain is actually not larger than their eye!

Her finished masterpiece!

Weekly Wrap Up 26 - No Pictures!!??

Well this week was chaos. Normally I have pictures to help me remember and show off what we did but this week Lexi got a hold of my camera yesterday and accidentally deleted what I had on it!  

Monday

Trojan War Legends, Nuns & Lewis and Clark are all topics we touched on.

Tuesday
Protons, Neutrons and Atoms oh my..............

Wednesday

We had went to visit my great aunt that is dying. It was wonderful to get to see her a little more. She was always a talker, joker and prankster but she just was so different this time. Pray for her please. She is my grandmother's twin sister and I ask that you not only remember one of them but both. My children and I then enjoyed a nice lunch together, laughing and spending quality time together.

Thursday

Kevin was off and we where able to travel and get my van back from the paint shop! Man it looked brand new and I just love it. Auto Advantage in Hendersonville is wonderful. Then we ate at our favorite restaurant and the kids had coupons for Build A Bear so we visited the mall. Lexi and I went into Justice and found some really great and cute things for summer. We also went to Target to get Lexi's new bedding for her room! She loved the turquoise comforter even more in person.

Friday

Schooling like a mad woman... We hit just about everything you could imagine. Ruth & Naomi, Mozart, Nevada and fractions... Just to name a few highlights!

Since I had no pictures to share of my family this week because of our little mishap, Here is what is on my heart right now...

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday Week 26

 Playing Monopoly Jr with Daddy, Rover chilling on the couch, Friends visiting from our old address.

Reading time together, wrestling, showing off good work, algebra...

Snow Cream Recipe

This has been something I have ate since a little girl. My granny made it when we were children and so I make it for my kids when the time is right and the snow is for the taking!

It's so easy and if you have snow you can totally make it. It's delicious and kind of refreshing! It's said your not suppose to use the first snow so that could be a personal preference and some people will think this is gross about germs and all but you don't go out and pick up dirty snow! Or dig down to the ground to get it...

So set you a bowl out while it's snowing and catch you some snow or you can do like me and I just got get several cups of snow in a clean area that I know nothing has been.

Recipe:

4-5 cups fresh snow

1/2 cup sugar

1 to 2 cups milk just personal preference

1 - 2tsp of Vanilla 

Mix in a large bowl, just until all the ingredients are mixed together.

I always use my whisk and just stir it until you can see everything is well blended.

Now guess what you can do??

ENJOY IT!!

 

Weekly Wrap Up 25 { Late }

Hey there friends! Hope your weekend was wonderful! Mine sure was hence the late post!

All last week we enjoyed S N O W!! So we really didn't accomplish much "traditional education" but we sure educated ourselves in a "nontraditional" way all week! We did crack open the books here and there but not in our normal way!

 

Rover totally enjoyed his first snow. He loved chasing the kids through it and even took a few sled trips with the kids. I got out and played a little with the kids too! Kevin was home so it was a family outing! I will tell on myself - I was doing really good at snowboarding until the snow board decided it wanted to stop and my body wasn't told so I feel flat on my head! I was alright after the fright went away!

Sledding in all our snow brought up we needed some Snow Cream, we hadn't had any in about 2 years so it was a great treat! Recipe will be coming up this week so stay close!

We have been learning about Van Gogh a little and his techniques for art. We decided since Daddy got me some of my favorite flowers for Valentine's Day (TUPLIPS) we would sketch them and do an oil pastel technique like his Sunflowers portrait. I'm going to post a tutorial on our art project this week hopefully too! It was simple, fast and fun so it's my favorite!

Last picture to share with you guys is poor Rover missing the kids playing in the snow! I loved this picture, it's so sweet!

Glad all the snow has decided to melt away. Our weather is suppose to be awesome this week and so far today we have had a great time in schooling. As normal anytime we have a break from our normal routine the first day enforcing it can be a challenge however we are still doing good for our Monday!

Hope you have a great week and please don't forget to enter the Dial Vitamin Boost Coupon Giveaway it ends tomorrow!!

Boost Your Blog Challenge!!

   

Why Thaleia choose 100 Days? Well, to be honest I am a very, very busy mom of 4 children 11 years and under. I do not have extra time to spend laboring over by blog and Social Media. I want results and habits that can transform the limited time I have into something incredible. Spreading out 10 challenges over 10 days each just sounds better to me. Spending just 10-15 minutes a day versus an hour or two makes more sense to me. Easing into each new challenge should help create a habit a little easier. This will also give you a better understanding of why a particular challenge should be done daily or weekly and how it has helped you. Quick clarification- anyone with a blog CAN participate. I did seek out an initial 100 bloggers to help promote this series in exchange I am using their blogs to direct people to during the 10 days of Comments Challenge. Hope I have not confused anyone. You may do one or all 10 challenges at your own pace or join in daily.

Meet the Hostesses:

 

Honey Rowland blogs at Honeys Life about homeschooling, family life and green living. With a passion for self sufficiency and natural, special needs parenting you'll learn about everything from natural, local foods to essential oils and homeopathy to gardening and farm life. Honey has also turned the constant 'talks too much' report card comments into a home business. She runs social media while obtaining new sponsors and advertisers for herself and other bloggers. So whether you're curious about chickens or children, ask...'cause she's dabbled and babbled in just about everything.

    

Michelle Marine blogs at Simplify, Live, Love where she shares down to earth tips for the thoughtful mama. Michelle. along with her husband, 4 kids and a bunch of animals, lives sustainably in barn on 5 acres in rural Eastern Iowa. Michelle is an avid gardener and from-scratch cook of real food; she cans produce, homeschools, and teaches community college classes in addition to blogging. Her husband is building their forever home to the German Passive House standards and they plan to live off grid yet still enjoy modern conveniences. Simplify, Live, Love chronicles their attempts to live sustainably and strives to remind people to live simply and frugally yet still enjoy life.  

 

Martiel Beatty from Amazing Success Academy specializes in helping artists build online businesses and blogs. She is a fiber artist, expert blogger, author of Blog Notes, and GIMP Wizard. She is also the founder of Sewmantra and started the Academy because she couldn’t find an affordable, knowledgeable and effective program that supported handmade, indie-artists. Find out how she can help you build your business today. Learn More Now!

      

Lisa Nelson from The Squishable Baby focuses on creating positive learning experiences through everyday life. I believe that learning about – and respecting diversity, different religions, other cultures, charity, and our environment – through play, through crafts, through lessons, through giving – will not only produce more empathetic children and adults – but will put a child on a path to a love of lifelong learning.

   

Thaleia Maher blogs at Something 2 Offer where she is generous in giving advice and helping others find free resources that meet their needs; be it for homeschool or life! She is a BIG researcher who wants to encourage families on their homeschool journey. Wife to high school sweetheart. Mother of four (including 2 little reds!), Sister, Daughter, Christ-Follower, Talkative, Creative. Hoping to figure this whole life, blogger, social media thing out! So be sure to keep tabs on her journey of life.   

Days 1-10: Leave 100 Comments with Thaleia begins Feb 15. 

Days 11-20: Grammar Mistakes Bloggers Make with Michelle 

Days 21-30: Using Twitter with Honey 

Days 31-40: Topics for 100 Blog Posts with Martiel Will reveal more soon! So stay tuned! Want an email reminder when a new Boost Your Blog challenge goes live ? Sign-up! 

Don't just sit there: tell your friends, tweet about it, share on Facebook, pin this post, add it to your !

 

An InLinkz Link-up

 

Dial Vitamin Boost Body Wash { Review & Giveaway }

I have a little secret that I'd like to keep but I guess this post will absolutely ruin my secret... I love body wash. I hate soap! I can't help it there is something so refreshing about all the bubbles and the awesome smell that just makes me want showers and love body wash!

Today I have a review provided by our Purex team with Dial Vitamin Boost Body Wash! Upon first getting this we opened the package and took a whiff. Man oh man does it smell great! Smell draws my attention every time. I love things that smell good but more importantly when I'm placing it on my body I want it to feel good too!

Dial has added a vitamin boost to their new body washes! It is to help moisturize your skin better and provide more vitamins and moisture directly to your skin. Vitamin B is a natural humectant that helps draw in moisture and keeps skin hydrated and lets face it in the winter our skin longs for this!

Healthy skin is something that is very important and in order to keep it that way you have to work at providing certain elements such as lotion and healthy nutrition. Dial is trying to help you make it easier with their new vitamin boost lotion infused body wash!

We have 5 people in our home so we use body wash more than I would like to say! We have certain brands that we typically purchase but I have to say Dial will be the one I purchase next store trip. All my children where able to use this and enjoy the smell. It didn't have any harsh reactions on their skin which is something I worry about. Kevin and I used it daily and personally I love it. I love the smell and feeling that it gives once I use it. Refreshing!!

Would you like to try it? I have a coupon to giveaway to one of my readers! Giveaway ends February 19th.

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Wordless Wednesday Week 25

Olympic Learning this week...

DIY Butterfly Cake

For several years my niece Mattie has asked me to make her birthday cakes. Last year I made her a rainbow cake with each layer different colors mixed together and topped with green icing. This year however she thought she needed to challenge me I guess and asked me for a butterfly cake.

Obviously I said ok but inside I was so scared and worried that I wasn't going to be able to make it for her so what do you do?? Search the internet of course!

I found several ideas on Pinterest and from Betty Crocker and so I took on the challenge!

I used 1 box of cake mix and used an 8 or 9" round cake pan ( I can't remember which one I used).

Because I used 2 pans I was able to stack this 2 layers high and it still worked awesome. 

You cook normal per the cake box instructions.

I used the Betty Crocker template here which made the shape so easy! 

I arranged the cake how I wanted it and placed a crumb coat on it for overnight and placed in our fridge. 

The next morning I iced it and decorated it. 

The decorating went great and I have a tip for ya!

I had read while researching the butterfly ideas that you could paint food coloring on to icing for a neat effect and coloring look. It turned out wonderful! 

Decorating was fun and really easy no right or wrong.

I was so happy to give this cake to Mattie and her love it.

Mission Accomplished! 

Weekly Wrap Up 24

Monday was a hectic day kind! No actual school got completed but we had lots of life lessons.Library, errands and then we treated ourselves to Pizza Hut Book It coupons. Then off to work for this momma.

Mystery of History above & below! 

Zachary writing a story using WriteShop Cards again!

Tuesday we had a fun day of school completed several things and then gave Kyle a surprise we had been waiting on since Christmas. He has been wanting a German Shepherd for several years but for many different reasons it wasn't a good fit. Finally it was so look at Kyle's new buddy ~ Rover. He is only 6 weeks old and so smart and fun! I didn't have to work so I had a great evening with my babies but Kevin has school.

Wednesday was off to the Dr with Lexi. She had a place come up on her hand several weeks ago that we at first thought was just a blister then we thought it was possibly something in her hand like a splinter but then it started getting larger to so we made an appointment for Lexi with her Dr and it turned out to be a wart! So the Dr decided to scrape it and freeze it with nitrogen which was cool for Lexi because we are learning the elements on the periodic table and she was able to talk to the Dr about it! After getting back we started school and had fun. Supper and then church.

Kyle absolutely loves Mango Language - Russian - Review coming soon!

Thursday was the dentist and a fun day with our old friends that we left when we moved. We see each other often but no where near daily like we use too! I miss them like crazy but our time together Thursday was blessed and awesome and I can't wait to do it again! The dental appointment went well because no one had any cavities which always makes me happy! One thing that is going on with Zachary is he is keeping his fingers/finger in his mouth and moving his bottom teeth and making them loose a little and that habit has to stop so we are taking that on as our new challenge!

Friday was school as usual. For the last few weeks we have tried to have a fun day on Friday's and do the things we couldn't get to during our normal routine. This week we worked more on our Unit Studies or Lapbooks and enjoyed a few games. Off to the vet with Rover for his first set of shots and a health check for him too. He weighed 11 lbs 13ozs and for 6 weeks that's a big boy! Kyle loves him so much. He has already done so great with taking him out at 4 am and just showing some responsibility for him. I love that Rover actually already shows that Kyle is his owner even though there are 4 others in the house.  Library visit again because we where in town and Kyle actually requested a few new books (shocker) but let me tell ya, that boy isn't a reader never has been but since he got Rover he has read great books about German Shepherds and training dogs! I love that he is wanting to read about something, its a new thing for Kyle because he has just never showed interest. Who would have thought a puppy would help him read?

AND BIG NEWS ~ Lexi completed Gamma Friday!! 

Very proud of her and she has done great!

Thank you Math U See for all the awesome tools you provide!

Hope everyone else had a great week! 

I had 2 giveaways end this week and thanks for those that entered. I will have 2 more next week: Apologia book & Dial Body Wash Coupon Giveaway!