Wordless Wednesday Week 5

Weekly Wrap Up 3&4

Our weeks are flying by - what about yours? I can't keep up! 

Kids are older so schooling is totally something that isn't as directed by myself as intently as it used to be. Man how the seasons change.

Just wanted to share this for me and for you.

Kyle has been working a lot and not home as much the last two weeks but has manged to keep up pretty well with what is expected of him. He still had time to take his sister fishing and attend the first ball game for his brother, although while at the game he had a reading assignment he was trying to complete lol. I said he is trying to keep up with what is expected! 

Alexis is spending a lot of time trying to tame some of our newer goats because we need them tamed before January because that is when they should kid. She is in love with Life Of Fred and I am soooo thankful that transition went well.

Zachary has been working with Kevin some and doing a lot of ball! Yes it is that time of year again... Fall Ball. First game was last night and they won 11-1. He is pitcher and first base man. He also has been reading about Indians and baked these very good blackberry pudding all by himself.

I have been off sugar and white anything for 2 weeks. I have lost 10 lbs and feel awesome however that was not the case the first week. I actually thought I was going to die. Huge headache about day 6 and it was horrid. Been running/walking and Lexi has been great at keeping me motivated to go every morning.

Last weekend we went to the Farmers Market and got a great deal on these beautiful peppers and I came home and stuffed them and put them in the freezer. YUM.

Hope y'all are having as much fun as we are schooling!

Easy DIY Chair Update

The outside of the house got painted a few months back and I couldn't of been happier! It was one of those projects I've waited and dreamed of since we moved in 4 years ago!

With the color being updated I wanted things to really pop, stand out and match. My accent color has been teal/aqua, I love the way it looks against gray.

A very easy way to update any item is with...

SPRAY PAINT

You can find it just about in any color you can dream of.

I took my ugly brown chairs, a can of spray paint from Lowe's, and 15 minutes.

The chairs turned out wonderful. They have been used for about 2 months now painted and while they still look great with my house color they are still holding on to the plastic I painted too.

I was concerned that with the sitting and kids the paint would peel off but nope!

Have fun and grab some spray paint! 

 

Wordless Wednesday 4

DIY: Muscle Rub

You don't have to be old to need muscle rub, my precious daughter has figured that out! 

For months (13 to be exact) we have battled a very bad sprained ankle, many x-rays and an MRI later we were told she tore 2 ligaments and that her pain would not decrease and she would possibly benefit from physical therapy and other than that there really wasn't anything that could be done... yeah. 

So, what does a mother do when she sees her babies in pain? She finds a way to help them. We have tried many, many things and along with physical therapy she has improved greatly so far. She still has a long way to go but this rub helps ease her pain daily.

The rub is also helping my husband who has plantar fasciitis. He is on his feet a lot and walks miles and miles a day so after work he comes in showers and takes out this muscle rub. He applies it and then puts on his socks.

Why did I choose this combination for my Muscle Rub?

Lemongrass essential oil is highly recommended widely for helping aid in healing of ligaments. It is to help it heal faster while also helping with muscle pain and stiffness.

Clove essential oil helps to relieve pain that was my number one reason for incorporating it into my blend. It also helps speed the healing process up and ease pain.

Relaxation is a blend from Edens Garden that helps reduce anxiety and when my family is hurting and in pain you know that you have anxiety running wild.

All together we have found this combination works very well for our ailments. 

Here is how I make it but first a word of caution! I am not a registered ANYTHING, I made this for my family and it has helped greatly. Research your own reasons and understand that there are some limitations to the oils such as clove isn't recommended for children under 6...

RECIPE:

Coconut Oil

Lemongrass EO

Clove EO

Relaxation EO

Melt the coconut oil down, you can do so a variety of ways. I melted 3.5 oz. Once melted and cooled down some I added 7 drops of Clove, 12 drops Lemongrass and 5 of Relaxation. I stirred with a popsicle stick to incorporate and allowed to cool uncovered for 12 hours. I then placed the lid on top of my jar and we were able to started using.

My guys just remove the lid place their fingers inside and get some on the tips of their fingers and massage into their place of choice. My daughter applies a warm rice sock a lot after she massages this into her ankle area.

My smallest son grabbed some the other day for his back hurting and like magic a few hours later he was good to go again!

11th Grade Curriculum

As life would have it I haven't blogged about what he is using but we are in week 3 of homeschooling for the year! Funny to me but again that is just how life is here, sometimes I have time to blog and sometimes I do not.

This year is year 12 of homeschooling my boy. I can't believe we are in 11th grade and I also can't believe that last month he got his license to drive! Where oh where has the time gone?

This year we are balancing a lot for him, he works has friends and volunteers at the food pantry.

Math this year is Math U See Stewardship. He had a lot of issues with Algebra 1 and we just didn't feel that it would benefit his career path to continue with Algebra 2 at this point. We are really loving that this is real math for him to apply in his life RIGHT NOW and I also love that it has a devotion with each lesson.

Daily Grammar is enough for us at this point (I ran across grade 10 for $2 and since we could care less about grade level here I bought it for the price). Simple to the point and just keeps him brushed up on his skills.

Economics is an elective this year and goes along with his Stewardship very well.

Forensics is his science of choice. We dug hard over the summer to decide and find something that wasn't within the norm. I tried to get him enrolled in an online class but the money was very big and we decided to keep looking and found a free curriculum provided by Easy Peasy!

Movie Lit is a very cool find through out the Summer as I was digging for those not normal curriculum's. Movie Lit is basically the wonderful literature choices that every teen/adult needs to be exposed to and understand but in the form of watching movies!! Let's just face it every teen and every boy just simply isn't a reader and my teen son certainly is NOT a reader, never has been and never really will be so I wanted the ability to still expose him to the great content of great literature but with his style. Movie Lit also incorporates writing so not only is this literature but also writing! Review of this will be coming after Christmas.

History has moved along to Mystery of History 3. I love MOH! He isn't doing the coloring pages because he is older than my others but he is keeping a notebook timeline of each lesson.

Reading is very minimal for Kyle but right now he is reading Ben Carson and Don't Know Much About American History.

He normally works 15-25 hours a week.

Volunteers every Thursday for the food pantry.

Helps with any neighbor that needs odd jobs completed or elderly that are at the food pantry.

He helps with the farm animals daily.

I'm so proud of my growing adult, he is a great young man.

Wordless Wednesday Week 3

Laundry Booster Recipe

We are new to the essential oil world, yes we finally jumped on the band wagon. We actually joined in about a year ago but only used peppermint oil for my son's headaches little did I know that it would have helped me greatly with my stomach all that time if I would have looked into it and learned more. I could kick myself but just glad that I have finally realized I NEED IT IN MY LIFE.

This recipe is one that I love making for my laundry.

It helps my laundry smell nice which is a great big task because of farm smells and teen boys! Also it helps my clothing stay soft and I love soft towels and shirts, don't you?

Simple and easy to make, you will need:

Epson salt, baking soda, essential oils of your choice and a glass jar to store this in.

Recipe ( I mix right in the glass jar ):

1 1/2 cup Epson salt

1/2 cup baking soda

30 drops essential oils

I do make a double batch simply because of my family size.

Every load add 1 tbsp into your washer and if it is a large soiled load I will add more!

I normally do lavender and lemon, its just a favorite of mine. I also have used purify and thieves many times mixed with different oils. Normally just depends on my mood and time of year.

Have fun with it and make it specifically for your family and liking.

Enjoy!

Weekly Wrap Up 2

Monday we took an unconventional way about schooling. After all that is the AWESOME THING ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING - FREEDOM. We built bookcases for daddy's new study. Since we are no longer fostering children we turned the room into a great study for daddy (and can serve as a guest room). We gathered supplies for a few weeks from place to place and I had a vision in my head but Monday after daddy left for work we started putting it all together. It turned out to be a great room for him. He was so happy that we done all the work and he just got to enjoy! We had some funny and stressful moments with the room but overall we made wonderful memories putting together that room.

 Monday Alexis also got a new friend,  meet Ruby! She is a registered Jersey Wooly. She is very sweet.

 

Tuesday we enjoyed regular school and actually had a very short day even after we added some extra to our day.

Wednesday was grocery store day and we ended up having lunch out, which we never do! Schooling was done mostly in the evening this day but we had fun getting back into a routine. Zachary also purchased a new cowboy hat and he looks so cute in it!

Thursday was a family fun day we had planned for months. This was a celebration for all 3 kids birthdays. We went tubing down the French Broad for 5 hours! Yes 5 hours! Then we went to eat at the Japanese Steakhouse for the first time as a family. We enjoyed it greatly. Then we drove on up to Mount Mitchell and watched the sun set. It was beautiful and cold! It dropped 26 degrees!

Friday is science day in our homeschooling. We do other school but we really focus on science this day. We learned about reptiles as our topic. 

Have a wonderful weekend!