Computer Woes

Our dinosaur-aged computer is throwing tantrums. At the moment it is choosing not to cooperate and shuts down randomly. So, I'm at my parent's home now, and may not post again for a little while.

The good news is we have a new computer! Well, at least half of one. We just need to get the old one to stay on long enough to access the files that we want to save. I have sooo much school stuff on my computer. This is going to be a challenging week. Nothing like a challenge to inspire creativity, right? I'm sure I'll have an inspirational and astounding school project of some sort to post about when we get our new computer together...

Wish me luck!

Spring Cleaning!

This year I have some real encouragement to clean...

We're trying to sell our condo 'by owner' which means our house needs to *sparkle*! We've been making progress today. I even took pictures of some of the rooms and have started working on a new blog. It will have all the details about our condo, and when we list it on ksl and craig's list, we can include a link to the blog. That way people can see a lot more information and pictures than are usually available. Anyway you're welcome to take a look.

I'm hoping to list it by the end of the week!!! YIKES! I'm nervous. If you know anyone who's looking to buy, our condo is probably the least expensive 3-bedroom condo available in Centerville. Also, we'll need a place to rent when we do sell, so keep your eyes open for us and wish us luck!

Space Lapbooks!

Here they are! This one is Nathan's. I do have to say, once again, that lapbooks are so much better in person when you can lift the flaps and open the books. But for those of you who can't come over to our house, this gives you an idea of what we do. :o)

This is the sun page, the star page,


the planet page and the moon page,


and the last one has galaxies and vocabulary. We also had some information on Astronomers, Astronauts and Telescopes that I didn't post.


Now, we are moving on to Ancient Greece!!!

PS - Thanks to Nick's mom for the cool space pictures link!

Haircuts and Cocoons!

I just realized it's been a week since I posted! I'm so sorry. There are three main things to add: Sadie and I got haircuts, Moon-Shine made his cocoon and we finished our Space Lapbooks.

Haircuts first! Sadie and I went together and both cut our hair much shorter than it's been. It's a bit of a shock, but we like it. I didn't realize how much my natural waves would affect the style. In these pictures, it's pretty much unstyled, doing whatever it wants! LOL

On Saturday night our little caterpillar started acting funny. He would pick up a little tiny twig in his mouth and stick it to the side of the bucket. Then he did it again and again. I took pictures of the process and he's in the top left corner of most of the photos. I found out it's called a leaf-litter cocoon. He is wrapped in cocoon threads inside all the leafs and twigs he pulled around him. I'm really not normally fond of bugs, but it was so cool to watch! Now I just have to figure out how to build a butterfly house within the next two weeks!

I'll have to post about the boys space lapbooks later...

Moon-Shine

No, we are not learning about alcohol brewery in homeschool! We're studying outer space and this is the name my kids have chosen for the newest member of our household: a caterpillar.

Thanks to the glorious arrival of spring, we were outside for several hours today. Nathan found a caterpillar and, of course, had to keep him. This is especially funny if you read my husband's latest 'Dadmocracy' cartoons (el cartoonista link on my side-bar).

So we've spent time today figuring out what kind of leaves he likes to eat and researching what kind of home we'll need to keep him in. Right now he's just in a bucket and I'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't learn how to climb up the walls of it while we're sleeping tonight!

If he survives long enough to enter the chrysalis stage, I'll make a butterfly house and we can keep him for a while. It would be a great science project. Hopefully he's tough and healthy and won't die anytime soon. Unfortunately, our track record with small pets is not very good. Is it possible for animals to die from overexposure to excitable children?

Book Review: Molly Moon

I only read this book because my son was reading it, and it's pretty rare that he'll touch a book with a female lead character. I have to admit it was wonderful! I found myself giggling uncontrollably a few times and had to wipe the tears from my eyes before I could continue. Also, I like that she learns a lesson and becomes a better person at the end of the book.

Being Prepared

I have been asked to talk in our ward about food storage and how we've done it. So this is long, but here's my rough draft:

Preparedness with Little Space or Money

Set goals and make decisions: We decided in August that we were going to start taking food storage seriously. We made a goal to have a certain amount of money set aside each month. Our budget was already tight, so we weren't exactly sure where this money would come from. I also made lists of what we needed and what we had. We prayed sincerely and consistently for our Father in Heaven to help us. We saved all the money we could and when we started to falter, the Lord stepped in and blessed us. He made it possible for us to be in the position we are. Our food storage is still a work in progress, but at least it's progressing!
"Replace feelings of fear with an act of faith."

Three-Month Supply: The church suggests starting with a 3-month supply of the foods you usually eat. The easiest way to start accumulating is to simply buy two or three instead of one item when you're at the store, especially when it's on sale. Every spring and fall, there are Case Lot Sales. We saved up our money in between these times, so that when things are on sale we have the cash to buy in bulk and end up saving money.
Finding a place to put food storage, even a three-month supply can be very difficult. In our small 1200 square foot condo, we had to be creative. I decided to just get the food and bring it home, and I would find a place for it. And it works. Under beds are a great place to store things. Our canned goods are under the boys beds in their room, this is nice because it also prevents them from putting toys under the bed when they're supposed to be putting them away. Under our own bed we have #10 cans of wheat and oats. The large buckets would be more difficult to fit in our home, so most of our long-term storage is in the #10 cans.
We have also rearranged our closets a bit, even moving some things out of the closet to shelves or dressers, so we can fit buckets or boxes in the closets. I know people who have cleaned out their linen closet, keeping towels in the bathroom and sheets in the bedroom, so they can store food on the shelves in their closet.
We rotate our three-month supply when we buy new food, by moving old food into pantry, and the new food under the bed. We use the old food, but if we replace it every 6 months to a year, it will never go bad.

Drinking Water We definitely do not have space for a big blue barrel of water in our condo. So we had to be a little creative again. We have space for a few cases of bottled water and some old juice bottles filled with water that we can use for washing, not drinking. Then we go a filtered water pitcher, with extra filters. This is not ideal and if we had space we would choose to store more water, but this is a way for us to hopefully clean whatever water we can get hold of if we have the need.

Financial Reserve Pray. A lot. And act on faith. We decided to keep an emergency account with one thousand dollars. We have used this to cover unexpected car or medical expenses, when our check-book just can't cover it. Then we put in a little each month until it's back up to 1000.
In August we felt we couldn't just rely on miracles to pay for our storage, so we all have extra little jobs to make it possible. I believe the Lord rewards us for our effort. The kids and I have a paper route. It's very small and only makes about $10/month, but it's a way for the kids to help out. They aren't slaves though, they get to keep any tips for themselves and we also agreed to let them help us decide which storage foods to buy with the paper route money. So, we have chocolate milk, popcorn and dried strawberries, all earned by them. Nick also delivers pizza one night a week, which is just a few hours of time, but a couple hundred dollars will buy a lot of wheat!!!

Longer-Term Supply Speaking of wheat...one of the best things I can do for my family's food storage is to learn how to use it. I know how to bake bread and though I don't do it all the time, at least I know that if the need arises I can do that. My family will be eating soft yummy bread, rolls and pancakes instead of a month or two of me baking bread that has the consistency of a rock, while I figure out how to cook and my family is hungry and relying on me. Other important cooking skills are home-canning and using dried beans and wheat.
Being in a condo, we don't have much of a garden. So, the past two years, I have helped my sister plant and take care of her garden, in return for half the produce. The winter months have been so hard because the price of produce seems so outrageous compared to simply picking what I want. Fruit trees and a garden are a great source of food! The cost of planting is so minimal compared with the harvest. And if you grow more than you eat, there are always others to share with.
The church cannery makes food storage simple, delicious and as inexpensive as possible. They are always completely organized and usually offer the best price. Everything is packaged in a safe way and you can count on that food lasting you for years without going bad. In September, we were able to obtain large amounts of food for a cheaper price somewhere else, so we borrowed a canning machine, which is free, and canned the food for less than what it would have cost at the cannery.

72 hour kits Each person in our family has a backpack with typical 72-hour kit items and an old ice cream bucket with food. Because I have a tendency to fill them and then forget about them for a few years, we decided to check them twice a year at conference time. I pull them out a few days early and determine which foods will be expire or need to be replaced. Then the kids get to snack on the juice boxes, crackers and granola bars during General Conference.
I have also printed and attached a paper to each bucket and backpack. It has the person's picture, name and emergency contact information. So the kids know which bucket is theirs and also, so that if we are ever separated in an emergency, they have the information with them to help them find us.

So you can see how, with little space and even less money, we have been able to prepare our family for what may lie ahead. It didn't happen overnight, but with consistent effort and faith in the Lord, it is possible and it will bring immeasurable comfort and peace to our home.

More Pictures!!!

These are of the dress I'm making; close-ups of the crochet lace edge. Only one more sleeve to go and then I can put the whole thing together.

The rest are from my trip to Southern Utah.

Delicious Experiment!

I was fiddling around with one of my favorite, most flexible recipes and came up with a wonderful new idea! They are not too sweet, with just a hint of maple, but enough that they aren't bland. My kids loved them and so did my neighbors!

Maple Muffins

1/2 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp maple flavoring
1 T baking powder
2 cups flour


In a large bowl combine the oil, egg milk, sugar, salt and maple flavoring. Mix well with a whisk. Add flour and baking powder at the same time and stir until moistened. Spoon into greased muffin cups and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a rack. Makes one dozen.

*Because we have nut allergies in our family, I didn't add any nuts but I'm sure they would taste great!

Other additions to the basic muffin recipe:
In stead of maple flavoring, add 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (with raisins if your kids will eat them!)
or 1/2 cup blueberries
or add the cinnamon and one apple, peeled, cored and diced. (my favorite)

I have done this recipe with whole wheat flour and half whole wheat/half white flour. It also works to substitute honey or brown sugar for the white sugar, and apple sauce for the oil.

I saw a recipe for lime coconut muffins the other day...maybe I'll give that a try next! I love to make the muffins, because I can get up and have them in the oven in 10 minutes, then shower while they're baking. I wake up the kids to the aroma of freshly baked breakfast! (It's amazing how quickly the beds are made and kids are dressed with that smell waiting for them downstairs...) :o)

Stars & Galaxies

I realized I haven't posted much about our homeschooling lately, so here's a quick update:

We're working on our Outer Space Unit lately and these are a few of the things we've done. The constellation cards have pin pricks so when we hold it up to the light it really looks like the stars.

We began with the moon, then the sun followed by planets. Now we're moving further out to Galaxies, stars and black holes. Nate is especially excited to get to the "good stuff".

Our printer is out of ink, so I've been more creative about everything we do. Math is the trickiest to do without printouts, but we have a large white board that works well for most things. Geometry has been our focus lately, with Brandon doing just perimeter and area of simple shapes and Nathan doing radius, diameter, area and perimeter of circles. It's been so long since I did this kind of math! I had to double check and make sure I was teaching the correct formulas.

Another thing we've been focusing on is social skills. There is a curriculum called Superflex that I highly recommend. Each child works toward being socially flexible (like the superflex hero) and overcoming 'the team of Unthinkables'. The Unthinkables are challenges that kids face, for example: rock-brain tries to get people to focus only on one thing, glass-man makes small problems seem really big, etc.

The thing I like the most is that the kids don't see themselves as the cause of the problem. They are trying to overcome these bad guys and use the strategies we talk about to become a stronger, better person. Anyway, it's been a big help at our house.

Of course, homeschool is a 24 hour kind of education, so there's no way I can possibly include everything we learn and talk about. But that's the basics of what we're covering.

A Car Trip Epic Tale

Okay, I'm rested up now and ready to jot down all the fun details of our trip. We were originally going to leave after the kids got out of school at about 1:30 pm on Friday, but my mom decided to take a risk and pull the kids out of school early. They picked me up a little after 10:30 am and we were on our way!

It was a great decision to leave earlier, because we made it to Arches National Park in time to really enjoy the scenery and take a few short hikes before sundown. Balanced Rock was one of our first stops (pictured in my previous post). It looks awesome from a distance and terrifyingly precarious when you are standing directly beneath it, looking up. We also spent quite a while at the Double Arch. This is one place I look forward to taking my kids...climbing rocks galore! My little brother and sister (okay - me too) had a blast scrambling up the huge stones and posing for a million pictures. The wind was biting and cold, and it really blows through the arches. The path to the Double Arch was surrounded by fine red sand, so soft you can't help but grab a handful and sift it through your fingers. Once again, I found myself thinking my kids would love this place.

We didn't have time to do the Sand-dune Arch before dark, so we headed to Green River for dinner. You can imagine all the restaurant options in such a small town. After driving back and forth on the only street (Main Street) a few times, we ended up at a place called the Chow Hound. If you're in the mood for a root beer float, it's a great place, but I definitely don't recommend the taco salad.

When our stomachs were sufficiently stuffed we went to the hotel, where Lori and I worked off our Chow Hound calories by playing in the indoor pool. After splashing, racing, hot-tubbing and underwater hand-standing until we were exhausted, we returned to our room to crash and watch an episode of Lost before drifting off to sleep.

My mother, the early-bird, was ready to go on the road by eight o'clock the next morning, but we did enjoy a decent hotel breakfast first. There is quite a distance between Bryce Canyon and Green River, so I had time to work quite a bit on the dress I'm making for Sadie. (I'll post pics when I'm done.) We also listened to a book on tape about Christopher Reeve, which was pretty interesting, but not something I'd usually pick out. It does make you appreciate the gift of simple movement and a healthy body.

Bryce National Park is beautiful, especially from Bryce Point. A game of hide-and-seek would last years with all those stone columns and rows. It was truly stunning and my amateur photo (in the last post) doesn't do it justice at all.

Once again we were on the road. At this point our enthusiasm for the trip was dwindling. My mom took over the wheel and the rest of us slept until we got to Zion's National Park. It is amazing how different each place was, and yet each had the characteristic red rock and scrubby trees. One of my favorite parts of Zion's was the tunnel. It went on forever! Each time we'd turn a corner and think we were nearing the end, it would end up being only a larch arching window allowing a quick glimpse of the beauty outside before we were plunged back into the darkness of the stone tunnel.

We hiked to the Emerald Pools and Weeping Rock, both fairly short, paved hikes ending at picturesque little places. Unfortunately, my camera was full at this point, so I only have a few pics from my phone. I'll post them soon, though they'll give a slightly fuzzy view of the sights.

We also stopped at Zion Lodge to use restrooms and pick up a few souvenirs; a bracelet for my sister and River-Rock Jelly Beans for my kids. I considered getting something for them that wouldn't be gone in five minutes, but I've decided I simply have to bring my kids down there to experience it themselves. We'll probably come just before school gets out, so it won't be crowded, but it will be warmer.

The return trip was significantly more quiet and subdued than the drive down. We were all exhausted and after so many hours in a car, I think your brain starts shutting down a little. :o) I got home at about 10:30 p.m. and I'm glad I have a few months to convince myself another car trip will be fun.

Overall, I'm soooo glad I went. It was beyond beautiful and awe-inspiring.

Southern Utah

I just got back from a whirlwind trip visiting a large part of our great state. We stopped at Arches, Bryce and Zions National Parks, all in two days. After all those hours in a car it's so good to be home! Next time I'm definitely bringing the kids; they will love it!!!

Details later. I'm going to stretch out on my nice, flat bed. ;)

We're Staying!

Well, we talked to a realtor today to help us figure out whether we should move or not. Because of the low price of houses now and the cost of actually selling (Realtors are expensive!) we will be staying put.

I have extremely mixed feelings about this. Part of me is pretty disappointed. I'd love to live somewhere with no fix-ups and repairs constantly needed, and a family room and storage room would be nice, too. But boxing everything up and hauling it down three flights of stairs won't be necessary now. :o) And the boys can still enjoy the room we painted for them and I will be here for the awesome enrichment activities that I've planned!

I was sort of mentally prepared for this outcome, so it's nice that it's not a total shock. We'll refinance and hopefully be able to save some money that way. We'll use our tax return to fix things up a little. And, last but not least, our neighbors are now NICE! The long drawn-out drama involving drugs, police, death-threats and an ambulance have reached an end and we have a very nice lady living below us now.

So, all in all, I'm excited to do more with this place, painting, etc. The one thing I would really love would be to get my piano somehow up all those stairs and into my home. I miss it!!! I'll just have to play at my parents' house more often. I'm sure they'll love that! ;)

Dinosaurs and a Dress

Today, so far, has been fun. Brandon has realized that he can read the Magic Tree House books all by himself and still enjoy them! He's on chapter eight right now and reading happily.

Earlier the kids were playing and it was so imaginative and creative that I simply let them continue even though it was technically school time. They were pretending the bathroom was a time machine and ended up in the time of the dinosaurs. Nathan then became the "Time Police" and helped them understand why they couldn't bring dinosaurs back to their time, though he eventually conceded that one little egg would be okay. The egg turned into a baby stegosaurus, which they named Monty. At that point, Sadie and Brandon played with the baby dinosaur, chasing it around the house and convincing it not to eat paper, only leaves. Nathan spent the time doing some work on their time machine. Overall, it was a very entertaining morning and I was able to work on a different project:

I saw this cute idea on the Prudent Homemaker website (listed on my sidebar). So, I'm making an Easter dress for Sadie out of one of my old shirts! It's white eyelet and will have some pale green ribbon and little white crochet lace around the hem. I'm really excited; it's going to be adorable! I will have several hours to work on the crocheted lace edges while I'm on my car trip this weekend.

Quantum Displacement!?!

"Mom, do you know what quantum displacement is?" my nine-year-old asks.

In my head I'm randomly remembering a TV show called Quantum Leap, but I really have no clue. So I say something like "I'm not quite sure, we'll have to look it up."

"Actually, I just wanted to see if you knew the answer." At this point I'm starting to feel not so brilliant...

He continues, "I already know what it is. Quantum displacement is when all the atoms of an object leap from one location at the speed of light and end up at a new location, with all the atoms exactly in place." He then goes on for another couple of minutes with an example about a gold fish.

So, as a homeschooler, I'm completely baffled. "Where did you learn this?" Quantum physics is definitely not something we've gone over so far, and not something I ever really planned to teach!

His answer, "I read it." He named a book that I've not heard of, something by Frank Asch. So now I'm thinking I really ought to be upping the amount of information I expect him to learn in home-school, but honestly, I'm completely clueless when it comes to this area of science (okay, okay - I'm terrible at most science).

Maybe I ought to just have him apply at the University this year and skip grades 4-12! :o)

P.S. I've just been corrected... It's quantum dislocation, not displacement.