Taking a Break

I have thought and thought about this but I will be taking a short blogging break. ALL of my kids are sick. ALL 5!!! On top of that, I have been having some major fibro flare ups. On top of that, I have been so crazy busy that I have barely had any time to stop and collect myself. No time to get my creative juices flowing again. I have noticed that even my writing has been somewhat stilted and forced (what little bit I have been doing).

It won't be a long break, more than likely just a couple of weeks. I am hoping that will give me some time to get everyone better and get myself in a better place health wise. Stress is a major factor in fibro and I have been doing quite a bit of stressing lately.

You probably won't even notice that I'm gone. ;) But just in case I wanted to give you a little heads up.  I still plan to take part in Fly on the Wall and the Secret Subject Swap. I wouldn't miss those for the world. ;)

Hopefully when I come back full time I will have a bunch of great sewing, crafting and schooling things to share with you!



HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!



P.S. You can expect ONE more post from me this week. I will be posting pics of Cailey and Colin in full costume even though I doubt they will actually be well enough to go trick or treating. :(

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday we took Cailey and Colin to a local pumpkin patch. We had SUCH a blast! There was so much to see and do! Even though it was freezing that day we still had a really great time.



The first thing we did was hit the corn maze. We let Colin lead us through it. He loved it. It was a HUGE maze cut into the shapes of different animals. He lead us all through the frog shape and then decided we were done. Too much other stuff to see and do!



They absolutely loved the petting zoo. Even though we have had bunnies and goats in the past, they still loving interacting with them. I think this was their first experience with a sheep!



We took a lot of silly pictures. This is one of my favorites. LOL



We got to take a hayride. Since we were some of the few there that were not with a school group, we got the hayride and big pumpkin patch all to ourselves! FUN FUN FUN!!! Colin jumped off and grabbed the first pumpkin he saw! I didn't even get to snap a picture! Thankfully Cailey took a bit more time and I got the exact moment when she found hers.



This was one of their favorite parts of the whole day!!! I caught Cailey in mid-flip! LOL









Their pumpkin choices! :D





We did ALL kinds of stuff! Corn maze, hayride, pumpkin patch, corn tub, bouncy pillow, petting zoo, fudge, hot fudge cake, ginormous slides, and a bunch of stuff I know I'm forgetting. We are definitely making this a yearly tradition, but maybe we should go a little earlier in the season next year. We froze our tushies off!! LOL

Costume Preview

So here is a little preview of Cailey and Colin's Halloween costumes. I didn't do them up like we will on Halloween but I did want to show how they look so far. We will go full make-up and hair on Thursday. I can't wait!!! :D



BUT we are hitting cold season here at the house. My oldest, Jacob has a really terrible cold and now 2 of the other kids are getting sore throats! NOOOOO!!! Cailey and Colin missed Halloween last year because they were both sick!! We don't want a repeat!



In case you are wondering exactly what Cailey is this year, here is a picture of a Jinafire Long doll.









I used a pattern for the main dress but put quite a bit of my own twists on it. I matched the fabric up as best as I could. All in all, I am very proud of it.

Underneath the dress is a 2 piece gold lame outfit, made to look like Jinafire's scales. Hopefully it will also help to keep Cailey warm.



Colin's was a bit easier. I drafted a pattern for the pirate shirt and used eyelets for the first time. MUCH easier than I thought it would be.







HAVE FUN TRICK OR TREATING!!!

Halloween FUN - Printables, Crafts, Activities and More

Here are some resources that would be great for a Halloween unit or just a fun Halloween themed break from the norm. ;)







HALLOWEEN

Halloween Lapbook  and Notebooking Pages - Homeschool Helper Online

Halloween Printables and Activities - Spoonful

Halloween Printables, Crafts and Activities - Activity Village

Halloween Coloring Pages, Crafts and Lesson Plans - Crayola

Halloween Worksheets - Education.com

Halloween Printables and Crafts - DLTK-Kids

Halloween Coloring Pages - Coloring.ws

Jack-o-lantern Theme Pack  and Halloween Theme Pack - Gift of Curiosity

Candy Corn Math Pack - Royal Baloo

Halloween Worksheets - School Sparks

Frankenweenie Activity Sheets - Saving Dollars and Sense

Halloween Counting Printables - Over the Big Moon

Halloween Worksheets - abc Teach

Halloween Printable Pack - 2 Teaching Mommies

Halloween Printable Tot Pack - The Intentional Momma

Halloween Activity Pack - Nick Jr.

Halloween Printables and Paper Crafts - Squidoo













Halloween Activities - Education.com

40 Quick Halloween Crafts - The Country Chic Cottage

Halloween Chapter Books - What Do We Do All Day

100 + Halloween Ideas for Kids - My Small Potatoes

Halloween Books for Boys - Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

Halloween Activities - Apples 4 the Teacher

50 + Halloween Activities for Kids - Growing a Jeweled Rose

Halloween Poems - Squidoo

Halloween Crafts for Kids - Parents.com

20 + Halloween Crafts - iVillage

Halloween Info for Kids - Smart Stat

Halloween History - History.com

40 Halloween Facts - Random History

The History of Halloween - Social Studies for Kids





HALLOWEEN SCIENCE LINKS

Halloween Science Projects - Chemistry About.com

Halloween Chemistry - ACS

Halloween Science Experiments - Kitchen Pantry Scientist

Halloween Science Experiments and Ideas - Science Bob

10 Experiments for Halloween - Babble

Candy Experiments

Halloween Science Experiments - YouTube









HAVE FUN CELEBRATING HALLOWEEN!!!!

Halloween Projects and FUN

I thought I would show y'all some of the fun Halloween things we did over the weekend.  We plan on doing many more in the days leading up to Halloween.



SKULL CAKE!!!! This was a lot of fun to make with the Wilton skull cake pan. My icing was a bit of a mess with this one. LOL













We did leaf rubbings. Cailey had much more fun with it than Colin did.













We made paper bag pumpkins!

















And we made fun decorations from a kit we got at World Market.



SUCH a FUN weekend!!!!

Bat Unit Study Resources

In the days leading up to Halloween I will be posting different resources for a bunch of different studies that you could do. I'm starting with bats and will also try to get spiders, Salem Witch Trials, Romania and Halloween in general up in time.

As always, most of the resources I list are free unless marked with $$$. I try to cover a variety of ages.



The pictures are clickable links.















There is a whole series of these. Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Ballgame, etc.





























Nocturnal Animals Lapbook - Homeschool Share

Stellaluna Lapbook - Homeschool Share

Bat Coloring Pages - Coloring.ws

Printable Bat Templates - First Palette

Life Cycle and other printables - Kidzone

Bat Printables and activities - Activity Village

Bat Coloring Page and activities - Classroom Jr.

Bat Printables - Education.com

Bat Mini Helper - Currclick (free, even though it's on Currclick)

Bat Printables and Activities - A to Z Teacher Stuff

Printable and Info  and Bat Info and Activities  - Scholastic

Printable Crafts and Activities - DLTK-Kids

Coloring Pages and Art Ideas - Crayola

Printable Bat Craft  and Other Bat Craft   - Learn Create Love

Bat Coloring Pages - AnimalPlace.net

Worksheets, Lesson Plans and More - Teacher Planet

Bat Activity Sheets  - School Express

Printable Bat Diagram - Vintage Printable

Printables and Info - A to Z Kids Stuff

$$$ - all things below this line are NOT FREE

Bat Nomenclature - Pinay Homeschooler

HOAC Bat Lapbook - Currclick (check the price on HOAC first)

Bats and Spiders Unit Study - Currclick (check the price on Amazon first)

Bat Notebooking Pages, Lapbook and more - Christian Homeschool Hub ($25 a year for unlimited downloads)



Games, activities, crafts, etc.

Bat Unit - About.com

Bat Lesson Plans - Bats Live

Bat Crafts - Squidoo

Bat Facts - Squidoo

Wild Kratts - Going Batty and Building a Bat Home

Bat Crafts - Family Crafts About.com

Bat Catcher Game - PBS.org Zoom

Bat Lesson Ideas - Education World

Bat Info and Activities - Bat Conservation International

Bats! Why Should We Care?

Bat Educational Resources - BatConservation.org

Bat Info, Games and Quiz - Bats 4 Kids

Bat Video - Nat Geo

Bats Facts and Videos - Kids Nat Geo

How Bats Work - How Stuff Works

Bats - Animal Planet

Bat Facts - Bat Rescue

Listen to Bats - Bats.org.uk

Bat vidoes, activites, x-ray and more - Incrediblebats.com

What Do Bats Do in the Winter - YouTube (look over on the right for more great bat videos)

Bat Crafts - Spoonful

Bat Crafts - Artists Helping Children

Montessori Bat Unit - Just Montessori





SHEW!!! There you go! :D



HAVE FUN HOMESCHOOLING!!!

Grandma's No Bake Cookies

That is my Grandma. She was just the sweetest, most giving lady. I love and miss her SO much.

I always said that she looked like the granny with Tweety Bird! ;)





I was very blessed to receive the copy of my grandmother's recipes from my mother. My cousin made them one year for Christmas and gave them to all the aunts and uncles.

My grandmother had 15 children. Can you believe it?? 15! And people look at me crazy because I have 5! ;)





Here is my grandma's recipe for no bake cookies!













Mix into pot:

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup milk

1/4 lb butter (8 tablespoons)



Put the above on medium heat and cook until it starts to boil. Let boil for approximately 1 minute.

Remove and cool for one minute.



Now add the following:

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 cups quick oats

Mix and drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool and enjoy!





HAVE FUN COOKING!!!!!