A Smile Makes Everything Better

This week my little Peanut has started to smile so much and she's even trying out her voice with a few coos!  I love her big toothless smiles.  Of course, when I try to take a picture, she won't do it.  This week was a really long week.  My hubby went to watch his brother's graduation at the army base in Alabama, so he was gone Mon-Thurs.  I sure don't know how single parents survive.  Four days on my own was enough!  I had lots of practice in patience!  Monday night, my monster of a kidney stone started to act up and I thought I was going to have to call Mark to turn around and come home, but thankfully after a couple hours of sleep, I woke up and the pain was gone. Other than being a little sleep deprived, we all survived!  Every time Peanut smiled at me, it made everything a little easier.  Actually, all the kids did really great for me and it went better than I thought it would.  Thankfully I have wonderful parents and grandparents who helped me out a little too!

Yesterday my friend Sara came over to visit and she also happens to be a great photographer, so she snapped a few pictures of my baby girl and they turned out so cute! 

 Thanks Sara!  (You guys should go check out her site to see all the beautiful pictures she takes!)

Fall Fun!

We've been doing a few fun fall related crafts and activities for school the last couple weeks.  The kids love doing these kinds of things, so I have been trying to fit in more of them in our school day.

I made a fall sensory tub filled with dried beans, yellow, red, and green pom poms (apples), different sized tinker toy sticks, and pieces of green pipe cleaners.  I also made a plate for each color apple so the kids could sort them into the right pile.  Lovebug loves using the tongs to pick things up.

Sweetie has been learning about leaves for the letter L, so we have done a lot of leaf crafts lately.

Leaf rubbings

Making leaves with play dough

We taped some leaves to a paper, painted over them and on to the paper, and then removed the leaves to make leaf outlines.

I found this cute idea at A Mommy's Adventures.  I cut out leaf shapes from cardboard and let the kids glue dried beans and peas on them.  They made really cute fall colored leaves and it is a great fine motor skills activity.

We've done a few more things, but my hubby had the camera all week, so I didn't get pictures of them.  I found most of my ideas from ABC&123, so if you are looking for ideas, they are a great resource!

Granola Mom 4 God is starting a new weekly link up for 1st graders that I am linking to, so head over there and check it out!

Our Chore System

I really dislike having to keep nagging my kids to do their daily chores.  It gets old fast and just makes me frustrated.  A couple months ago, I decided we needed a new chore system to help us out.  I went online and found a few that are working for other people, so I used ideas from those to come up with something that would work for us.  First I printed off or made up little cards with all the chores on them and put magnets on the back of them. (I got most of my printables from Homeschool Creations if you are interested in using these yourself.) While doing this, I also got ideas for chores they could be helping with and weren't, so those were added to the list too.  I also made some for things that aren't chores they get rewarded for, but they still need to do them everyday like brush their teeth and hair.  Then I made a chart for each kid divided into morning, afternoon, and extra chores.  Then each night I put all the cards on their chart for the chores they need to do the next day.

I also made a pocket for each of them to put their finished chore cards in when they were done with each chore.  Then at the end of the day I can just pull out all their cards to see how many chores they did, instead of having to reward them after each chore or try remember to do it later.

For their reward, they get a marble for each chore that they complete.  They each have their own jar and when the jar gets full, they earn a dollar.  Their jars each hold about 30 marbles and they are averaging about $1 a week.

We are also trying to teach them about tithing and saving, so when they earn a dollar, we give it to them in quarters.  One quarter gets put in their tithe jars, one in a savings jar, and they get one for spending.  They get to decide where they want to put the last quarter.  They really like having their own money to take to the store and decide what they want to spend it on and they also enjoy bringing their own money to church for tithing.

So far it has been going really well and it is so nice just to remind the kids to go look what is left on their chore list rather than me have to figure out what each kid has already done or needs to work on yet.  We are only using this system for Buddy and Sweetie, since Lovebug is too young to understand how it works, but we are trying to figure out something to help encourage him to help out with the chores.  Any suggestions?

Tasty Tuesday: Blueberry Yogurt Muffins

If you tried making homemade yogurt, you might be looking for some good recipes to use it in.  I tried these Blueberry Yogurt Muffins last week and they were really good!  I didn't have any wheat germ, so I left that out and they still tasted fine.

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 Tbsp toasted wheat germ
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs or 1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute
1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 cups fresh or thawed frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk flour, wheat germ, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk eggs and yogurt. Whisk in sugar and oil. Add to flour mixture and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in blueberries. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full. Bake 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool slightly.

If you have any good recipes to use homemade yogurt, please share!

Linking to Raising Homemakers

They Sure Love Her!

My Newest Toy

Last week, my newest toy arrived at our front door.  I got a great deal on Amazon's deal of the day and to make it an even better deal, I got it FREE using my Swagbucks!

I have been using contact paper to laminate things, but using a laminator makes it go so much faster!  And I have tons of school stuff to laminate, so this will save me lots of time. 
If you want to find out how to get free stuff with Swagbucks, check out this post I wrote a while back and start Swagging today!

Tasty Tuesday - Caramel Corn

There is a great site that I love to read called Raising Homemakers.  They share all kinds of wonderful ways to spend time with your daughter and prepare her to become a godly homemaker.  Recently they shared a recipe for caramel corn that Sweetie and I made together this morning.  It was so easy and fun to do with her. It is also really good, so I thought I would share it with you too.

You will need 6 qt.of popped corn

In a sauce pan melt and stir:

2 c. brown sugar

2 sticks butter (salted)

1/2 c. light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. salt

Cook and stir occasionally over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Once it comes to a rolling boil keep it on medium and stir constantly for 5 minutes (keeps it from scorching). Remove from heat and add 1/2 tsp. baking soda and stir. Pour it over the corn (the bigger bowl to fold it in, the better!) and fold until coated.
Pour onto 2 ungreased cookie sheets with raised edges. Bake 200 degrees for an hour and gently flip over the caramel corn every 20 minutes.
Store in airtight container.

Two Weeks!

I can't believe my little Peanut is 2 weeks old already!  I've been blessed to have about a week and a half of quiet time just to get to know her while the other kids played at grandparents' houses.  (Although it may have been a bit long for them to be gone, I've been called "Grandma" more than "Mom" since they got home!) After a few sleepless nights, I think Peanut is finally getting on a decent eating and sleeping schedule, which I am very grateful for now that the other kiddos are home.  (The Baby Wise book is a great resource if you are expecting or have a little one that you are trying to get on a schedule!)  The other kids love to hold her, look at her, touch her, try to play with her, and just "help" with her.  I love having my whole family back together and am so blessed with happy, healthy, beautiful kids!

My True Nature Winner!

Thank you to all who entered the My True Nature giveaway!  Remember today is the last day to use the discount code if you still want to try any of their products. I used random.org to pick a winner and this is what it said:
Random Integer Generator


Here are your random numbers:

17

Timestamp: 2010-10-06 20:47:58 UTC

 
Comment number 17 said:
Julie said...

follow your blog as jelaws5
aunteegem@yahoo.com

Congratulations! I sent you an email and you have 48 hours to reply or I will have to pick a new winner.