Now that school is winding down for the year, I’m starting to hear that old familiar tune again…

“Mama, I’m bored, what can I do?”
“Can I use my computer, there’s nothing else to do!”

So, in order to keep myself sane, and find the children ways to entertain themselves without zoning out in front of the computer/DS/Wii all day, I created the “I’m Bored List.” I brainstormed a bunch of ideas and I put it on the fridge where everyone can easily see it. If anyone comes to me and says they are bored, I direct them to the list. Another fun idea would be to make an I’m Bored Jar and cut the list into strips. Then when someone is bored they can randomly choose an activity from the jar.

The I’m Bored List

1. Watch the birds.
2. Ride your bike.
3. Read a book
4. Read to someone.
5. Put on a puppet show (make your own puppets too!)
6. Play a board game.
7. Paint a picture.
8. Learn something new and tell about it.
9. Help in the garden.
10. Draw with sidewalk chalk.
11. Watch a movie.
12. Take nature photos
13. Make a collage about a favorite thing.
14. Write a story.
15. Invent a new game and teach it to everyone.
16. Practice your musical instrument.
17. Invent a fantasy world and populate it. Make a map of your world.
18. Paint with water.
19. Play dress up.
20. Make a field guide about something.
21. Cook with Mama.
22. Build a fort.
23. Put on music and dance!
24. Paint some rocks to decorate the garden.
25. Make up a scavenger hunt and have everyone compete.

 

I recently received a copy of Rediscover Lent by Matthew Kelly to review. I am always on the lookout for simple devotion books to use during Lent, so I was excited to check this one out. Several months ago, my mother-in-law gave us a copy of Rediscovering Catholicism also by Matthew Kelly, and I thought it was a fabulous resource. Even though I’ve been Catholic for nearly 12 years, I learned so much. So, when I saw he had a lenten devotional book, I had to read it.

Each week of Lent is divided into the 7 Pillars of Catholicism (which are confession, daily prayer, the Mass, the Bible, fasting, spiritual reading, and the rosary). Then each day has scripture passages to read along with a reflection based on both the week’s pillar and the scripture.   There is also a thought or question to meditate on and a prayer. Matthew Kelly’s writing is clear and practical, helping readers to see the beauty and genius of the Catholic faith.

Overall, I really have enjoyed using this book for my Lenten devotions. I think it could be especially helpful to new Catholics or those coming back into the church.

The Catholic Company is also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.

Outside my window… It is absolutely GORGEOUS! Clear blue sky, warm, it’s distracting I tell you! How can we do school work when the beautiful spring weather beckons to us?

I am thankful for… an early spring! We would normally still have snow on the ground this time of year, so for it to be in the 80′s right now is insane! I grew up in the south, and it almost feels like I’m home again. I love early spring time.

I am thinking about… I have a project in the works. I’m not sure I want to talk about it too much….not trying to be cryptic, just don’t want to talk about something that I haven’t actually finished yet. Let’s just say that my disappointment in being able to find exactly the right curriculum has spurred me into a project of EPIC proportions. What is that saying? When you want something done right, you have to do it yourself….yeah…that.

Learning all the time… We are still plugging away, though I think spring fever has struck here. Like I said, how can we be expected to work in these conditions?

From the kitchen… I just baked a loaf of banana bread…man that stuff is delicious. I think the kids purposely don’t eat the bananas so they’ll start to rot in the hopes that I will bake banana bread.

I am creating… Notes…plans…more crypticness.

I am working on… Spring cleaning in teeny tiny baby steps. It’s HARD to spring clean with a rambunctious almost-three-year-old in the house. She literally creates chaos. Thankfully she still naps!

I am going… to cry…can you believe my baby is about to turn 3?! It seems just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital and she was oh so tiny. She’s still pretty tiny and yet so big at the same time. I’m getting hit hard with baby fever. I think  I need a puppy, lol.

I am hoping… to go see The Hunger Games sometime in the next week for my birthday. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am over this movie. I am a huge fan of the books and the movie looks spectacular. Annie read the first book (actually I read it to her as a read aloud) and she loved it too. From what I’ve heard, the movie is going to be less gory than the book – they have to still have all the death and such, but it won’t be overly gory. I’m hoping it won’t upset Annie. While she enjoyed the book, parts were a bit hard for her. I have a feeling that seeing certain scenes may be upsetting.

I am reading… too many books right now. I am doing lots of pre-reading for lesson plans, plus, I have started:

Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine (Random House Reader’s Circle)

Outlander (20th Anniversary Edition): A Novel

I am hearing… Gamer-boy practicing his guitar, geese down in the pond, random birds singing in the trees…the sounds of spring.

One of my favorite things… Watching my littlest chasing after her older siblings and trying to do whatever they’re doing. Today she was running around with a bat and ball totally frustrated that she couldn’t throw the ball and hit it with the bat like her big brother did. She wouldn’t let anyone help either of course, in typical “I can do it myself!” 3 year old fashion.

A few plans for the rest of the week… Enjoy this glorious weather!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you…

First picnic of the year!

I haven’t done one of these for a while, so I thought I’d share what everyone here has been reading:

Annie:

Eldest (Inheritance Cycle, Book 2) (The Inheritance Cycle) by Christopher Paolini

I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade by Diane Lee Wilson

Warriors #2: Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter

Gamer Boy:

Monday with a Mad Genius (Magic Tree House, No. 38) by Mary Pope Osborne

Surtsey the newest place on earth by Kathryn Lasky

The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleishman

Dino – Boy:

Lions at Lunchtime (Magic Tree House, No. 11) by Mary Pope Osborne

Voyage to the Volcano (Magic School Bus chapter book) by Judith Stamper

Read Alouds:

With Annie: Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle

With the twins: The Door in the Wall (Books for Young Readers) by Marguerite De Angeli (we’ll finish it today) and then we’re reading: The Apprentice by Pilar Molina Llorente and we’re also reading selections from Around the World in a Hundred Years: From Henry the Navigator to Magellan by Jean Fritz for history as we study Explorers.

With Cutie:
Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom) by Bill Martin Jr. (over and over and over again…)

Happy Pig Day! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) by Mo Willems (and any other Piggy and Elephant book we can get our hands on, we love Mo Willems at our house.)

Mamasaurus:

The Lady of the Rivers: A Novel (War of the Roses) by Philippa Gregory (It’s taking me forever to read because I only get 5-10 min. snippets of time here and there to read nowadays.)

The Little Way of Lent: Meditations in the Spirit of St. Therese of Lisieux by Gary Caster (this is my Lenten reading, I did a review on it that  you can find here)

Has it really been over a month since my last post?! Don’t worry, if I have any readers (and I probably don’t since everyone gets bored waiting for me to post) you didn’t miss anything too exciting.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Rob and I have been on a health and fitness kick this year. I did say it was one of my resolutions to get into shape. We started the P90X fitness plan about 31 days ago and we’re still sticking with it. I’m already seeing a big difference – my arms and legs are mega toned. I’ve actually gained about a pound and a half in muscle. Not losing though, which is the plan since I’m already thin to start with. If I could just get rid of this flabby-looks-like-I’m-4-months-pregnant belly, that would be fantastical. Since the plan is 90 days, we still have 60 to go, so hopefully by the 90 day mark my abs will be in better shape. I’m not expecting to rock a solid 6-pack, since I’ve got that awful twin-skin flabbiness plus the c-section I had with Cutie did a number on my ab muscles. But, if I can NOT look pregnant, I’ll be extremely pleased!  We’re also sticking to a fairly strict “diet.” It’s really more of a healthy eating plan. I have to adjust a bit to make it gluten free, but so far, so good. I do miss my treats though. I’m tempted to make something somewhat healthy for dessert tonight–it is Fat Tuesday after all!

Let’s see…what else can I share? School is plugging right along, this week we’re studying Volcanoes and working on lapbooks. I don’t know how much longer my big kids will do lapbooks. I know the grade level on some of the Hands of a Child lapbooks can go up to grade 10, but somehow I don’t see us working on them in high school. But, while I can get them to do it, I love having the finished lapbooks for them to show off.

I can’t believe we’re already halfway through the year–it blows by so fast! I’ve already started planning for next year…crazy, right? I figure if I start making my purchases now, I can spread things out so that we’re not plunking down $500 all at once in August. My first purchase for the 2012-13 school year is Joy Haikim’s A History of US. My plan was to do Core 100 with Annie and have the boys do a slower version going through the History of US over 2 years instead of one. But, I might just do my own thing. I don’t know yet. Good thing I’ll have the books nice and early so I can play around with lesson plans!

On another note–can you believe in just a tiny bit over a month, Cutie will be turning 3?! It seems like just yesterday I was bringing her home from the hospital. She’s about to finish up with therapy (through a 0-3 program) and I don’t know if we’ll explore other options for her or not. Since going gluten free, she’s improved so darn much, I’m not sure she even needs therapy anymore. I guess we’ll have to see how she progresses. She still only says the ending sounds for most words, but she’s able to put 2-3 words together, follow simple instructions, her motor skills are at age level…I think she’ll be just fine. She’s also got quite the flair for drama. All her pretend play games involve toys getting into great danger and needing to be rescued. I think she watches just a bit too much Pixar, lol. She continues to be the little princess, always making everyone do things for her–she’ll just look at her big brothers with those big brown eyes and they’ll do whatever she asks.

And now I need to go tend to Cutie–she’s been stacking toys all around me at the computer as I type, hoping I’ll pay some attention to her…off to go read her some Piggy and Elephant and maybe play some pretend…hopefully I don’t have to be trapped somewhere waiting for some brave toy to rescue me.

I LOVE Pinterest. So many great ideas in one place. A girl can easily get overwhelmed. Thankfully, Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things has started a way to ensure that I actually do something with all those great ideas.

Here’s one I actually already did a few weeks ago. I saw this idea and I knew immediately I wanted to make that for my in-law’s Christmas gift. I got to work straight away snapping pictures of the kids.

I took a ton of pictures, some with the letters spelling out LOVE and some without. The frame I picked out had 8 mini-frames so I wanted a few different pictures for variety. I prefer to do outdoor pictures whenever I can–I like the nature scenery and the natural light.

Here is my finished project:

It wasn’t perfect, but I like how it came out. It’s freaking miraculous that I got a picture of Cutie holding the E. That picture is the one and only I managed to get, because she thought it was hilarious to slam down the binder the letter was in the second the camera flashed. So every picture had the binder facing down. She’s a rascally little toddler.

I love making goals. I love it even more if I can actually achieve the goals that I set. I tend to make a lot of grand resolutions and then give up by the end of January. I’m determined to do better at that this year. I sat down this morning with my notebook and came up with some goals for the new year.

So, what are your goals for the new year?

I didn’t read quite as much this year as last–I’m in the middle of book #60 right now. Hopefully I’ll finish it by New Years eve. I did read a lot of pretty great books this year, so here’s my Year in Books for 2011:

Best History Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach – This was a quirky little book, both interesting and sometimes hilarious.

Best Homeschooling The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education by Grace Llewellyn – Not the best book I’ve ever read on homeschooling, but the only one I read this year, lol. It was an interesting read, but I’m not about to jump into full on unschooling. It did help me to see that I could relax a bit though.

Best Parenting Drive: 9 Ways to Motivate Your Kids to Achieve by Janine Walker Caffrey – This is actually a fantastic book. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants their children to do well in life. It’s all about how children are too comfortable these days – they get everything they want and don’t have to work for it. This leads to adults who don’t want to leave their comfy nest. This book gave me lots to think about.

Best Religion/Theology Seven Lies About Catholic History by Diane Moczar – Another very interesting read. This gave me the other side of the story while going through Sonlight and Story of the World with the kids. There isn’t a lot out there written in an interesting, engaging way to give the Catholic perspective. This at least gives me some knowledge to add to our discussions.

Best Current Events A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman by Lisa Shannon – Not the most well written book this year, but it was fascinating. I didn’t really know anything about the wars going on in the Congo. This was definitely eye opening.

Best Biography/Autobiography Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen by Anna Whitelock – I’ve always been fascinated with the Tudor period. I’ve read a LOT of books about that era. This was a great “other side of the story” book about Queen Mary. She’s often handled very unfairly by historians, most often painted as a villain. It was nice to see that she wasn’t nearly as horrible as she’s often made out to be.

Best New-To-You Author Definitely would have to be George R.R. Martin.

Best New Book in a Series Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 11) by Charlaine Harris

Book that Made You Laugh out Loud Not a full book, but a short story in Death’s Excellent Vacation, a compilation of short stories. The story Perils of Effrijim by Katie MacAlister was absolutely hilarious. I really need to read more by her.

Book that Made You Cry Dreams of Joy: A Novel by Lisa See. I love her writing and this book was a harrowing view into Maoist China in the 1950′s.

Best New To You Series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

Best Series Overall I’m going to have to go with A Song of Ice and Fire again. Even though I’m only up to book #3, I’m completely riveted.

Best Plot Twist A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One by George R. R. Martin. All I’ll say is Ned Stark.

Most Overhyped Book This is a tough one…all the books that were hyped that I read turned out to be pretty good. So, I’ll go with Dean Koontz. My mom has been telling me how amazing his writing is for ages, so I finally tried reading some of his stuff and all I can say is Blah. To each their own I suppose.

Worst Book to Movie Transition I feel like I’m repeating myself, but True Blood sometimes gets on my nerves. It’s like the Sookie Stackhouse series on steroids. I continue watching because I always hope it will follow the plot of the books in some way. Plus Eric. That’s a pretty good reason.

Best Historical Fiction Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

Best Children’s YA lit The Gammage Cup: A Novel of the Minnipins by Carol Kendall

Book You Hated So Much You Almost Couldn’t Finish Strangers by Dean Koontz – Boring flat characters, a plot that started interesting and then just fell completely apart and turned into something fairly stupid…yup, that about sums it up.

Best Book You’ve Been Meaning to Read for Years The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – I’ve literally had this on my to-read list for several years. I finally found a copy at the dump of all places, and then devoured it. Fun, quirky, loved it.

Best Reread Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Book 1) by J.K. Rowling – Sometimes you just have to go back to Hogwarts.

Best Book Overall It’s a tie between Dreams of Joy and A Game of Thrones.

If you’d like to participate feel free! It’s a fun way to look back on what you’ve read each year. You don’t have to do all the categories and feel free to add your own!

Outside my window…Cold and bright. It doesn’t look like we’ll have any snow for Christmas, which is highly disappointing. I think Mother Nature got her holiday’s mixed up. We had a white Halloween, but no snow on Christmas? We’ll keep our fingers crossed here that we get at least a flurry on Sunday.

I am thankful for…Vacation from school! We all are very ready for a break. We’re still doing math and language arts this week, but that’s it. And then we have 2 weeks off!

I am thinking about…Plans for the new school year. I have a hard time not planning. It’s an addiction people. I’m contemplating going back to Sonlight. I need to remind myself why that didn’t work the last time, but I have a feeling I won’t listen.

Learning all the time…We’re all in break-mode, but even so, we’re always learning new things. Right now I’m on a quest to discover what the difference is between a province and a state. (Gamer-boy was pondering this while looking at our wall maps and I honestly don’t know the answer.)

From the kitchen…LOTS of cookies. I’ve been baking like a mad-woman and now we have more cookies than necessary. Not that we’re not enjoying them. Thank heavens for my Pamela’s Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix. That stuff is amazing.

I am creating…What, besides oodles of cookies? Hmmmm…I suppose I could say I’m creating Christmas cheer.

I am working on…Organizing. Not well, mind you. But I’m trying. Baby steps, right?

I am going…to try and enjoy this week before Christmas. I have cleaning and such to do, but otherwise, we’re going to listen to carols, eat cookies, and watch our favorite holiday movies.

I am hoping…to squeeze in 3 more books. I made a ridiculous reading goal (80 books!) this year and I’m not going to make it. So my new goal is to read 60 books. I have 3 to go and only 2 weeks.

I am reading…
A Great and Terrible Beauty (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Book 1) (I’m reading this aloud as my twins haven’t read them yet.)

I am hearing…Annie is singing Christmas carols–she’s practicing for the recital she’s planning on performing on Christmas day. If her brother’s allow it.

Around the house…I’m just trying to maintain some sort of order before the Christmas Chaos takes over.

One of my favorite things…Hot chocolate with Whipped Cream and Christmas cookies. While watching favorite holiday classics.

A few plans for the rest of the week…Present wrapping, some more housework, my father is coming into town tomorrow for a week long visit, so we’ll have plenty of Pappy time. He’s Jewish, so I’m making potato latkes for dinner tomorrow. Mass on Saturday evening and then our traditional Christmas eve party with Rob’s parents and my father.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you…

Cutie making the "goon" face

I’m on a mission to make all our favorite holiday treats gluten free. One of our favorite Christmas cookies is 7-layer bars. They’re so gooey and rich…I could eat a whole pan if I’m not careful. Of course, one of the layers is graham cracker crumbs. I tried to find gluten free graham crackers, thinking I could just make my own crumbs, but they are EXPENSIVE. So not worth crushing up a whole box of them just to make some cookies.

So, I came up with an alternate layer and it ended up being really tasty. We couldn’t really even tell the difference!

Gluten Free 7 – Layer Bars

4 Tbsp. melted butter

1 8oz bag of chopped pecans

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 c. brown sugar

Add all of these to a food processor and pulse until well blended. This is your bottom layer. Spread it evenly into your well greased 9×13 pan.

1 c. chocolate chips

1 c. butterscotch chips

1 1/3 c. shredded coconut

1 c. chopped walnuts (optional…I left these out since the whole bottom layer is nuts. Dh thought it would have been fine though)

1 (14oz ) can sweetened condensed milk

Layer the chips and nuts over the nut and sugar mixture. Pour the condensed milk over top and sprinkle it with the coconut.

Bake until the edges are golden brown, or about 20-25 min.  Let cool completely before cutting into squares.