Summer Fun

What fun things do you have planned for the summer??
We will be continuing our homeschool work for at least part of the summer. I'm thinking normal schedule for the rest of June and part time only in July and August.
As far as fun, here are some of OUR ideas.

Trip to one of the local springs

Pick your own blueberries

Snorkeling at the jetties (on a weekday to avoid the crowds)

Camping trip to Caverns, bonus if it's during one of the meteor showers

Make a Fairy Garden

Make a toad house

Tie dye a t shirt, pillowcase, etc 

Mommy and Me painting class

Pool day at local park

Build a stick raft and try it out

DIY Glow in the dark bowling with a friend

Make a butterfly feeder

Build a simple tiki hut

Nighttime walk on the beach

Water park day

Early morning shell hunt

Bake cinnamon rolls

Free movie days

Play dates with homeschool friends

Painting with nature-leaves, flowers, sticks

 

Update to my out of date BLOG

What is going on in OUR BUSY WORLD:
* I have an 8 year old!
* We will be starting on our 2nd year of homeschooling on Monday
* We have a lot of field trips and special events planned for the next 2 months
* We will be using Heart of Dakota (Bigger Hearts for His Glory) for History, Bible, Geography, etc
* We will be restarting Math U See Beta for Math
* Homechool Co-op starts in 2 weeks, I will be an assistant for Science for 3rd and 4th
* A friend and I are co-captains of our Relay for Life team
* I am part of Event Leadership for Relay for Life this year
* Trying to visit my Dad every 3 months, he is in a nursing home and wheelchair bound and has dementia
* Still working part time in Mental Health
* Researching and exploring work at home options (Suggestions welcomed)
* Just got chickens last week and 4 of 8 have already died :( All 4 were from the same farmer, 2 of his alive, 2 from someone else
* My garden was a BUST this year. Lots of time, energy and $$ with ZERO (well almost zero) return
* Going to plant a fall garden anyway
* I need to PURGE stuff and am struggling with it
* R reads chapter books
* Budgeting with irregular income is HARD

Disney Restaurants we tried and our experience with the Dining Plan-part 1

We had a fabulous Disney vacation in October..planning another already :) We stayed at a Moderate Resort-Caribbean Beach, visited 3 parks (MK, AK, Epcot), and got the Disney Dining plan.
Some people say the dining plan is a waste of $$$ but for us, it was great!! If you plan on many character meals then it actually saves you money and it takes the worry away about how much you will spend in food. We ate at more expensive restaurants than maybe we normally would have so the tips were kinda high in my opinion but loved all the other aspects of it.
Our dining plan included 1 table service, 1 quick service, and 1 snack per night of our reservation. Each meal included an entree, dessert (except breakfast), and regular drink. We made a grocery store run for bottled water, sodas, and breakfast food. We ate breakfast in the room except for the days we had a character breakfast booked. FYI-Our room did not have a microwave but we asked for one after we checked in and they brought us one pretty quickly.
Tips for using the dining plan:
1) Quick service meals are often large enough to share with a child or another adult. We shared a few meals between one adult and a child.
2) Quick service credits aren't specifically for a child or an adult. Just have an adult order.
3) If you are eating at your resort using a quick service credit and you have the refillable mug-use it for your drink and get a bottled water/juice/soda for the room or park.
4) If you don't want dessert, especially at quick service locations, ask if you can sub a fruit or side item. Sometimes they let you. AND some places have packaged fruit as a dessert choice. These are great for snacks later in the day.
5) Speaking of desserts, at some resorts they have packaged "snacks" as dessert options. I brought home a few Mickey Rice krispy treats this way:)
6) If you are late for a reservation, they will still seat you. It may take a while but they will. This was awesome to know after a very late night and an early morning Character Breakfast reservation.

Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge-We LOVED this restaurant. It was buffet style and had a huge variety of foods. There were lots of African specialties as well as a few familiar items. The soup selection was incredible- Coconut Chicken Curry was my favorite! The famous Zebra Domes were yummy too. Take time to explore the lodge while you are there and check out the animals too.


O'hana at The Polynesian-We ate a late dinner at O'hana and watched the fireworks at MK from our table. The dumplings were really good here as well as the spicy shrimp. They bring ALL the food you could want ...protein overload. The Bread pudding was surprisingly yummy-not something I would have normally tried. The chairs are super comfy too-I wanted to curl up and take a nap after such a late dinner.
We also ate breakfast at O'hana for the Character breakfast. It was a standard family style Disney breakfast complete with Mickey Waffles. Stitch, Lilo, and Mickey Mouse all made an appearance at our table.




Akershus in Epcot (Norway)-The Princess breakfast here was one of the highlights of R's trip. We got to meet and get photos with Belle, Aurora, Jasmine and Ariel. The princesses didn't seem rushed, interacted with my child, and posed for MANY pictures with the family. The croissants were light and fluffy, the fresh fruit was sweet, the typical Disney meats and hashbrowns were good too. This is an expensive breakfast but only 1 table service credit on the dining plan.







Be Our Guest-We had lunch at BOG and had a fast pass for it. We received an email ~60 days before our arrival date for a beta test fast pass. I reserved a date and time and pre-ordered our food via a link in the email. When we got there they had a record of our FP but not our food order. There were some issues with ordering (scanned my 7 year old's band and it canceled out the whole order) but nothing major. The food was okay, not great and not bad. The grilled cheese my little girl ordered was bland but otherwise the food was acceptable. The restaurant itself is gorgeous!! There are 3 rooms to choose from and we chose the ballroom with the big chandelier. Make sure to check out the other rooms and the fabulous artwork. FYI-Lunch at BOG is a counter service credit and there are no characters.

Fall Wish List

Temperatures are getting cooler and I can't wait for Fall and all the fun activities. There are so many things I want to do with little R but know time, distance, and $$ will put some limits on it. BUT, girls can dream right??

OUR Fall Wish List

• Pick your own pumpkins (somewhere!)
• Paint pumpkins
• Collect fall leaves
• Crafts with fall leaves
• Pumpkin craft
• Corn Maze and more at Sweet Seasons
• Peanuts and fun at Holland Farms
• Make caramel apples
• Make pinecone turkeys
• Make pinecone bird feeders
• Plant spring blooming bulbs
• Plant lettuce
• Camping at Joe Wheeler for Thanksgiving
• Bake a sweet potato casserole
• Bake pumpkin bread
• Smores by the campfire
• Fishing at cypress Cattle
• Play in a pile of leaves
• Church Fall Festival
• Buy discounted costumes for dress-up 
• Visit dad
• Play w/ cousins

 

51 things

Saw this list over at Alphamom.com and thought it was really neat!!
http://alphamom.com/family-fun/51-things-your-child-should-do-before-growing-up/

so far little R has done the following:

1. Camp out in a tent
2. Wear a costume as clothing-all the time, we've been to Walmart with wings on, dinner in a tink costume, etc
3. Climb a tree-yep, specifically the fig tree in our backyard
4. Catch fireflies-at Mom and Dad's
5. Fly a kite
6. Plant a garden and eat what grows-she loves bellpeppers straight from the plant
7. Go fishing
8. Take care of a pet
9. Build something out of gigantic cardboard box
10. Ride on a ferris wheel
11. Roast food over a campfire-did this Christmas 2011 in NC
12. Have dessert for dinner-does Toaster Strudel count??
13. Build a snowman
14. Get a library card-done
15. Go on a hayride-done
16. Get lost in a corn maze-Milton 2012
17. Pick the perfect horse on the carousel-Pier Park
18. Run through the sprinkler-many times
19. Make a slingshot
20. Carve a jack o’lantern
21. Make mud pies-and mud soup!
22. Run a lemonade stand
23. Play on a sports team
24. Swing on a rope swing
25. Build a sandcastle and stay at the beach until the tide washes it away-done!!
26. Roll down a big grassy hill=Seaside flutterby festival but it isn't very big
27. Build a gingerbread house-attempted w/ sissies but not so successful
28. Hatch a monarch butterfly from a cocoon-no but we have w/ gulf fritallarries
29. Make homemade ice cream
30. Blow bubbles-yes
31. Play kickball outside with neighbors
32. Go on a family car trip-yes
33. Fly on an airplane
34. Paint a painting-lots! They make great Christmas gifts
35. Have a water balloon fight
36. Play miniature golf
37. Make a tie dye t-shirt
38. Eat lunch in a blanket fort
39. Play in the rain-Did I mention she likes mud?
40. Go to a county fair
41. Ride a horse-only walked but she was on one
42. Identify the constellations in the night sky-we have watched a meteor shower
43. Play jump rope-trying to learn
44. Learn to play a musical instrument
45. Put on a puppet show
46. Have a picnic-yep
47. Learn to ice skate
48. Learn to juggle
49. Do a cartwheel
50. Catch tadpoles and watch them change-done
51. Rake and jump in a giant leaf pile

Hope to add to this this Spring and Summer!

As I sit here in the office trying to focus on work, my mind and heart inevitably end up with my Dad. He is back in the ER for the 2nd time in a few short days. He complains of pain in various places, is not eating much and is losing weight. Today's ER trip was due to complaints of pain when he swallows and stomach pain but when he gets there he tells them his feet/legs hurt and burn. Just a few days ago he fell and hit head (earlier ER visit). No news as to what is going on but at least this time my brother is there to keep me informed.
My dad's brother has been the primary support for him with me being 300+ miles away and my brother being 100+ miles away and at times overseas. But now he is having his own health problems and has a new grandbaby he wants to visit-this leaves my brother and I trying to figure out what to do. Dad has not wanted to move every time we have addressed it in the past but now I'm thinking we must insist even if it's against his wishes. I feel like I should move him here with me but then I consider how small our house is, our need for a dedicated office (tax purposes and practicality since we are both self employed), our demanding 5 year old, and having unfamiliar people in my home for hours a day caring for him. I feel guilty and feel like I'm being selfish for thinking about those things but remind myself I have to be realistic.
What to do?????????????????????????????????

Christmas Fun

How did you spend your Christmas? We spent ours in Georgia and Alabama with family. We headed to Georgia a few days before Christmas and visited the Georgia Aquarium (awesome) and Stone Mountain (okay, should have reserved a snow time) and spent time with the sisters-hubbie's two older children. R had a fabulous time hanging out with her sisters-watching movies, playing games, going to the playground, getting her nails painted and more. I also got to spend an afternoon with my college roomie and her sister!
We opened presents Christmas morning, spent some time with the sissies and then headed to Alabama to see my Dad.
We stayed in Alabama for a few days and my nieces and their children drove down and spent the days with us and visited their Grandpa. It was nice for us all to be together, even if only for a short time. AND Dad got to eat real food the day after Christmas. Technically it was mush but it was food and not through a tube!

  

child of an aging parent

Once again I find myself sitting in a hospital, my heart heavy and torn between being a mommy and wife and being a daughter. My daughter, husband, home and job in one state, my Dad in another. I leave tomorrow to go back home to work for a few days, take care of my little person, and spend some time with the hubby. What happens from then, I have no idea. Hubby and I are both torn about Thanksgiving. We would like to spend it with his parents but also want to take little R to see her Poppy. They don't interact alot but she brightens his day and he enjoys watching her play.
My Dad has had a significant cognitive decline, a possible TIA, is unable to swallow and had a hip replacement in the past few weeks.
Tomorrow's barium swallow test determines whether or not he can resume eating or has to have a feeding tube put in. Even if the test comes back positive, he may still need a tube for meds and additional nutrition. Either way, he will be moving to a nursing home in the next few days.
The idea of my Dad being in a nursing home 300 miles away makes my heart ache. The thought of him possibly not being able to get up and get around, get dressed, go to the potty, etc on his own and relying on others to do these things for him makes me cry.
So, I will pray for God's Will and peace and comfort for both my dad and me.

Publix Savings!! and Thrifting

So impressed with my Publix haul today.
6 bags of Eight O'Clock whole bean coffee
4 boxes Toaster Strudel (little R will almost always eat these for breakfast, don't judge :) )
2 boxes Toaster Scrambles
2 boxes Krusteaz Heart Healthy pancake mix
6 cans 100% Natural Campbell Soup
2 Hidden Valley Ranch Dressings
2  Minute Rice steamers
4 boxes Quaker instant grits
2 bags Chicken nuggets/tenders

all for $ 51.03 after BOGO, sale, and coupons. YAY yay YaY

I know I could make some of these myself and save more $ and be more healthy but sometimes saving time is more valuable :)

On another note, scored some bargains over the weekend at the thrift store in Alabama.
Yellow flowered Gap Dress for R
Mancala game
Skirt for me
~90 Wilton Cookie Cutters (box says 101 but I'm guessing some are missing)
2 new wipeable workbooks for R
Wooden mugholder (will paint and use as bracelet holder)
Cookie tin

Total less than $20.00

Summer Sand Pail List

R and I's Summer Sand Pail List

TP bird feeders

 
Melted bead sun catchers
Play in the sprinkler
Mini Golf
Sunset Picnic
Pick blueberries
Bake cookies and send to Dad and Uncle Jim
Pool at Boys and Girls Club
Water gun fight
Beach trip to Camp Helen
Early morning seashell hunting at Crooked Island Beach
Afternoon swim in the Bay
Splatter painting, outside of course
Star gazing
Canoeing on the Econfina
Fishing at the Marina
Birthday party for the Cats
Water bomb (sponges) fight
Make Coffee filter flowers

more Gardening

Once again I am making an attempt at gardening, this time with a modified square foot gardening approach. The hubby built a raised bed with landscape timbers and I used a mixture of garden soil and bagged compost. I also have tomatoes in buckets and some random veggies in the flower bed-some I planted and some little R decided to add in. So far we have-radishes, carrots, yellow squash, zucchini squash, acorn squash, butternut squash, cucumbers, bell pepper, tomatoes, pole beans, cilantro, basil, and okra. Things look great and I am super excited and ready to really make it work this time.

On another note, I tried to make a sunflower house for little R again, the squirrels had another idea. I planted seeds, the squirrels dug them up. I planted seeds again and this time covered them with old screens. The seeds sprouted and I had tiny little sunflower plants. I was certain the sunflower house was on it's way....NOPE!! The X@#%?/"*&^%%$#$ squirrels dug up the plants too. Aaaarrrrggghhh! Maybe another year.

I hope it's just a phase!!!!!!!

OK, so I haven't blogged in forever, oops :) Maybe I should revisit the idea?
So, my little R is being absolutely Terrible about most everything most ever day. She screams when she doesn't get her way, screams when she gets a consequence, yells alot, talks back, throws things, bosses us, hits, kicks, complains about every little detail, is obsessed with washing her hands and can be just downright mean. Geez I hope this is truly just a phase. It's been going on about 6 weeks of the awfuls and I am praying it ends soon. I know some of her actions are just a reaction to us so we have got to make changes too.
I've heard some positive things about "Have a New Kid by Friday" and just checked it out. I'm open to trying almost anything :)

                

control

There are so many things out of my control that I worry about. I'm trying to Let Go and Let God but sometimes it is so hard.
 I am still amazed how people act sometimes and how they feel the need to run other's lives. Just when you think they have ceased the crap, it starts again. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!
I am so far away and feel so out of the loop and feel no one wants to keep me in-it's as if certain individuals want me out of the picture and I truly don't understand why.
I find myself having less than Christian thoughts and questioning how these Christian people can treat others in such a way. Then I remind myself-no one is perfect and it's not my place to judge.
When things get stressful I miss my Mom even more. She was the persistent, assertive one. Wish heaven wasn't so far away.

Birthdays

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday, the second one since she passed away last February. In a way I'm proud of myself for not getting upset and then I also feel a little guilty that I thought so little about it. I was aware of the date but I guess not focused on it. I still have days when the grief is overwhelming but those are fewer and fewer. Now I have more short moments of all those feelings versus entire days. So it's true, time does help.
Moving on to this weekend-R is having a pool party for her birthday. She is super excited!! She picked out a Tangled theme! Her birthday is next week and she will be 4. My baby is no longer a toddler, she's a little girl :(.

Summer fun list

What are you doing this summer for fun? We aren't going on vacation so we will just have to find things to do around here. LOTS of people vacation here so we might play tourists for a day or two :)
Some must do things for us this summer and later:
Wonderworks
Seashell hunting early in the morning after a storm
Dolphin cruise
handprints and/or footprints in sand w/ plaster
Trips to bay
Trips to beach
Play in the sprinkler
Nightime walk on beach
Picnic on beach
Gulfworld
Matinee movie
Splatter painting a sheet or something similar outside
St Joe State Park
Maybe camping in the late summer

Lullaby

My little R asked me to sing her "R's song" tonight and I realized I had almost forgotten some of the words. So I thought I would add it here to preserve forever :)

Sleep little R--- go to sleep, Sleep little R--- go to sleep
Close your eyes and dream away, close your eyes and dream away
Dream about happy thoughts, dream about happy thought
Butterflies and fairytales, Sunny days and baby whales
Little ponies brown and white, mommy and R-- flying kites
Tiny fishies swimming by, Lions, tigers, bears, oh my
Building castles in the sand, Daddy and R holding hands
Turtles, frogs, and birdies too
Flowers and trees and the morning dew
Jumping waves and playing catch
Baking cookies by the batch
Sleep little R go to sleep, sleep little R go to sleep

Sometimes LOTS of singing was required to get R to go to sleep or get her back to sleep. I would run out of songs so I just made one up. Hard to believe I miss those sleepless nights and sleep deprived hazy days.

Slacker

So I haven't blogged in forever but not because I've been busy, just slacking. I am no longer working full time which I am enjoying but the drop in income is worrisome. I just started a new job as a contractor. I'm hoping to work 20-25 hours a week before too long.
Must update this thing soon-R and I have been busy :)

More gardening

I am determined to make my garden work this year!!!! That means watering, watering and more watering. This week I planted cucumbers, yellow zuchini, green zuchini, butternut squash, acorn squash, summer squash, 2 kinds of pole beans and regular bush beans. I'm thinking I wilI still need to plant bellpeppers and maybe some green onions. Oh and the hubby bought turnip seeds, might as well give them a try too. I am doing "intensive" gardening and may have planted things too close but we will see. My father-in-law cut down the fig tree that was blocking the sun for me-hopefully that will get things going quicker. 
I can't wait to get my sunflowers in the ground. Just have to figure out a good spot, and a way to keep the puppy from eating, digging, and generally destroying them. 

Random happenings and bad mommy confession

We have had a month of lots of busyness but little actually getting done :)
I spent a week in my hometown at a substance abuse conference, baby was sick for a week (and is again), and I've had a general lack of energy for a few weeks.
The conference was mediocre but I did have a wonderful time seeing some old friends, exploring the campus, and getting to spend time with my Dad every evening. AND I got the always needed CEUs.
I did get tomatoes and a few herbs planted. I am trying buckets for the tomatoes-not sure how that is going to work. I also have prepared my little garden spot for planting, which will be done by this weekend. A few annuals have been added to the flower bed, flower seeds are in the ground and sunflower seeds are in peat pots.

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/sunflower-sunroom-671975/
 I am super excited about the sunflower house. I saw the idea on Family Fun and decided to give it a try. I am going to plant the sunflowers in a circle, leaving an opening for the "door", and plant morning glories in between the sunflowers.
We have done almost ZERO planned preschool activities in the last three weeks. I know-bad Mommy! Hopefully things will get back in gear soon.

What My Child Is Reading This Week-COW Theme

We just started our Cow Theme week. Our books for the week include: Clancy the Courageous Cow, Click Clack Moo-Cows that Type, Cows (Doyle), What a Wonderful Day to be a Cow, A Calf Is Born, The Cow that Went Oink, The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down, and Cows (Miller).


I found a free curriculum online that takes some (more like alot) of the planning off of me, so we are giving it a try. It is-Brightly Beaming Steps to Reading Program Preparatory Curriculum by Katrina Lybbert http://www.letteroftheweek.com/index.html . I am changing things around a little by adding a bible verse per theme, adding an extra vocabulary word and having one theme for two weeks versus one.
Our plans for the next two weeks include: making butter from heavy cream by shaking, visiting cows, learning cow facts, having a dairy only snack, cow paper bag puppet, playing with handmade farm animal blocks and most of the activities listed in the curriculum.