We Are Back!

Madelyn and I are back from the Small Farm Conference, and we both had a blast. More details to come later, right now I just want to enjoy being in my house, with Madelyn asleep in her bed.

Small Farm Conference

I'm supposed to be packing, which I hate...So I'm procrastinating by writing a blog post. The only thing I hate more than packing, is unpacking. Michael can count on my suitcase sitting in our room for a few weeks after my return. When I run out of clothes to wear, or wonder where those cute new black shoes of mine are, then I will break into that pack.

So my friend Megan and I got invited by the University of Maryland to go to Springfield, Illinois to present a poster about our backyard farming blog for a Small Farm Conference held there. We leave first thing in the morning and will be returning Friday afternoon. UofM is paying for our flights and entrance to the conference. I'm sure I will be posting pictures when I return.

Best Friends

Madelyn already has a best friend, Gracie. She lives next door and was born only 2 weeks before her. Aren't they adorable?Madelyn & Gracie

Their older sisters are best friends as well and love having their own personal baby dolls.

The Meanest Mom Around

Do you ever have one of those days where you just need at least ONE room to stay clean?
Well, this was my solution. Yes, I'm a terrible mom, I banned my kids from the living room. It was bliss.

It only lasted one day and the kids rejoiced when they could return to the living room.

Well loved

Augusts Field Trip

Our second day of homeschool we took our very first field trip of the school year to the Dinosaur Museum. We went with my friend Megan who happens to be a fellow homeschooler.

Digging for fossils

Trying out New Haircuts for Reece

What do you guys think?

The Garden is Thriving

Don't forget to check out my backyard farming blog!

Back To School

"Back to School" has a different meaning around our house since we homeschool. It is still exciting as we have new curriculum, markers, art supplies, books, science equipment, math manipulatives etc. But the teacher stays the same. Michael teaches science and I teach the rest. We are doing a few things different this year since Maya has chosen to homeschool as well. It is definately more of a juggling act, but we are still done around lunch time with time to explore other interests. This year I will be doing a cooking class for the kids once a week. This week Maya made pasta salad and Reece made zucchini brownies. Both were delicious.

A friend of mine sent me this, and I had to laugh since at one time or another I have done almost all these things:

You Know You are a Homeschool Parent When:



When a child busts a lip, and after seeing she's okay, you round up some scotch tape to capture some blood and look at it under the microscope!

You find dead animals and actually consider saving them to dissect later.

You ask for, and get, a copier instead of a diamond tennis bracelet for your wedding anniversary.

Your kids think reading history is best accomplished while lying on the floor with their head resting on the side of their patient dog.

Your husband can walk in at the end of a long day and tell how the science experiment went just by looking at the house.

You have meal worms growing in a container....on purpose.

Talking out loud to yourself is a parent/teacher conference.

You can't make it through a movie without pointing out the historical inaccuracies.

You step on math manipulatives on your pre-dawn stumble to the bathroom.

The teacher gets to kiss the principal in the faculty lounge and no one gossips.

You can't make it through the grocery produce department without asking your preschooler the name and color of every vegetable, and you can’t put the produce in your cart without asking your older student to estimate it's weight and verify accuracy.

You try to (quickly) capture the huge bee that was knocked unconscious as it accidentally flew into your car window, so the kids can classify and inspect it.

You DREAM of a room (or even a whole house!) with wall to wall, ceiling to floor bookshelves.

You are on a first name basis with the majority of local librarians.

Who knew that math manipulatives could be made into guns?

Re-purposed Shirt

So I've been inspired by all the re-purposed clothes I have seen on other blogs so I thought I would give it a try.

This is an old shirt that had a cute style and was still in good condition, but I just wasn't a fan of how it looked on me.

Before:

So I took in the top around the shoulders and the sides, and it is a perfect fit for Maya. It looks adorable with jeans or some leggings.

After