well its been awhile

I keep meaning to post and have written several things out... And they are all still stuck on my sticky note program on my laptop. As another year ends to a close though I figured it was time for a recap of what happened the month I was gone. (It hasnt been good by the way, better now but not then)

We had a pretty good Thanksgiving with turkey and the usual. My dad came over with my brother and we stuffed our faces as always.

But then....
It started with Nanners. She had bled occasionally when she went potty (number 2 mind you). We chalked it up to hemorrhoids and just kept an eye on her. Never a lot but just enough to notice. Well one day  it looked like my baby girl had started her period. I knew at 2 I should not be having those problems with her. She was never in pain but off to the doctor we went. Well to make a long story short after lots of blood draws and a colonoscopy it came back with a polyp the size of a quarter. It had blocked her entire colon and was the reason for all the blood. There is a possibility it will return so we will just have to keep an eye on her. It was the largest the specialist had ever seen and she was a trooper through it all!

**The day of her Meckles scan, xray and blood work**


Then Randy about a week later started throwing up blood. Yay! (sarcasm I promise you) and after a night stay in Rockford's hospital it came back it was acid reflux from hell and just destroying everything on its way up when he burped. Now he is on some acid reducers but most likely they will scope him to see how much damage has been done.He cant have pop anymore and we have to monitor his diet and stress level as both aggravate it like crazy.

Both are home now and doing quite well. Christmas went well. The kids big presents were Ereaders (our nockoff kindles), a prepaid phone and a small mp3 player. Nanners got a homemade light table and baby buggy which has made its way to trash her entire room daily.

Look Mama! I got pretty beads!

Randy's Christmas Present. Our new family member. His name is Otis.

We didnt do much "school" this month due to all of the crazyness. Nanners had her sensory box as always and has worked on several practical life lessons like pouring goldfish and juicing an orange.

We had gotten a learning tower at salvation army earlier this month. It has been utilized at least 4 times a weeks. Best $4 I had spent.

Plus a random picture of myself and my little girl just because I want one. She did so great through all of the garbage we were forced to put her through so I am very proud of her.

Thankful Thursday- Cough Drops

Oh the simple things one can be thankful for... I have had this nasty cold/cough/something that has kept me miserable for the last 2 weeks. And being out of town in another state while sick does not make it better. I love that although Michigan is a different place, it is not a different country.

I still got my cough drops! Thank you Mejer!

Wordless Wednesday- Halloween

I guess I'm a Porcupine wife...

This week I've actually had a few minutes to catch up on some blogs I jump around. Of course they are doing a blog hop so I decided to see what 10 days of a Godly Marriage looked like. Made me do some thinking...

Great point from the post “A porcupine has a lot of good points, but nobody wants to be around it.”


Just by the looks of that sucker you wouldnt want to be around it. And then it made me think. "Oh wait... didn't Randy say the other day "When you act like that NO ONE wants to be around you...""


Ain't that a kicker. When I act not so nice (and those weren't the words he used) no one wants to be around. When I use negative words and snap at the kids and my husband because I must be right, no one wants to be around me.

Negativity brings negativity so I have made it my pledge for the rest of the year to focus on being more pleasant and less... well you know.
Focusing on the joys and the happiness around me to bring my family up and show them the light in life.

Doesn't that sound like a great Christmas gift?


Original post
Porcupine Wife

Thankful Thursday- My Hubby

I thought this week's thankful Thursday would be appropriate for 2 reasons. Two days ago we celebrated our 1 year of marriage. One whole year of not killing each other while going through some major life changes (3 new jobs total, moving twice and custody battles to start). Life here has been pretty rough but I do have to say
I have a pretty awesome husband. The other reason it was great is Farmers is sending me to Michigan. For a week. And I have 5 kids...

Talk about a moms nightmare.

Most moms that is...

I have a great hubby. He is the Mr. Mom of our home. I come home and a full real dinner is made. Homework is done, showers are taken and there are still 5 kids. Not beaten or anything.

Yes, I have my fears about leaving home but its not for the fact that he can not take care of it. Its mostly because I have never been away from all of them that long. Ever. Especially my baby girl, Nalani.

At this point it all comes back to me. Can I trust my husband to take care of this home? Can I trust God to guide his choices? I am a massive control freak and I struggle with this quite often. However I know I need to put my faith in God and let him show me all that my Hubby can do. I know God gave me this awesome husband for a reason and that he can do ANYTHING he sets his mind to. Even remember to take the kids to AWANA on Wednesday.

Thank you God for sending me Randy and showing me I don't have to do everything alone on this earth.

Thankful Thursday- I got my cookies!!!

So. As you probably dont know I am on a gluten free diet. Not too bad for the most part. Makes quick lunches kind of difficult and have to be a little more creative. However if you want something sweet do not bother going to the store. You can not have any cookies or cakes. Unless you make them yourself.... So I found an awesome sugar cookie recipe online and tried it out. Pretty good I have to say. Plus if your kids prefer the gluten free stuff to their packaged stuff I think I found a winner.

 Ignore my messy kitchen.

 Some were a bit more crumbly than most but still edible.

 The new jar/pot thing I found at Salvation Army for $2. It was a steal and I could not turn it down.

Nasty inside of it (not washed yet) but I love all the compartments.

Recipe

3 cups Rice Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter aka 2 sticks
2 eggs beaten
1 cup sugar

Mix it all up.
put in the fridge for half hour if you want shapes if not just ball
bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 Min.

Yum!

1 Corinthians for Homeschool Moms

I saw this post on Heart of the Matter online and thought it was great. 1st Corinthians 13 for homeschool moms

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and teach my children Latin conjugations, Chinese and Portuguese, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, and no matter what I say, they will not hear me.
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know my children’s bents and God’s plan for their lives, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and am the keeper of the teacher’s editions and solutions manuals, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, and even keep up with my giant piles of laundry and dishes, but do not have love, I am nothing, even if all the people at church think I’m Supermom.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and my formal dining room gets turned into a schoolroom and our family vacations look more like educational fieldtrips, and if I surrender my body to be burned, never having time to get my nails done, put makeup on or even take a bath, but do not have love, it profits me nothing, because all my family cares about is the expression on my face, anyway.

Love is patient with the child who still can’t get double-digit subtraction with borrowing, and kind to the one who hasn’t turned in his research paper. It is not jealous of moms with more, fewer, neater, more self-directed, better-behaved or smarter children. Love does not brag about homemade bread, book lists, or scholarships and is not arrogant about her lifestyle or curriculum choices. It does not act unbecomingly or correct the children in front of their friends. It does not seek its own, trying to squeeze in alone time when someone still needs help; it is not provoked when interrupted for the nineteenth time by a child, the phone, the doorbell or the dog; does not take into account a wrong suffered, even when no one compliments the dinner that took hours to make or the house that took so long to clean.
Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness or pointing out everyone else’s flaws, but rejoices with the truth and with every small step her children take in becoming more like Jesus, knowing it’s only by the grace of God when that occurs.
Love bears all things even while running on no sleep; believes all things, especially God’s promise to indwell and empower her; hopes all things, such as that she’ll actually complete the English curriculum this year and the kids will eventually graduate; endures all things, even questioning from strangers, worried relatives, and most of all, herself.
Love never fails. And neither will she. As long as she never, never, never gives up.

_____________________________________________________________________
Thank you Misty!


Check out her blog-

Thankful Thursday- I finally made it!

So today marks the day I officially signed my career contract with Farmers Insurance. It is a big accomplishment allowing me to finally own my own business and gives me a the freedom to do what I need to do with my family. I even got a fancy pen to go with it! I am very happy and cant wait for this new step in our life!


The pen says Team Illinois and has Farmers logo on it.

This week in our school.

We had a pretty eventful week. We finished up the solar system with the older kids. Unfortunately we did not go into as much detail as I would have liked but their "real" school starts next week and I wanted to give them a break. Kirky started cross country this week and Kota started swimming for the highschool team. They both seem to be struggling a little bit but I feel they will be fine. They are both nervous but seem to want to learn and improve. The Boone county fair is also this week and I have been trapped in the booth this week for work. Tomorrow we are going to the fair to take advantage of all of the free activities. Its timing is great with Nanners Farm unit. Nanners is doing great and is picking up the animals. I have a feeling she will really enjoy the petting zoo. We also got a rabbit yesterday. He was offered for free on Craigslist so we went and picked him up. His name is Brownie as he is a soft short hair thing. Nanners adores him to bits but has tried to feed him everything under the sun and give him hugs. I think it will be a beautiful friendship. Tomorrow there will be a blast of pictures of our new family member and of the fair.

outer space and started the farm

 So this past week we have been working on outer space with the older ones and have been doing the farm with Nanners. Nanner's preschool is strictly all unit studies and has the farm for the next 2 months. She loves all of those animals so I think it will go well. We made a mobile of different farm animals and she has a sensory box that she LOVES.

Beanie and Nanners playing in the bin. They were sorting the beans by color and size.

 Close up of the bin before they started digging and destroying!

 We had corn, kidney beans, black beans, and red beans mixed in.

 We also put in dry grass, yarn "hay" and cookie cutters, plastic ducks and horses.


Our outer space we have been studying the sun and we did an activity to see how far the planets were from each other. We used yarn, beads and a simple ratio and had a beautiful project hanging in our kitchen.

 We also made up mnemonics to help us remember the order of the planets. The kids had a real creative time thinking of words that made sense together.

This week we will be doing the moon, zodiac.

Here is also just a group picture taken when we went to the Murpheys going away party.

So I wrote this 8 days ago and still havnt put it up...

Lazy. That's what I am sometimes. But I haven't really been entirely lazy lately. We are almost done with our Germany project and the kids have been learning guitar (Pictures will come I promise.) Kirsten has also started learning to crochet. She is slowly getting the hang of it. We are doing today our lapbook for Germany. I also made over 25 file folder games so the kids have been busy lately. Its been great. I love having the kids learning while they are having fun. Pictures will follow soon I promise!

I also want to give a shoutout to the giveaway For the Love of Scarves is doing! giveaway
Quite awesome!

and here is last weeks post too!-
July 8th.
i haven't updated lately as firework season just came and went. With working as a pyrotechnic the fourth of July is massive headaches. We took the week off for Germany but learned a little bit on fireworks for the holiday. How they are put together and what chemicals form each effect. I also attempted my first lap book ever. I did it on Charles Manson the serial killer as we were watching a documentary on him that night. I was always very hesitant to try it, thinking it would be hard and complicated but it was super easy. I now am getting stuff together for them to complete on Germany and when we transition to our castle unit.
Today I also tried a new recipe for dinner. I made a hillybilly gumbo.
tomato paste, water, frozen chicken breasts, mixed veggies and rice all mixed together in a crock pot for 8 hours tasted awesome. 

March of Dimes

As  I was going to school for awhile to become a lactation consultant (read boobie feeding lady) babies have a special place in my heart. When I started working for Farmers Insurance I heard we were a national sponsor of the March of Dimes. I basically jumped out of my chair at that. We do a lot of fundraising to help all the premature babies and those born with birth defects. Today we have a pool tournament in Rockford for it and I made a special slideshow to go with it!

Slideshow created with Smilebox

DIY spa

Last night since we only had Nalani and I had been not so nice to Randy lately I decided to make him feel good for once. His feet are probably the most calloused feet I know so I figured I would try something new. I had saw only that some people have used sugar scrubs on their body. I didn't know what it was so i looked it up. Sugar is a great exfoliate. (shows how much of a girly girl I am. )  I used the following recipe: however I would not recommend using olive oil. They use way too much.  I also think I'm going to use almond oil next time. Its not as greasy.
Brown Sugar Scrub

Ingredients: 1-1/2 cups brown sugar 1/2 cup olive oil (canola oil can be substituted) 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Blending Procedure:

1. Pour the brown sugar into a bowl and pack it tightly using the back of a spoon. Add the olive oil and mix together to form a paste.
   
2. Add the vanilla extract last for a hint of scent. To use, scoop some into the palm of your hand and massage gently from limbs to torso, avoiding broken skin and face. Enjoy! 

I also added a good squirt of honey, as it is a great moisturizer.

You have to keep this refrigerated when you are done. It is all natural but has no preservatives. It will spoil if you don't. 

After I used it on his feet, Randy kept complaining how his feet didn't feel like his own.  After a long back rub I think he has no right to get mad at me for a few days.

Hopefully I can continue to make my own body products. It took very little time and effort and is so much better for you.
I also began to crochet again. I made a barbie doll hat instead of a human one but its a decent start. Pictures to follow. :)

Pretty crazyness

I have been working a lot lately so updating this has gotten put on the back burner. Busy is good though at work. This Sunday is our Pool tournament for the March of Dimes. Hopefully it will be a good turn out.
We had a BBQ at my Father in Laws house on Monday and it went well. It was good to spend time with the family, especially after not seeing them for a long time.

Red Riding Hood

So yesterday we started a little deeper and faster in our Germany study. Randy took the kids aside and worked with them on their flashcards for their vocab words. Next they read the background story of Little Red Riding Hood. Afterwards they read some interpretations and opinions on the moral of the piece. They were thrilled to find out that there was cannibalism involved in some versions. Go figure. I have dark and twisted kids. They then watched the movie Red Riding Hood that just came out with a werewolf interpretation. Not too shabby of a movie but we all werent that crazy about the ending.

We also went and registered for the library's summer reading program. We will see how long it takes them to get it done. 

Today the kids are  reviewing their cards again and doing a few more worksheets.Tonight we are heading to Chicago to see an old friend of mine and to visit their Aunt. Can't Wait!

The newsletter is finally finished

So I volunteered my services to be the newsletter editor for our reenacting group. It seemed like a great idea at the time. However since then I got yet another job and started working hardcore with school for the kids. Not much time left in my day. Also when I would get about 4 pages done in it, it would all crash regardless of how much I saved and I would be forced to start over. I also cant do ANYTHING with the stupid PDF file converter. Its all jibberish to me.

However on a happy note today it is DONE! at 2:58 in the morning DONE! I'm very happy.

summer school 2011

So this is our first summer of homeschooling all the boogers. Yes all 5 of them. I decided to do a unit study on Germany as their dad is a German buff in general and I figured it would be a good way to get everyone involved. We are doing a few worksheets a week when they are staying with us and hopefully are going to go to a German Festival next few months.


German Society of Rockford
Wisconsin German Fest

They each are required to learn German words. Each kid has to learn as many new words as their age. Some of their choices has been kind of strange but fun. Tonight we are going to read a German Fairy Tale and talk about its origins. Little Red Riding Cap.

We are also doing Dr. Suess for Nanners.

Favorite Sites

These are links to some of my favorite sites. It will be updated regularly so check back often.

Funnys
 quick quotes and funnys


Articles

Games

Books

Activities

Fun stuff to do
for toddlers

New Here

I am new to this blog itself but wanted to introduce myself. I am Lolo. Mommy to 5. I work as an insurance agent, a pyrotech, and as special events staff. Quite busy is an understatement.

I have known for a long time that I wanted to homeschool my daughter Nanners. This is our site for all of our ideas, trials, errors and documenting our fun along the way. OWL academy came to my mind for a few reasons. First I have a sick and twisted obsession with owls that stems from my Gama. Secondly I thought about what that word could possibly mean and I believe it fits to every way of homeschool. Homeschooling is to take each child and turn it into a personalized learning style for each kid. Into "Our Way of Learning".

 I married my awesome husband Randy and added on 4 new additions. We have a full house but I wouldn't have it any other way.