Crafty Christmas

I'll let you all know a little secret.  As crafty as I am I HATE crafting with my kids. Between the huge age gap, 2 sensory defensive kids and different interest level it turns something I love into something I dread. Nothing is worse than a huge mess with a crying kid due to it being sticky and others frusterated that they cant get it just right like mine. 

I had an extra day off this weekend and had an extra nap so I got ultra courageous. And remembered that my attitude is most important and keep it simple. Here are the great ugly holiday sweaters they decorated.

Merry Christmas

Having a good attitude over activies

One thing I have struggled with the last few years has been Christmas. I will be the first to admit that I am a Scrooge. Between my mother dying and the falling out with my ex and getting pregnant, winter has never been a good time for me. I read a great quote the last few weeks and it has really got me thinking. Mommy’s ATTITUDE matters more than the ACTIVITIES. Original post I saw it on

Wow. My sanity, joy and patience with my children is more important than any craft, game or trip I could do with them.

This is constantly something I struggle with as I feel often that I am never doing enough with them. Between working full time and being stretched thin with therapies and my extreme  postpartum depression it turns it to a very rough season.

I have found some ways to reduce this year and just enjoy it.

After the 9th we are done with homework until after New Years. I want time to slow down and do crafts and baking.

We are doing Truth in the Tinsel but relaxed. If we get an ornament done then GREAT if not then its ok.

We are doing a "kindness fairy" as opposed to the Elf on a Shelf. Sally has appeared to come and remind our family to be kind this year.

Thanksgiving

 

We are a bit late but hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving! 

Truth in the tinsel- Day 1

 

So we are officially a Truth in the Tinsel family. I had been debating on it last year and it seems a good year to start the tradition. Nani had a great time doing the first craft for Light.

Catching Fire-

So I sent the teens this monday to go see Catching Fire with a few other homeschool girls. They said they met some new friends and had a great time being geeky, drooling over boys and comparing and contrasting the book. I counted it as a great experience for them.

Koda's Photos

With Koda aspiring to go into photography I have given her tasks to go out and take photos occasionally. They are generally glorified scavenger hunts but with the point to go and be observant and take pictures.

Sensory fun- Pumpkin goop

Talking internships

Well Koda is finally "growing up". Being a Junior in highschool we have to start thinking about what will happen after us. Originally she wanted to go into the FBI and become a criminal behaviorist. Well being as she doesn't excel in math or science, Randy and I didn't think it would be a good fit. Koda had expressed a sudden interest in photography however and BAM! We found a passion.

taken from google images

" I don't think I want to work in the FBI anymore," couldn't have sounded like sweeter words.

Koda doesn't like people. Period. She has however an abundance of love for nature and animals due to her father. I have possibly found an opportunity to send her to a farm for a few weeks as an intern. She would help with milking goats, making goat soap, canning, butchering chickens. You know, what all teenage girls want to do. She is so excited as in some possible downtime she would love to go and take photos of the animals, the barns and nature.

taken from google images

In the meantime we are going to work on some basic photography skills and photo-editing to get her prepared for this.

Sensory fun- shaving cream

 

 

Pure beauty

I ordered a mystery box of yarn and was so excited to see this inside. This will be used as a special treat for me!

Sensory fun- October sensory bin

 Ryguy got his first time in enjoying a sensory bin. He did great and was monitored super close to make sure we didn't mouth things too much. Will be doing plenty of these in the future.

 

When its time to change gears

Kirky has always been my difficult teen. When she came to live with us again and start homeschooling I knew I was going to have my hands full. Spirited, independant and persistant can be great personality traits except for when you fight with your parents. We knew there had to be a root problem of why she all of a sudden wouldnt get her homework done anymore and got mouthy. The final straw was me going to grade her papers and tests for the week and NOTHING was finished. We had to find out what was going on and fast.

We figured out that she HATED the online portion of Easy Peasy. She didnt like the videos or being trapped behind the computer. She found it too easy to wander online. She missed the worksheets and the busy work of "school".

Kirky had never had the deschooling process so she was frusterated by it. We can back off a bit but will slowly switch to accomplish our goals for them.

We are going to "fix" our problem by:
Taking over 2 weeks off to decompress. Fall is here so we are going to enjoy it.
We are going to sit and read aloud Frankenstein for Halloween.
Getting rid of the computer portion of her school work. She will still do the same lessons but it will be in worksheet format or reading books.

We are hoping this will help lighten her stress and worries about school and make learning more enjoyable for all of us.

Thankful Thursday-Ryguy

My son turned the big one on Tuesday. I am so proud of the little boy he is turning into and the man he will someday become.

Socializing highschoolers

Everyone's big concern is "socializing". Although we have pulled the girls out in middle school and highschool we still find ways to socialize. Our biggest desire is that our kids march to the beat of their own drums and not stoop down to the levels of dressing inappropriately or caking on makeup just to be popular.



Koda went back to her old high school for homecoming and the 2 biggest things that stuck out to her from the experience was " Wow girls had some super short dresses" and "There was just nonstop drama and about 10 /minutes of dancing". It made us feel like we did something right.

New family member

Over the past week we have rescued another dog.

It seems he was abused so our biggest task is socializing him around humans. He is very much a pacifist and we have renamed him as such from Rambo to Groucho. It will be a great thing as he comes out of his shell.

We spent the day trying to socialize him at the local state park. It ended up being a great idea even after being lost for over 2 hours. Here are a few good shots from our adventures.

Fall sensory bin

It has been awhile since I've done a lot of sensory play. We do it, I just havn't done anything "blogworthy".
Now since we are more settled in our new home its time to bring them back in full force.
Our first bin is filled of rice scented with apple pie spice and dyed red. We found some add ins at target that are brown and red plastic leaves and little acorns ( table throws). We will use them counters and for patterns too.

First week of school

We have gotten through our first week of school and have survived!

I have a few pictures to report. Mostly are going to be of Nanners as Koda is behind the camera and teens are too "cool" for pictures.

Cake decorating

We participated in our local library's cake decorating contest. Neither of us won however it was fun to practice. We had a few of the teens come from our co-op and decorate too. My book theme was Owl Babies and the older girls did the book D.U.F.F.