Smelly Science

In our household we love science! If Justin had his way we would be doing science for every subject, he just cannot get enough. Enter Smelly Science! This is an online live class all about smell! We are having so much fun! The class is led by Professor H who is very funny and engaging! This week starts our third and final week. There are videos to watch with Professor H, science experiments to do, worksheets, a lapbook and an online forum to share your experiment results. You can find Smelly Science and other great live classes and curriculum at Currclick. (click on the currclick button on my left side bar) We are also signed up for the Live Space Class and Nim's Island! The classes are still on sale.

We had fun the first week with learning how our nose detects smell and how our brain processes a smell. We did two experiments. We had to determine what two items were using only our smell. We could not see or touch the items. We used a sweet potato and a carrot all three of us got this one correct.

Justin assisting Kaden in smelling the sweet potatoes.

Justin's turn!

Think Larry is trying to guess?

Next we tried a lemon and a lime. These were a bit harder to detect since they are very similar to one another. Justin and I got it right and Larry and Kaden both guessed wrong. This

Justin getting up close to his lemon!

Kaden doing the sniff it up your nose test!

hummmm, now is this the lemon?

stay tuned for more smelly science...

Tea Anyone?

The boys and I made these adorable tea cup cards to give to my mom on Mother's Day. Even though Mother's Day is long past I thought I would share it anyway. This would make a great card for other occasions: a tea party invitation, birthday card for you mom, grandma, aunt or best friend. Or just a thinking of you card!

I know this is something I would love to receive! I think they came out so cute! I found this idea at Zakka Life I'm going to have to start leaving directions for various ideas laying around for Larry to find!

You could even change it up a bit if you didn't want to use the print. Just print out the template in black and white, cut it out and trace it onto card stock in the color of your choice. You could embellish it with stamps, stickers, embossing anything you like.

since they were both going to my mom we chose two different types of tea.

on the back of the tea bags we attached a coordinating piece of card stock with a message for mom mom.

The tea bags are tucked inside our tea cups ready to be given away.

We had to add some stickers!

Proudly showing off their creations!

Enjoying a "spot" of tea!

Imagine.....

Goodwill and Yard Sale Finds

I love yard sale and thrift store shopping! It is so fun! You never know what treasures you are going to find. Mother's Day weekend. I hit the jackpot. Do you like to yard sale and thrift store shop? You do have to watch that you don't bring home a bargain just because it is a bargain. You can end up with a lot of clutter (something that is going on here right now, but that is another post!)

I usually keep a list of things I am always on the lookout for. Whenever I am looking for something specific I always check the thrift stores first. Many times I can find what I want or something similar to suit my needs.

Below are some things we were looking for. I got all of this for about $33.

First up Goodwill: Did you know that each week they have different colored tags 50% off? Did you also know you can sign up for the Goodwill Club. They give you are card and stamp it each time you purchase something. When your card is full you get 20% off your entire order. So not only did I get the 50% discount for the red and blue tags I got an additional 20% off!

a pair of jeans for Justin, pack of tissue paper, four cloth napkins, first discovery books, a oil bottle.

a set of curtains six panels all together~see that blue tag sticking out?

They were marked $4.99 and that blue tag made them half off!

Books~all children's books at Goodwill are 49 cents each! I am excited about the science books. Justin does not know I bought those!

More books! A few for Kaden! We love Kipper here and it is a lift-a-flap book.
Kaden loves them. I am excited about the Whale is not a fish book.
I even found a book with Hangul (Korean writing) and the English translation!
You even see a Narnia book in there, The Magician's Nephew.
I am buying them for my niece Kiara who loves to read.....shhhh....she does not know about them!

Yard Sale Finds:

two brand new backpacks. They had never been used!

A brand spankin' new 1.5 quart crockpot. I have been wanting a really small crockpot for warm dips and such. This one was brand new sealed in the box. A sterlite container, a stack of gladware containers. R2-D2, a bunch of small leather pouches Justin just had to have! I leather Key ring of Texas and one of Florida. Did you know Kaden loves Texas? Do you know why? Texas has COWBOYS!

Not pictured: A brand new pair of snow pants for Justin, 12 large flags of various countries. I have a flag lover here, any guesses? I can tell you it is not Kaden!

A Little Funny between Dh and I

I was talking to Larry tonight about some of the organizing and rearranging I have been doing. I'll be having some new school items come in soon as a result of some swaps I am participating in. In the midst of my rearranging I thought I had better be sure to leave some space for these items. I mentioned to Larry that I need to get my items together for the swaps and I would like to get them in the mail this weekend. I went on to say I was ready to put them together I just needed my shipment of corks to arrive. The following conversation ensued.

Me: I'll be able to put those swap bags together as soon as my corks arrive.

Larry: your corpse? (with a look of horror on his face)

Me: What?

Larry: you said you were waiting for your corpse to arrive? What are you doing a CSI unit? (ummm honey I think that would be illegal)

Me: Corpse?

Larry: That's what you said!

Me: I said CORKS! I am waiting for my CORKS to arrive!

Larry: Oh I'm relieved!

Me: well I would hope so!

Oh I am still laughing so hard I can barely type!

Back to your regular scheduled blogging.....I assure you as far as I know Oriental Trading (where I placed my order) only deals in corks!

Free Hot Dogs!

Go here for a package of Oscar Myer beef hot dogs. Thanks Tammy's Recipes!

NaturExplorers~Fantastic Nature Units

A fellow homeschool mom Cindy and her friend Melissa have partnered to create some fantastic new nature units called NaturExplorers! These units look fantastic. They would be great for any family who wants to get out there and get hands on with nature. Currently they have twelve units available with more to come in the future. The units are reasonably priced. You can buy one unit at at time or you can buy them in a bundle~volume one or volume two and save a bit of money. You can view a sample unit here. I am interested in getting the Hard As A Rock unit. My boys love rocks and we are hoping to learn more about geology over the summer. This unit will go along perfectly with our study.

Today We Celebrated our 25th Anniversary

Twenty five year ago today Larry and I said " I Do" Can it have been that long ago? Larry surprised me with a bouquet of yellow roses (my favorite). We celebrated by going out to dinner courtesy of our bestest friends Tim and Sue! They sent us a gift certificate to our favorite Chinese buffet.

Have You Ever Heard Live and Let Die Performed like this?

A Peter Rabbit Tea

I love our library. Seriously I do. It ROCKS! Our library has so much to offer, books videos, audio books, magazines, inter library loan, online services and many programs. We also have the world's best librarians! I love their children's programs. We recently attended A Peter Rabbit Tea. It was so fun. It was supposed to be outdoors in the children's garden but the weather did not cooperate so it was held indoors. It was wonderful.

Ladies from the garden club and a local florist (who is very involved with the library) hosted it. One of the ladies from the garden club read the story of Peter Rabbit. If you aren't familiar with the story. You really should read it. It is written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. It is one of our favorite stories.

The children were to plant flowers and vegetables out in the children's garden. They couldn't do that since the weather was bad. After the story reading the children were each given a chamomile plant and chamomile seeds to take home and plant. If you have read the story of Peter Rabbit then you know that Peter's mother gave him chamomile tea to settle his upset tummy from eating all those vegetables in Mr. McGregor's garden.

They also gave out little Dover Peter Rabbit sticker books which were handed out by none other than a bunny. Next we were served all sorts of goodies. Little tea sandwiches of cucumber, tuna salad, egg salad. Fruit and veggies and cookies and cakes. We were also served our choice of chamomile tea or apple juice. It was such a fun day!

Hearing the story of Peter Rabbit. Look closely.I see Peter standing in the background.

waiting in line for their book and seeds

the food table

full view of the food table


The Rabbit who handed out the seeds and books. Kaden informed me this bunny looks nothing like Peter Rabbit! lol

sipping some chamomile tea apple juice

enjoying some strawberries!

The Simple Woman's Daybook~May 11th

Outside my window...dark and quiet

I am thinking...some future blog posts I would like to do.

I am thankful for... being fortunate enough to be home with my boys every day.

From the learning rooms...continuing on with our human body unit. This week it is on to body organs

From the kitchen...it was breakfast for supper tonight, eggs and toast.

I am wearing...my jammies and as always, my comfy slippers~can you tell I am NOT a shoe girl!

I am creating...a list of ideas for summer activities

I am going...no where just now...enjoying a relaxing late night at the computer.

I am reading...Sister Chicks Go to Brit still plugging along. Yes, I am still reading this!

I am hoping...the weather holds out for the weekend

I am hearing...the tv running in the background on the Style Network...just finished watching Clean House.

Around the house...the hermit crabs are active and the cat is snoozing on the sofa otherwise all is quiet.


One of my favorite things...my new pastry cutter. I have been wanting one forever and I picked one up this week.

A few plans for the rest of the week...a pretty busy week for us with school, continuing along with the decluttering. This week it is the kitchen and the boys room. What a mess their room was/is. I took a bag of trash out of there! We have a library program on Thurs. night and a visit to my grandma's this week. Then it is baking for the library book sale on Friday and Sat and actually attending the sale.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...

This little sweetie showed up in our yard the other day! So cute!

more daybooks here.

Menu Plan Monday~The Tuesday Edition

Yes I am late getting my menu up. Last week I didn't even get it posted!

Breakfasts: eggs, toast, cereal, oatmeal, fruit, waffles

Lunches: grilled cheese, tuna salad, egg salad, peanut butter and jelly

Dinner:

Monday~eggs and toast

Tuesday~cheese burgers on the grill and oven fries

Wednesday~Bacon Cheeseburger pasta

Thursday~Crockpot chicken

Friday~homemade pizza

Saturday~fish

Sunday~Leftover day

More menus at Organizing Junkie

Space Shuttle Atlantis Launches Today!

photo from NASA

We get so excited around here when the space shuttle launches! Justin dreams of being an astronaut and going into space on day! The shuttle is scheduled to launch at at 2:01 EST. You can watch the coverage at NASA TV. The astronauts are going on an 11 day mission to service The Hubble Space Telescope.

The Old Schoolhouse WeE-book~The Real Hummers

This WeE-book is a little gem written by Jeannie Fulbright author of the Apologia Elementary Science Series. This book is packed with loads of information on hummingbirds. From how fast their wings beat to their ability to see a great distance, to migration and how they sleep and much more.

Here are a few fun facts: Did you know that hummingbirds hibernate? Each night? It is amazing how these little birds live. Did you know there are more than 300 species of hummingbirds? You will learn this and so much more exciting and useful facts about these little birds.

There is also a section on planting a hummingbird garden that includes extensive list of flowers, trees and shrubs to attract hummingbirds to your yard. You will also learn how to make your own hummingbird food using a very simple recipe.

At the end of this book there is list of internet resources to further help you in learning about hummingbirds.

This little book is so timely for us. We just hung our hummingbird feeder over the weekend and made our own food. We had hummingbird visit us and become trapped on our porch! We rescued him using a butterfly net. I'll be using this as a mini unit over the summer with the boys as we observe our hummers.

The Old Schoolhouse WeE book~Beating the Summertime Blues

This is a fun little WeE book ! Do you and your kids get the summertime blues? Are you wondering what on earth you are going to do over the summer? Have you been trying to figure out what your kids are going to do once school is out? This book addresses those very questions with some fun ideas of things to do with your kids. There are ideas for outdoor activities, fun ways to keep cool during those really hot days, projects to do together and even some creative writing.

There is also a section for mom time! The author Kim Kautzer gives some great ideas for us mom's to recharge when we need a little pick me up or refreshing or just some personal time! I am planning on using some of these ideas for both myself and my boys over the summer!

The Old Schoolhouse WeE-book~a naturally clean home and baby

Did you know that in addition to their e-books The Old Schoolhouse also has some great little WeE-books? They are only $1.95 each and there are many different topics to choose from. I'll be reviewing three in the next few posts.

This is a great little WeE-book packed with lots of information on natural cleaners and homemade laundry detergent. Are you looking to get away from many of the chemicals that many household cleaners contain? Would you like to make your own cleaners and laundry detergent? Then this is the book for you. Inside you will find recipes for making your own laundry detergent, dishwasher soap, bathroom cleaner and even weed killer. These recipes call for very easy to find ingredients many of which you most likey aldready have in your home. The recipes are clear and simple to follow. Not only will you be using natural products to clean your home and laundry, by making your own you will have substantial savings.

In addition to the household cleaners, there is a section on cloth diapers and homemade wipes and wipes solution. The author, Lisa Barthuly talks about using cloth diapers and organic disposable diapers as an alternative to using disposable diapers. There are four recipes for homemade baby wipes solution. Also discussed are various ways to make your own baby wipes.

I have tried the bathroom cleaner recipe and was pleased with the results and it costs pennies to make. This little WeE~book will get you started on your way to making your own household cleaners.