Thanksgiving!

Well, it is nice to be back to the schedule... almost.

We have been kind of slacking in the "formal" schooling department the last week. To be honest, I've been pretty busy with work. And trying to set myself up for some christmas bonuses. Since I work primarily from home, it takes up some of that time. To be honest, the kids have all been getting up in the morning and finding something nice to do together. I really hate to break that up, cause lets face it, it's not always easy to get along with your siblings.

Thanksgiving dinner was, interesting. We went to my sisters. There were way more people there then we had J.T. ready for. He really needs up front warning before we go somewhere that is busy or crowded. He was not impressed and nearly in tears when we got there. My fault, I should have asked. But since we were also bringing food, I guess i would have been told if there were going to be more people then we were used to having. I also ASSumed that everyone in the family was aware of the fact J.T. needed to be told ahead of time what we were getting into. I forget that my sister doesn't really know my kids as well as I think sometimes. After about an hour of him being upset, Todd carried him into the yard where the rest of the kids were and stayed with them until he was comfortable with the kids and then he was alright for the rest of the afternoon.

I spent Thanksgiving monday cleaning out the boy bedroom. Very excited I found A.J.'s second pair of glasses under a bed. Nothing like finding $100!!
The boys and I took M.J. outside that evening to do her first "stars on a stick" This would be what we call sparklers. She seemed to love them, but more so when I was holding them. Fair enough not every day you ask your kids to hold a sparking stick of metal!

I hope all of those who celebrated Thanksgiving this weekend enjoyed it! chat at ya soon!!

OCTOBER!!

It's here! Fall is most certainly in the air. the poor monsters are so confused on what to wear in the morning. one day it's pants, long sleeves and a sweater, next it's shorts and t-shirts!!

Today I was called in to work at the school for an hour. With no child care the monster all had to come.  It wasn't so bad for just an hour. M.J. Just cried at anyone who looked at her. The boys all sat in the back classroom and watched a movie on the ipad and played video games. M.J. half way through was pretty happy to be wrapped up onto my back and pretended she was tired. It's nice to work somewhere where bringing the kids to for an hour-ish is not a big deal.

Of course after lunch she did decide it was nap time.

School work got pretty much put to the side today. But the all three of the boys have been doing good and are really starting to work on focusing a bit more. Hoping that sticks. J.T. and A.J. know that not getting all the work done during the week means no sleep over at Nana and Papa's ... so that is a big motivator. ;)
We made some work envelopes yesterday. nice and small, so they will be easy to take along for reading practice. IF we ever remember to grab them on the way out the door!

Halloween costumes are on their way to being done. I put a quick hold to do some sewing for the boy's Scouting group. But should get back to it this weekend. They are all going to be Star Wars characters. I'm sure DH bribed them into that one. yeesh!! I've never even seen the movies. (i know throw the tomatoes at me now!) But I know more about them then I'd ever want to know. (ouch! that one hurt. )
Todd is pretty sure if I just sat down to watch them I would at least have a mild interest... well, I'll let you know how that goes. My parents, being the awesome dedicated Grandparents they are went out and bought the series so they would have a clue what my kids are talking about. (oh.. did I mention my not yet 2yo HUMS THE THEME SONG!!!)

Have you seen the movies? What do you think about them??

We do everything we can to travel on the cheap. In light of our most recent road trip, I have a few tips that can help with planning an inexpensive vacay.  If you have anything to add, feel free to add it to the comments section!!

1) scan the Internet. Then call the hotel directly!!

We stayed at the extended stay in Ottawa. It was a great hotel. Very clean. By calling the hotel directly we saved $5.00 off the posted Expedia cost. I have yet to call some where directly and not have them beat or match the cheapest price I find I line. And call as close to the date you want to go. We usually wait until the morning we are leaving. Sounds risky, but just make sure you have a back up plan. 

2) Bring food!!

By far for us, the biggest expense in traveling is food costs. For all 6 of us to eat out it is just crazy. We are always bringing coolers with us with drinks, fruit and cut up veg, sandwich fixings, salads, what ever we can easily take with us and do up right in our rooms.  Also a lot of grocery stores have not meals you can buy that are hot and you can get a few meals out of. Lugging a cooler is well worth it and has saved us a fortune! Recently we have discovered that you can also book decent priced suite rooms. So having that kitchenette is awesome. ( as well as extra space with the 6 of us!!) and we found that the money we saved having the option to cook a meal was well worth the extra money for the room. 

3) conntenetail or grab and go breakfasts. Here is another thing that I think is worth the few extra dollars in a room Rental. (If you don't want to bring your breakfast in the cooler) breakfast is expensive in most restaurants. Not worth spending money on. 

4) if you need to eat In a restaurant do it at lunch!
I live for hot meals. Not always easy when you are traveling on the cheap. Lunch prices are most often better.  For slightly smaller portions. The service is usually faster since its not crazy busy, and leftovers will make a great midnight snack ;)

5) week day travel!!

Our jobs are super flexible, and since we homeschool. We always travel during the week.  Hotel rates are generally better, and lot of times the cost of doing things is a bit less. Money saved all around!!

6) take your job with you!!
Ouch right. no  one really want's to. I have 2 home based businesses that I can easily take with me on the road, AND it doesn't feel like I'm working at all, so, it feels good when you can pay for your trip while on your trip. :)

7) look for deals on activities!
This seems like a no brainer. But I've totally forgot to do this! some museum's have free days, or buy to go to tihs one and get in this one free/%off etc. IF you can book around this. AWESOME. and leads me too...

8) get a hotel close to where you plan to visit.
You can save a ton on not having to park!! or even if the transit route is easy.

Road trip!

This past week, right after regular public schools started, we finally had the chance to take off for a few days! We try to head out a few times a year, to do something fun with the kids. We haven't had a chance to take our trailer out yet {:( }. Hopefully soon. I was really wanting to take the kids to the ROyal Ontario Museum. Then hubby found out that the Star Wars exhibition had been extended at the Canadian Aviation Museum. Since he is a hard core Star Wars fan, and I have 4 mini Star Wars fans in the house, clearly I was outnumbered!! 

So, that Morning we had the kids pack up and away we went. We can't tell our guys we are going anywhere until we are almost out the door. They get crazy no sleep excited. And/or really sick with excitement. 

 We stayed at a great hotel in Ottawa. The extended stay. We chose it because  it had a "grab and go" breakfast. A kitchenette, and separate bedroom. The bathroom was a bit weird. You didn't want anyone to whip open the door if you were standing in front of the sink or tub, but it was nice. the front desk called up 30 mins after check in to see it everything was alright with our room. And, the price was right. 137.00+.

Now, I am not a Star Wars fan. But the exhibit was pretty cool. Even educational. They talked a lot about science, how people are influence by different aspect of their culture, genes and the tied it all back to aspects of the movie and how these things build to influence the movie characters. I was pretty impressed. Even if I didn't get the planet stuff and fighter stuff ;) 

Hair do baby??

I love working from home. I never thought I would. I was quite nervous about taking that step, but it has working well for us. I owned and operated a salon (two at one point) out side of my home until shortly before I found out I was pregnant with A.J..with one child at home that I was homeschooling, with the help of my parents, another I knew I would be homeschooling, and, knowing we intended to add to our family, it was a decision that made sense. I now run two complimentary businesses out of my home. I have a part time hair clientele and i also an independent distributor with It Works! Global. in January started to teach hairstyling one day a week at the local private hairstyling school. I am enjoying that very much. 

All this is to explain in part my DD's actions for today ;) she spends a lot of time on the floor in my shop area, or wrapped up on my back watching while I do my clients hair. Today, I took the lovely monsters all out side to finger paint. (Know where this is going yet??) immediately after I dropped a dollop of paint on her paper, M.J. Decides that she wanted to be a red head. Her finger went into the paint and across her head. Several times. I suppose I can hardly blame her. Then onto her scuttle bug and plasma car up and down the sidewalk to show off her new do to the world. Im sure people who drove past, had they glanced at M.J. thought she had split her head. We came inside for some chocolate almond milk, she dipped her fingers in hers and painted her hair with that as well. ( brunette??) 5 mins later, she had grabbed DH's gel and squeezed it ( nothing came out thank goodness) and was trying to put in in her hair. This is the mess she now has. 

And yes. I supervised while she did all of this. It's just a mess it will clean off. 

And finally asleep after her busy morning. 

I am going to keep a close eye on the scissors from now on ;). Thankfully we store them up well over her head. 

But can you believe she was trying to cover up that blonde!! 

Worm composter!!

I have been dying to make a worm composter since last spring. But, amount other distraction, I couldn't get past the cost of buying the "right" worms (15.00+ a lbs) and getting them shipped here. So I never bothered. But, thanks to a last minute trip to the farmers market today I found some at $4.00 a lbs!! So of course we got some and home we came to make our very own vermicomposter!! It's hard to be trying to teach your children to be earth stewards if we aren't doing what we can when it's made affordable to us. 

I had watched a few you tube videos so I had a basic idea. But wanted a few more ideas before we got started. This is what we came up with when we mixed together what we saw and co pared it to what we had.

Materials:

1 18G storage bin

1half height storage bin

One peice of cardboard

Newspaper

A bit of soil

Drill

1/4" drill bit

Ok so first the monsters and I drilled 6 holes in the bottom of our bin. It has a contoured bottom, so we made sure to drill the holes where it would be the lowest points 

Mind the mess we spent the long weekend getting the trailer out and set up so we could check it. 

My timid man getting a turn.

Yes even the baby gets to drill the holes. Got to teach them they can do it young!

Poor babe wanted to do it all himself. Couldn't quite hold the button down. 

See my little half side bin there? Next we drilled holes around the lower end of the big bin, but still low enough that they would be inside the half size bin. (No photos. By this time everyone wanted a shot at the drill again and I had C.J. Help to watch many fingers. Then we drilled a few holes. Around the top of the bin just under where the bin lid sat, but higher then we figured we would let the worms get. These are for air circulation. And one in the top. Inside we added our piece of cardboard squished into the bottom. And the kids shredded a nice bed of newspaper to the bin. 

 You can see the holes in this one. And we put alayer  of soil on the paper and the worms in.  We then set the bigger bin into the half size one to catch all the "worm tea" so we can put that in the garden too and to stop the little buggers from escaping!! 

I think at a later time I will drill a few more holes throughout the middle and put some screening across them to increase air circulation.  And maybe a layer of stones in the bottom of the smaller bin to raise the big one out of it a bit so they don't get too wet in the bottom. We will have to move this inside and downstairs as the summer gets hotter. But for now this is where it will live. So. Here's hoping we don't kill them!!