Giant catch up post…

Posted on November 1, 2010 by justakrazymom

Ok..welcome November..dang you arrived fast! I realize I have been a really bad blogger but in my defense we have one heck of a busy schedule..between schooling, Noah working 2-3 days a week,wrestling,soccer, karate, bball times 3 kids, dance and ya know..sleeping every once in awhile..I just don’t have time nor desire to blog much right now. So I am about to post a huge overwhelming post of the last 2 weeks.. schooling and fun.. and they aren’t in chronological order..

Taejan working on the letter Cc:

Declan doing the dance he does when he needs to remember something for schooling:

And working on his research project:

Playing Boggle Jr

Helping Taejan.. he’s big into spelling and writing things right now:

Princess helping herself to some of my sweet tea:

Taejan loves taking the Boggle Jr cards and the white board and practicing his writing skills!

Declan using the Hot Dots:

Things aren’t perfect with the two cats..we still have LOTS of fights daily..but mostly cus kitten wants to play and big kitty does NOT..but they are tolerating each other better:

I “winterized” the schoolroom. We don’t have real heat out there and it’s only a 3 season room. So we don’t work out there much in the winter ( i do use a little heater but I don;t get it real warm). Between that and the fact the kids hate working at their own desks it was time to rearrange:

Ziah had her 7th birthday party.. she wanted a trick or treat party..

Instead of party bags I set up 3 trick or treat stations..it was fun!

More lessons:

Finding stuff for our Compost Jar as part of our Global Warming science unit. We are studying how recycling can help global warming and one of the projects in our lapbook is a compost jar:

Ziah got a great necklace kit from Lila and family and was enjoying making some jewelry:

The kids have been very antsy lately..we were spending too much time either stuck in the house or running around at activities..so on a very nice fall day we walked to the lake and explored for hours..they had the best time ..it was so nice to see the 3 wee ones just being NICE to each other and having fun ( Noah was at karate then home doing school work):

The day before her actual birthday Ziah had her 4 best homeschooled friends over for a Princess tea party.. Declan helped me make all the food:

Then all 3 got dressed up nice ( Noah was at work)..Taejan and Declan were the waiters btw:

All 5 girls..they had the best time!

Jadziah’s last picture as a 6 year old:

And first as a 7 year old:

The public schools had a half day so we had friends over:

The girls painted for hours…

Then we had the city’s Halloween parade with our krew of friends:
Ziah and her other half Autumn:

Hubby and I:

3 of my best girls and I:

it was COLD..smart kids:

Declan and his best peeps:

Then we had Trick or Treating with our krew of friends:

Of course we ended the Holiday weekend at my bestest friend’s house..
Noah, Ephiphani and Ashley ( notice Noah’s new glasses?? He has had glasses for 7 years but he now has to wear them all the time)

Taejan dancing:

Scott and Joni:

2 of my boys:

My friend of 30ish years Missy and her husband..they were some people from “Jersey Shore”?..I don’t watch it so I was clueless..lol:

Brian and Deb:

Taejan and Ashley:

Taejan and I:

Lots of dancing as always:

oh some random cell phone pictures..LOL.. so the hamster we bought Ziah when her other one died apparently came to us pregnant.. we discovered this about 3 weeks after we bought her when we went to clean the cage and there was 2 babies.. sadly only one lived and his name is Shayman and he lives in Declan’s room now!

We took the krew to 6Flags for Fright Fest( Noah was with us but off with his friend):

More random school stuff:

Declan and one of his best buds jake:

Our city has this downtown “fair: type thing called Third Thursday every month from May-October.. we go to most. This month the kids got to Trick or Treat. 2 of our best peeps and their kids joined us:

Well I think I am now caught up…lol.. for now!

I love Fall!

Posted on September 26, 2010 by justakrazymom

I am very blessed to live where we live… I love seasons..and boy o boy do we have seasons around here… heck in a matter of days we went from 70′s to 40′s to 80′s…lol.. tends to happen this time of the year every year ( even though select group of locals will complain every year that the weather is sooo bad..um..ok..same as this time last year but whatever..lol).

As the air cools I tend to get an itch.. an itch to be outside, hiking, playing etc when I won’t be sweating up a storm! There is nothing like spending hours in the cool fresh air , except if your lucky enough to do it with friends!

Friday the kids and I met up with my super long time friend and 3 of her kids ( since we were like..12…ack..lol) and a new friend and her kiddos. We had 3 moms, 8 kids 8.5 and under and 1 teen between us. We went on a nice loop trail on Mt. Greylock..

The tribe:(minus the teen..but he really was with us)

As we left Michelle spotted a horse and we all stopped to see him..gorgeous animal!

We decided to get together the next day and met up at Green River Farms.. we planned to apple pick but any early frost killed their crop..so we let the kids play..

Then we hit the “petting zoo”

And since we really wanted to apple pick we headed to an orchard I’ve picked at before:

I can not say enough how awesome these 6 kids are ( Michelle has a teen also..neither of ours joined us for apple picking..lol). They never ever fight, all 6 play together or they pair up..it’s beyond nice!

nothing says carefree kids like an impromtu game of Duck Duck Goose in the middle of an apple orchard ( lucky for them another friend of ours since we were way young was there with her kids!)

What a view:

Then today after church and CCD we borrowed Declan’s best friend and headed out for another full day of fall fun! We decided to see how the foliage was on The Mohawk Trail. We soon realized it was a little greener than back home but it was still a gorgeous ride!

We stopped off at the glacial potholes in Shelburne Falls. I can remember swimming here but they haven’t allowed it since 2002.

Next stop was Mikes Maze in Sunderland. Here’s the view from the farm to Mount Sugarloaf:

The view of the maze from the lookout :

The maze is more than just a maze..you have tasks. There are 4 pictures to print “old school” by layer colors ( so 16 stations you must find) then there are 12 art questions to locate and answer. We’ve heard people have taken hours to complete it all.. we were in there just a touch over an hour ( Declan and I are natural GPS’s.. I can follow any map..even one of a corn maze). The give you a numbered flag and you have to put a washer on the same number on a big board outside the maze…this way they know if the maze is empty at the end of the day or not.. after getting our flag and instructions we headed in:

music anyone?

After the maze we had a snack ( oh my..the prices were amazing.. snacks and drinks for 6 people for $11..no lie!!!) and then Taejan and Ziah did the pony ride:

Next stop was to head up Mount Sugarloaf.. it’s not that high ( just over 600 feet) but wow what views! I think I like the views from this better than some of the bigger ones because you could see things clearer..
The maze :

Adding to their passports ( and starting a new one for Phil)

Goofy tribe of kids:

have I mentioned how much I love fall in the North East??? I have about a dozen more fun fall things planned for the month of October.. I love love love it!!!

What’s for lunch?

Posted on August 9, 2010 by justakrazymom

Ah that never ending question from my younger 3.. they usually ask about 3 seconds after consuming breakfast.. yeppie! I have been toying with the idea of some sort of lunch box for them but really didn’t want lunch boxes per say. So I had this idea on the back burner when I read my friend Heather‘s post about what she has started doing…score!

I still don’t want actual lunch boxes and since we are on the go so much I didn’t do her snack idea ( yet..it may happen down the road) but i did buy some containers and we are now packing up lunch for the 3 youngest. Taejan’s morning job ( started yesterday..lol) is to help me pack the lunches. He loves being useful so this is perfect for him.

Here’s what they are having today:

Salad for all.. no tomato’s in Declan’s.. fresh cuke from the garden in all. Crackers and cheese and pepperoni , no cheese for Taejan. And grapes. Pretty sure we hit all the food groups and it’s easy and best of all for my grazer’s is it’s self service. So no need to wait for mom to fix lunch. Whenever they are ready to eat ( during a specific time frame) they can grab and go.

They each also have a thermos full of a drink ( water for Taejan, Sunny D for Declan and milk for Ziah) they can grab with their lunch. After only one day in use they are a hit and I can very much see us continuing with them.

Next up..how I clean. I really like a clean house.. and I don’t like when life and schooling makes that harder. I do NOT like clutter, not one little bit. Alas i am also in the minority around this house as the other 5 people I live with tend to not much care. All the kids have chores but this really only helps maintain a clean house so much. I prefer not to give the kids a ton of cleaning chores for a few reasons.. #1..they aren’t going to clean the way I want it clean anyway..lol..#2 they are kids..so I want them to have responsibility but still be free kids. various things they rotate are washing the kitchen chairs, cleaning the entryway,dusting the TV,cleaning the garbage can. All four have to make their beds, clean up toys( or stuff in the teens case) get dressed and put away their laundry daily. Noah has empty the cat litter, empty/load dishwasher and take out garbage when needed. We have a handy chart for each kiddo, when they have accomplished the chore they simply remove the card:

That has worked for us with the kids.
I have a mental checklist of what I need to do but as life gets busy such things tend to get forgotten. So about a month ago I set up my own “chore” list and chart. :

On that white board is the dates, and each date is a room.. One room a day is my focus zone and then one misc zone ( pantry,linen closet ,laundry room etc). I also have a daily checklist:

When I’ve completed a task I simply use a white board marker on the list ( which I laminated) to mark it done.
For each focus zone I have a detailed list:

Each piece is double sided so their are two detailed focus zone lists on each piece of paper. I hang the ones that are not the focus off to the side until I need them:

This has very much allowed me to maintain my neat, organized and clean home. Now it’s not always perfect and there are days i don’t cross everything off my focus zone, but I know I will get back to that zone in about 8 days and start the deep clean all over again!

A Snow Hunt!

Posted on December 1, 2009 by justakrazymom

It’s December..in New England..and the other day it was over 50 and sunny.. um…very wrong! We want snow..my kids love snow! So we decided since we had some rainy days that maybe there would be at least some snow on the nearby mountain. We packed the 3 wee ones up and headed up.We found SNOW!Not a ton, but enough to make 3 kids very happy. The road to the summit was closed part way up so we parked and hiked one of the trails..

I can see a new Family Tradition beginning in these snow hunts!

And we’re done!

Posted on October 23, 2009 by justakrazymom

With our first “semester” of work!!! In honor of Miss Jadziah’s 6th birthday ( on wed) we are taking all of next week off! I, of course, will be prepping the next semester..which will run thru Christmas!

So what have we been up to these last 2 weeks of our semester?

We finished learning about great American’s..and made a log cabin like Abe Lincoln grew up in: