Can you say Ackkkkk!

Okay. I know I never asked for this icky white stuff.

What a disappointment to wake up and see this outside my window. Granted what you see in that picture is much later in the day and has been melting away(thank God). Here I thought God was giving us a break and said " Let winter be done." But that is not so , oh no, that is not so. Winter just wants to stick around and it doesn't want to go away.
We've been working feverishly with school work so that we can have a little fun this year and take a break from school work during the summertime. Or at least we're trying our darnedest. Marilyn has been just crazily working on her Junior Girl Scout badges because she knows that she will be bridging over to Cadet this year.
Today was a let's have fun and take some pictures day.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

A Told B and B Told C " I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree."

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was one of our very favorite stories. We had this book many years ago when Marilyn and Katie were little. We had the book for so long that finally last year it fell apart. So we're definitely going to have to get the book again. But what we did do today was make a Totbook. This was pretty fun and Maggie really did enjoy playing with it after we were done.









You can create and find this fun Totbook at : http://lapbooksbycarisa.homestead.com/CHickaBoomTotBook.html

Pretzels and Counting by Fives

I'll have to admit. I know the two topics don't quite jive with each other. But oh well.

Marilyn has been working on her Junior Girl Scout Badges this week. She has been on super overload because she knows that she is going to bridge to Cadettes this year. It doesn't seem real but Marilyn is just growing up so fast.
So anyways we decided to go at it yesterday and make some pretzels. The girls had a ton of fun making them and they tasted pretty good too. All we needed was some melted cheese to dunk them in. The girls made all types of designs and I made a few myself. It was like playing with playdoh only to know you get to eat it after its all cooked.





Then after that it was on to work with Hannah in learning how to count by fives. This was a little tougher then learning to count by 2's to 12. So I got creative and made a hopscotch game board for the floor. We couldn't go outside due to it raining that day anyways. So I just taped it on the floor and Hannah had fun with it. We'll continue to work on the concept. I'm not to worried if she gets it or not yet because she's only a kindergardener.

Feeling Burnout

I'm not even really sure how to start this post today. All I know is I've been feeling quite a bit of burn out lately and I just wish I could pinpoint what my problem is lately. I just have not been feeling myself lately and I don't like it. I just feel like when the bad stuff happens it happens all at once and I'm finding myself feeling very overwhelmed these days.
In the past I've always handed stress gracefully. I always seem to take charge and handle things. But lately I just feel like crying a lot. I feel like I'm not that same person I've always been. Could life just be creeping up on me? I don't know. I wish I knew the answer to this one. I really do. I just long for the days where I was that happy , carefree person that I once was.
I just would like that back. Maybe I'm trying to hard. Maybe I just need to take a long vacation. Who knows? Maybe.

Its the most wonderful time of the year....

Yes, folks it is March and that means only one thing to a homeschooler. Its that time of the year when we homeschoolers keep the mail man busy bringing us homeschool curriculum catalogs. Big ones , small ones , I get them all. Alpha Omega, Ace ,Abeka , BJU, Christian Light, Christian Liberty, Catholic Curricula, Seton. YOu name it. Even the granddaddy of them all Rainbow Resource.With over a thousand pages I feel like I am swimming in homeschool curriculum, and it all looks... soooooo good. There is so much offered to homeschoolers today that its so hard to chose from . Sometimes what looks good doesn't work and those things I passed up end up working in the end.

Today I was looking over the Alpha Omega catalog. I get one every year and its been a long time since I've ordered from them. Their curriculum is a bit on the dry side and it sent my oldest running when she was a 1st grader. I do like the fact they've come out with a health program. I may just give it a try. Not everything from Alpha Omega is bad. We ordered their Body Book one year and it was a fun project.

I've really liked the Christian Light curriculum and my oldest seems to be settling into the curriculum better now too. Just keep fighting with her with the reading. I think CLE has a good reading program. She just doesn't like it for some reason and wants the reading program from BJU. I wanted to try having her read good books but she isn't that cooperative for me.
I am still trying to plan out for this coming school year. Trying to decide what I want to do , what I want to use and who will be staying and going from cyberschooling.
Until then I keep looking and wishing for the right books to jump out at me and say " This is going to work!"

25 Things you May Not Know about Tracy

Thought I would start a fun little post naming some of the things people may or maynot know about me.

1. I love being a mom. Stress and all.

2. I love chocolate. Its my kryptonite

3. I love Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies. I wait one time a year to eat them and they are full of FAT!

4. I hate snow and cold. I'm not sure why I live in Northwest, PA.

5. I like to sew.

6. I enjoy spending time on my computer reading blogs and caringbridge/carepages.

7. I am working on my degree in Elementary Education.

8. I love action movies. The more action the better.

9. My favorite t.v. show was Quantum Leap as a child. I watched it every week. Now I can watch it everday on the ION channel on cable.

10. I love to read. Most of my days though are spent reading children's books or school material. So.. ehhh.

11. I don't like dentists.Not sure why. Never really had a bad exeperience just don't like to go.

12.I do love sunny warm weather.

13. Having Maggie I know more about the human body then any average mom should know.

14. I know big words like Bowel Management , Colonic Duplication, and am great at doing anal dialations and enemas.

15. I am the oldest of 5 siblings.

16. I can be VERY stubborn.

17. I allow my husband to live longer every year.

18. I love to cuddle with my daughters.

19. I enjoy a good cup of tea. I've never been a coffee drinker though.

20. I chew my finger nails. I know bad habit. Can't break it. Too bad there isn't a patch or something to help me get over it.

21. I am afraid of loud noises. I don't like fireworks unless I'm watching them from very far away and I don't care for thunderstorms but I'm getting better at not being to afraid of them. Doesn't help that we live in an apartment on the highest hill and the sound vibrates.

22. Technically didn't own my own computer until three months ago. We've been using cyberschool computers.

23. My sisters are my best friends even if I don't agree with them most of the time.

24. My husband is my bestest friend even if I don't agree with him all of the time.

25. I love going to Cincinnati