my tada kitchen~

So what do you do on a three day fast!?!? I scrub my kitchen and paint it of course silly! Officially I can't post this layout til tomorrow because it is Christine's! I take huge advantage of being her friend and far far far away!I keep turning around in my puter chair and looking at the kitchen~it positively glows! I think you can click on the layout and it will get bigger for those with the need for bigger fonts. uhm me! ha ha and a nifty trick is to hit control and the + sign, and your page gets bigger!
My dear honey has just gone to bed..at 5pm so he can get up for his mid shift at Target!?!?! it is just for the next few days, then conference for him!

My obsessive compulsive kicks in!

I await my children to eat their breakfast and then I will be tearing apart my kitchen! Pulling EVERYTHING out of the cabinets. Scrubbing the wood, and the shelfs and re-arranging the insides.
Then the ceiling, the walls, baseboards and anything else will be scrubbed til raw. I have a gallon of Greased Lightening, a heavy duty cleanser. The goal is to have it clean and prepped to paint!
We are renters and our landlord will pay for the paint. The house is all in flat paint, and it is impossible to keep clean. I plan on a creamy wheat color thru the house. The ceiling will be white.
My body already hurts thinking about this..but the smile on my face is worth it! I took some before pics and will have some during to go up later with those.
Last week before we dive back into school!

More Art Caravan!

I'm officially hooked. This Art Journal Caravan of Tangie Baxter's over at SBG has got me. I made one page for the flyleaf of the book and am craving to do more. Some of my fellow journeyers have made covers, but my brain can't wrap what hasn't been made yet. So I did a fly leaf for a book I already had.
The book is next to my chair, and I kept looking at it, and wasn't satisfied with it. So to the thrift shops Saturday. I had this old book in my head, that I would transformed with my imagination. My son G-man came over and asked to help look for "the book" I needed. I was explaining and this lady next to me turns and asks, "Is this your first altered book?" I said yes, and we both in high excitement talked about what caused us to venture into this arena. It was just amazing that 2 people in one thrift store were after the same final product. Sadly, pickin's were slim. I did find a nifty cookbook, Sunset Easy Basics for Good Cooking, with lots of pictures for Eric and a cool silver retro looking lunchbox, that says, Skip Rope not Lunch! The kids want me to change it to breakfast, as I always forget to eat breakfast til I start shaking from caffeine.
Then I went to Goodwill, which is usually so expensive, but they had a 1/2 off sale..woo hoo, I found a book, and it is not an old book, but one that made me grab it!

I think the made Easy grabbed me~ha ha...but I liked the size and the 3 ring part, and the $1 price tag.


I will do the outside and the inside flyleafs also, for some reason that makes me happy.

It is full of pages and has 12 (for months!!) index cards, so I can fill with layouts also if I wanted to.
This is what really grabbed me, the folding papers, as, I am really wanting to do this, especially for some journalling that I can write and add pics to the front?

Then that it sits up so nicely is good too. I am going to Wal-mart for Mod Podge! woo hoo

Cheaper than Work Boxes-less room also

I have 4 children and a small house. Our dining room is our arts and crafts, computer and class room. The thought of more boxes just is not a possibility for us. I admit I did not buy the book about work boxes but Google andread as many blogs of those that are doing it, to get an idea that would work for our family in homeschooling.
We tried paper schedules and that just wasn't working. I make ATCs in my scrapbooking world. These are baseball sized cards, using retro and classic elements to make these artsy fartsy cards. I love them. A small canvas and they make me smile. So I thought why don't I blend my art hobby with homeschool. Kinda like peanut butter and chocolate, I imagine Reece being rather happy the day he made Peanut butter cups.
Enough of my rambling.
How it works. First I went and listed ALL the things each child did or could do of the ever growing of school items. I made these 2.5x3.5 inch cards for each one. Here is an example of one for READing:
I expect at least one half hour of reading each day and they have to journal what they read. I like to have this after lunch. This is one of the cards. I then made 9 to a page, so I could print them out. I then went and got some baseball card protectors sold at Wal-Mart for cheap, they already have 3 hole punch and open at the top. I print 4 of each page, cut them out for my Master folder.


I still have a Master Schedule to help me to know what we are doing during the day and for each day. It is more of a skeleton to build with the work cards. You can see the highlights, that is for subject. Because we have scheduling conflicts with computer and mom needs. I have to schedule accordingly. Math is yellow, History blue, Science green and all English is pink, and Spanish is red, then Breaks and lunch are kinda khaki. This is more to help me make sure I don't have everybody on Spanish at once. It is also nice that I have one on the computer with headphones while I help another who is struggling in a subject.

Each afternoon, I look at the work completed on the left side of the child's folder, and record or note as needed and place in the back of the folder to hold for our ES.

This green folder is Gabriel's, and you can see he starts the day with Spelling. On the card is the word TEST, he has to be prepared for his spelling test on Wednesday. That is his responsibility.
Next comes, Math. Notice there is a blank space next? Each subject is about 1/2 hour long, and math needs the extra time. Handwriting without Tears is next, and I am needed to be there with him. Then comes break time!
After break is History Work Sheets and the report he is working on at the time. I have the worksheets for the week in the folder or if there is a curriculum book, he knows what is expected.
The back of the page is for after lunch. Each child is expected to put the folder in my in basket every evening. I usually go over it in the morning before school and rearrange the cards at that time. My goal is to have them arranging their own, but at this time I do it.
I have about 36 cards made up, if this is something you are interested in doing, I will upload them for a free download. Please leave a comment and I will do it.

Can post now! A fun gift to make and give.

I had a blast making a hybrid craft for my parents and MIL. I fought and fought doing it..glue all over, and my patience level to wait as usual got me in trouble.
First I found a template for an Altoid's tin template. I made each "page" for the template and then put them together to fit on a regular sheet of paper so I could print at home.Once these were printed out I cut them out (not the curved area) then folded in half to complete the curved cuts. I learned this little trick to keep them a bit more even.Before I began, I went through all the pics of the year and made a plan. I knew I wanted to include each child and my hubby and myself. There were a few special days and shots I included. I got an affixative spray to keep the pictures. I learned alot...and had a blast...I hope you enjoy the pages!

Christmas Morning Breakfast

Last night we watched the video of our kids when they were 7, 5 and 4! It was unbelievable! How small they were, it was Christmas morning and the amount of work that goes into a Christmas for parents of small kids is remarkable. From opening EVERY package, to putting in every battery, to showing how to do EVERY toy!
This year it was so different, as they pulled out tools to open battery cases, uploaded games to the laptop, put together scooters and painted arts and craft sets all without assistance.

Then a quick crash course on french toast and Eric took over!


He is not even embarrassed about the apron, because he has his new Tomlison's San Diego Charger jersey and he did not want egg on it!

Making french toast in our home is not just a couple slices! You gotta make a whole lot!

Don't let his nonchalant look deceive you, he was very excited to cook for us!

Merry Christmas!!