I'm a Natural...a Natural Mess!!!!

I am seriously a naturally a messy person. My mom has always told me, "You'd loose your head if it wasn't attached." I had a messy room growing up and have had to teach myself how to be neat. I love quotes that call messy creative and I would like to think I am creative. BUT I have to admit I am a mess!

Let me tell you about my day yesterday:  We had a super busy day planned yesterday. We had to meet my husband at the bank before I had to get Tripp to his soccer game and then we had to go to a birthday party that was about 45 minutes away. As my fellow moms know it never simple to get out the door. SO I was a little anxious about the day,but I knew it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

Everything was going smoothly, we were right on time. Just as I am shuffling the kids out the door I go to grab my keys...and can NOT find them anywhere. I start thinking...that last time I drove was on Thursday, We had to run to Aldi's to get diapers and dinner. I made it home so at least I knew the car keys were in the house somewhere! ... it is Now Saturday...thats a few days who knows what I could have done with them since! I look up at the clock it is 12:18 PM and I was supposed to meet Nick at the bank at 12:15...the day is slowly slipping out of my control.

With time crunching in my ear knowing we had to get Tripp to his soccer game by 1:30 I gave up looking and Nick and I decide Nick would come pick me up, we would run to the bank, and he would drop us off at the game. He gets here we transfer the car seats and stuff pretty quickly and get on the road.

As I buckle my seat belt I say, "Now our prayer is that there are no lines at the bank." When we arrive at the bank miraculous it was empty and there were no lines! We get up to the front smoothly, the kids are being well behaved. What should have been a couple minute process ended up taking F O R E V E R the teller started asking un-necessary questions, trying to change what we were doing. The kids started to get restless and time kept ticking on. Finally she finishes up and out the door we go.

We get the kids back in the car and buckled up. We do get to the game on time. But my poor husband. Bless his heart having to drive us around, he has a pretty big side job this weekend and running me around was not part of his plan.

So we get out to the field, I feed Reid lunch and have to nurse him and try to pay attention to Tripp playing. Which he played very very well yesterday! His defense is on point!! (he takes after me!) I wore pants because it's the end of October, but that was a mistake, I was drenched in sweat! LOL

Thank God for my mom though...seriously! She is a life saver. She is always at Tripp's games.  So we decide we will pile up in her car and Mia stayed with her while I borrowed her car to take Tripp to the birthday party at Adventure Landing At 4:00PM. This was one of those big parties you don't want your kids to miss out on. It was one of the kids on his soccer team birthday, they had just won and a bunch of the kids were going...and as we are on our way I realize Tripp only has his soccer cleats. We did not bring his sneakers...So  we had to stop at the store and buy shoes! Luckily Tripp is easy to please. He saw bright green neon shoes and that was what he wanted!

Finally we get to the party. I go to write on the card and our pen runs out of ink! And then I go to use the restroom and there was no toilet paper in the stall! I was holding Reid and I just laughed because seriously the day had just been crazy and I wasn't even shocked. Of course I had to ask if anyone was in there and luckily some one was (Praise God!)


At the end of the day Tripp, Reid and I take the car back to my mom's house where Nick meets us after his long day of work. Reid cried the whole way home and Nick wanted to know what was for dinner. I had no clue...I couldn't think.

 It is now 8:30PM and luckily Grandma had some baked ziti and bread sticks she offered and warmed up for us! We all ate our fill and headed home tired. The day had worn us out but the party was an absolute blast. Tripp played laser tag and rode on the go carts, played tag with his friends and played video games. It was really neat to get to see the kids just play together! I am really blessed that his first soccer team experience has been so great! Mia had fun playing with Grandma and her cousin Vic! And I didn't mess up the day too much by not being able to find my keys. All in all it was worth the chaos and struggle. I am thankful that God was with me all day long and kept me sane! Although the enemy was out to get me yesterday, he tried to distract me, he just couldn't get us off track!

This morning I found my keys and I chuckled. Because sometimes I really wonder if God doesn't use things like that to force us to work together? To work through things? If it were always simple how would we know we could depend on someone?





I did not feel good about myself loosing my keys. In fact there was a moment I felt like a failure. Especially since getting Tripp to his game was on the line so to speak. But I do feel like it created an opportunity for Nick and I to have to work together. It is so easy to get going with life and him go to work and the kids and I go do our thing. So it was nice to get the chance to spend some together when that wasn't the ultimate plan. And at the end of the day we kicked the days butt to get done what needed to get done!!

Making Friends is Fun to Do

Last week was a crazy, busy week! We had a field trip, hosted a birthday party and had my in laws in for the weekend. What a super fun time we have been having this fall as we are checking things off of our bucket list!

Last Thursday we went to Conner's A-Maize-ing Acres. This is my all time favorite trip of the year. There is so much to do who there that the kids leave exhausted every time! ( mission accomplished!) From hay rides to a corn maze to all sorts of fun activities like climbing up huge haystacks and jumping off, racing in pedal carts, feeding animals and so much more!

My favorite thing about this year is that we were there with our group of friends. If you are new to home schooling I just want to encourage you that it can take time to find the right group for you and your kids. Sometimes you'll like the parents and your kids won't get along or vice versa. You may change groups over the years and try out different things to find what works for you. And at first it can be really hard, lonely at times even. You just can't give up and you must rely and trust God to lead you to the right people. I've been praying for years.

 And God has been faithful to answer my prayers. I've been praying for spirit filled relationships for both myself and my children. It has taken a few years but that's because good relationships take time, investment and courage.

As home school parents we are responsible to create opportunities for our children to play and get to know other children while giving us moms a chance to get know one another as well.  A great way to do this is create a park day.  Last year we met on Thursdays around 11.

Park days have been vital for my children and I in creating these relationships. We were committed to going as best as we could.  And the commitment has paid off.

Where a year ago I was praying for friends now I am praising God thankful for the wonderful group of friends He has blessed us with.

To watch my son run around with his friends brings a smile to my face.  Having a group of friends who want celebrate my daughter's third birthday brings tears to my eyes. It's such a blessing to not only share this journey with my children but to be able to share and grow with our friends makes it a dream come true.

An 🍎 Apple a Day... 10 Fun & Easy Apple Activities & Crafts

An apple a day keeps the doctor away! The famous quote that gives apples the reputation of being one of the best fruits known to man. The apple is so popular that it is even considered the fruit most people like to think was on the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. It is true apples have amazing health benefits and provide a fun unit study on this short week!

Here are some fun and simple Apple activities and crafts.

1. Bobbing for Apples: To introduce the topic we started off with this fun and traditional game: Bobbing for Apples! It was super fun and simple. I just grabbed a big bowl, filled with water and used two apples from the fridge!

2. Cut open the apple and study it! Next we took a few minutes to cut open the apple from top to bottom. We talked about the skin, the flesh, the seeds and the stem. Then they enjoyed a yummy snack!

3. Apple Parts Craft. After we studied and ate our apples we reinforced what we had learned by making a craft picturing and labeling the different apple parts. It only took me a few minutes to cut out the shapes. And since Tripp is older I make him write, cutout and place his own labels. 

4. Read books about apples. After our craft we took our study onto the front porch to read. Here in FL this is the most beautiful time of the year where you can actually sit outside and not sweat. There are many different books about apples. I would actually like to add some more to our library, as right now we only have two. We read Apples, Apples, Apples and Ten Apples Up on Top. 

5. Apple Stamps. When we finished reading we did one more craft. I cut an apple core in half and let kids do some stamping!!

6. Watch YouTube videos on the Life Cycle of an Apple Tree. Today I wanted to talk a little bit more about how apples actually grow on trees. So we spent a few minutes and watched a couple videos. 

7. Season Apple Tree Craft. So to follow up with the videos and give me chance to talk about the Seasons, we did a craft showing the stages of an apple tree throughout the year. There are so many ways you can do this project. Ibahve never done it the same way twice. 

This year I took a large piece of art paper and folded it into four squares to represent the four seasons. I then let the kids draw four tree trunks with branches, one in each square.

I used painting dots and ripped paper to create the differrnt trees. (If I had some other color options for tissue paper i would have used that. But i didn't lol so i used torn up pieces of paper instead).

 For winter we painted white dots to represent the snow. For spring we used a few pieces of green paper for leaves, added red to the white paint, and painted pink dots to represent apple blossoms. For summer we used more green pieces, but this time filled the tree and then painted yellow dots to represent the budding fruit. For fall we used yellow, red, orange and some green to represent fall leaves a d we painted red dots to represent apples ready to pick!

Mia's Creation

Tripp's Art work

8. Ten Apples Up on Top Game. This so simple! I found two old pictures of Mia and Tripp, cut them out. Then I cut out ten felt circles for each and we re-enacted the story with the pictures. It was a great way to reinforce the book and help Mia count. 

Ten Apples Up On Top Game

Overall we enjoyed it. It wasn't anything too intense as I try to keep things interesting for both kids. Mia learned a lot and Tripp is still intrigued by the topping and understands it better and better each time. 

There are a few more things I'd like to do this week:

9. Make An Apple Treat. There are so many things you can make, Candy apples, apple slice lollipops, apple pie, apple sauce, apple butter!

10. Go Apple Picking. This one is most likely impossible due to our location. Which stinks because Tripp keeps asking to go. And I grew up in NJ so I know what we are missing out on LOL!! But seriously if you live near an apple orchard I would definitely plan a day to go visit! 

If you do go take pics and share them with me! I'd love to see what you are up to! Also I'd love to see your apple crafts and inventions as well!! God knows we need all the support we can get!

A Prayer for Our Nation

Watching people's reactions to the up coming election scares me greatly. I feel like the closer we get to the election the more the media tries to split us up. You know the saying a divided house can't stand? Then why as a country are we separating ourselves into different groups instead of calling ourselves what we really are in regards to an election year. We are Americans! All of us who are legal citizens have that in common! And as we prepare to vote I would just encourage you to think of our nation as a whole. Think of our debt, economy, protection and progression not as a reflection of you as an individual but as as a reflection of our nation as a whole.

I'm tired of hearing how Americans are perceived across the world. I'm tired of being too distracted to care.  I love America and my freedoms. I love the beauty of this land and I love the people. I don't expect us to all agree on everything but i think we can peacefully agree to disagree on certain issues and for time unite as Americans and stand up for our nation before we lose it!

 I'd like to see a positive change, so in order to see change we must be the change.

As this election comes up I have realized, on top of voting, the most important thing I can do is pray out loud for our nation. I may not have many weapons under my belt, but by using the word of God I have the most powerful one. I have started doing it in the morning at school time so the kids will learn to pray for our country as well. It is important we all raise up our voices to God. I hand up silent prayers through out the day as well.   I am encouraging you to do the same, to prayerfully consider and listen to the Lord as He leads and restores the nation we all love!

Here is my personal prayer for the nation. A word God led me to when asking Him how I should pray for our nation. I hope this can encourage you during this stressful time!

Be blessed!

Heather xoxo

Surviving Hurricane Matthew

This weekend I experienced the first hurricane where I felt the urgent need to be prepared for anything to happen. Honestly I have never been so scared of anything in my life. They were predicting 78 mph winds and we live in a mobile home here in Florida. Having never really experienced anything like this before being the native Jersey Girl that I am...I really didn't know if our home would be to handle that kind of torment. I was scared of things flying through our windows and jabbing a kid in the eye, a roof falling on someone head, loosing our home, not having enough water and being able to take of the kids in any situation. I became one of those people...I bought water, canned goods and any other non perishable items I thought we would need. For two days I frantically ran around putting things away and preparing for the worst!

As I stood in my kitchen on Thursday evening gripped with fear; I mean the entire south east coast was being mandated to evacuate and we only live about an hour inland! I didn't know if staying was the right choice, but I didn't know where we would go at that point either. In that moment as I was ready to burst into tears gripped with fear, I looked down and saw an index card with one of our Bible Verse of the week from a few weeks ago. "In Peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone Lord make me dwell in safety." It was like God placed it right there at that moment to let me know He had me and no matter what my family and I would be safe. It brought me the peace I needed and reminded that God is my ultimate protector! I was ready to go to bed and wake up Friday face the storm head on!!

All day Friday the storm wind blew. We hunkered down in our living room ready to face the storm. We put mattresses in front of our windows in our living room creating a safe room. We had dinner prepared, we had coolers with drinks and ice, and snacks on hand. The candles were lit. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. God was in control. 

God spared us. The winds only got up to about 30/40 mph . We did loose power and some big tree branches and trees fell down. Right down the street the neighbors transformer blew and the top of the pole snapped off causing the wires to fall into my neighbor's driveway. I think 100,000 people were without power in Clay County. All weekend it was hard to find gas and most of the shelves at the stores were bare.  For a couple of days nothing was even open! We went without power and water for 3 days, finally getting it back on Sunday evening. (A shout out here to ALL The men that came in and worked their butts off to get us back up and running! Thank you soo much!!) 

But how quickly I forgot how blessed I was, when I woke up this morning feeling Overwhelmed by the dismay of my home. And I'll be honest my husband left for the day and didn't even pick up after himself and I was instantly annoyed. I really just wanted to wake up and do school and get back into our routine. But there was no way to do school when the house was a complete disaster! First the whole house had to be put back together.  

So I straightened up a little bit and decided to take some time with God.My attitude stunk and I needed a readjustment. I You Tubed Encouragement for the home school mom and came across this verse: Exodus 14:14 "The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.(Hold your peace and remain at rest)." In that moment  I threw in the towel and surrendered my plans for the day to allow God to do His. I wanted to do school, but knew I wasn't prepared. The house was a mess and mentally I wasn't ready. `And that is OK! Deep down I want to do things perfectly. I wish it was easier for me to balance it all, I wish I did more with my kids, was better at cleaning and budgeting etc....but the truth  I am not perfect. When I stop trying to be I am able to get things done with a good attitude. When I stop trying to do everything on my own and rest in God I find I can get more done and I have enough energy (no matter how much sleep I got the night before) and I will have peace while doing it. 

After my time with God  I just felt led to share my thoughts in this short video  :) 

Hope you too are safe after the storm, that you have a blessed day and feel a little encouraged despite any storm you may be facing! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!! xoxoxo

Heather

Seeds Save the Day

Sometimes as a home school mom, although I am with my kids all of the time, I don't always feel like it is quality time. I can get so busy trying to stay organized, keep on a time schedule, take care of the baby and the kids all while trying - TRYING to keep the house in some sort of order...I find myself trying too hard, losing my patience and not truly being present or pleasant.

And since I can't start a new unit in the middle of the week LOL and we had finished Unit 3 last Monday, I decided that last week we would focus on socializing with our friends and dive into one of my favorite fall topics while at the same time giving myself a break from the curriculum.

I am so glad I made that choice! I needed a break from trying to fit 30 hours into a 24 hour day. The kids and I had a much needed laid back week. We enjoyed quality time with each other and our friends. We laughed and played and plain had fun. We seriously needed that and I am thankful that God gave me the wisdom to make that choice. (Because sometimes making choices like that can be scary and can be followed by that pesky question, "Am I doing the right thing?")

So who knew that studying seeds would be the break we all needed and would provide us lots of opportunities to explore and learn together ??? :) :) :)

We started our study of seeds by looking at and talking about seeds. We talked about how they looked, what we thought they did etc. After that we read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle and Usborne's   How Do Flowers Grow. We then took a nature walk in our yard and discovered so many different types of seeds. We found seed pods, berries with seeds in the middle, pine cones, acorns and more!

That afternoon I was inspired to start an art project based on the artwork in the Eric Carle book. We watched a few Youtube Videos and went to work!. This was a multi step project and created a wonderful afternoon of painting on the back porch . First we painted full pieces of paper different colors and textures. For example we  used a toothbrush to create a splatter pattern. We used texture brushes I had and honestly I got carried away it was so much fun! We let them dry over night. The next morning we spent time cutting out our shapes and then used the shapes to create a collage of the flower from The Tiny Seed. They came out soo cute! I absolutely love them and we have tons of paper left over to do another project another day!

                                                                                

 We ended the week by making pine cone bird feeders and sorted our seeds to find their match. That craft was a really great hands on way to compare and study the seeds. Both kids really enjoyed our week of playing with our friends and studying seeds at home. I am thankful for the opportunities to enjoy home schooling and enjoy my children and have the ability to decide when to press in and when to step back.

I am thankful for the other home school moms who have started to feel like family. It is such a blessing to get to go to a friends house and watch the kids play for hours with other kids while we enjoy ADULT conversation!! Not only do I grow closer to my children during this journey, but my children and I are creating God led friendships and it is such a beautiful way to live life.

It always awes me because this was not my plan for my life. I simply had no real plan. I didn't know what I was supposed to be or really what I was capable of. Not until I gave up trying and asked God to lead me. I NEVER regret following His lead!

This week we are back on the grind and its as hectic as ever as we prepare for Mia's third birthday party this weekend! But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!