Making a Gardening Notebook

Since we moved into our new home my daughter has started to garden.  I wanted to make her a nice notebook to help her plan and keep track of all the hard work she has done.  If you wanted to make one for your kids here is what I did. 

I found a great printable gardening notebook for her at About.   But I didn't like the cover, and it wasn't personalized.  So I found this Pretty Trellis I could print out and write her name in.  You don't have to print out every page for the notebook and some of them you might want multiple pages for, like the plant profile page and the journaling page. 

For younger children you can add some pages about the seed to plant process, or coloring pages for each type of plant that you are planting.  

A few tips: Make sure your printer is set to auto landscape/portrait because the pages flip back and forth between the 2.  If you choose a different page for the cover like I did make sure you don't get the website and date time stamps on the top and bottom of the page.  If you chose to print black and white make sure your printer is set to grey scale or it will come out as a pink color instead.  Make copies of the originals and keep the originals so you can do it again the next planting season. 

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

You might homeschool if your kids go off into the backyard and look for caterpillars to grow into butterflies.  Know how to feed them and what to do when they emerge from their cocoons.  To be fair we have done this before but actually paid for the caterpillars.  My kids got smart and found some for free in our backyard.  It helps that we have a backyard with trees.  Specifically citrus trees.  My daughters, yes the girls not one of the gaggle of boys I have, found the caterpillars on our citrus trees.  They are Giant Swallowtail Butterflies - some of the largest butterflies in North America. 

If you are interested in doing this project yourself you can order a kit online or find your own caterpillars.  If you do it yourself you will need a mesh enclosure for them to live in (ours was reused from when we ordered the kit), and you will need to research how to feed them both as a caterpillar and as a butterfly.  Make sure you are getting the correct caterpillars or you could end up with a house full of moths or worse, worms and bird poop (some of these really do look like bird poop). 

Which ever you choose, it is so worth it.  Have fun bug hunting and be sure to post your own pictures if you get some to turn into butterflies!

I'm Thankful

This year its not hard for me to find things to be thankful for. 

I am thankful I got more time with my son, that he is in remission and able to walk again. 

I am thankful for those who care about us: friends, family and strangers in ways I never knew they would.

I am thankful for a home in which to call our own.

I am thankful for my animals who bring me joy everyday, who are always there for me, are always warm and always ready with a wet kiss. 

I am thankful for people who care for those who suffer more than are scared of suffering themselves.  Without them we would not have the awesome drs and nurses we do. 

I am thankful to live in a country with access to those drs and nurses, with freedom to homeschool, with choices in what we want to do with our lives, where we want to live and how we want to worship the god of our choice.  I might not agree with everyone but thats what makes our country great. 

I am thankful for a husband and his undying devotion to me and his children. 

I am thankful this horrible awful year is almost done.  May the next one be more blessed and prosperous for everyone. 

Light the Night

Thanks for all the sharing and donations to help us reach our goal for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk.  I was really shocked by how many people turned out.  It was our first year and it really warmed my hear to see so many people care about people like my son.  If you are ever looking for a way to get involved with a charity I can't recommend Light the Night enough.  Our areas coordinators were so helpful and very responsive to emails and questions.  Our kids got to be involved which was a big deal to us.  We want that to know what it is to give back.  For them to see how many people whose lives have been touched by Leukemia and Lymphoma, it made them feel not so alone.  We will be doing this again next year for sure. 

Some strangers were nice enough to get a picture of ALL of us.  I think its the only family picture with all 9 kids.

It was a cold cold night right there on the lake. 

There were local "Celebrities" like the Phoenix Suns Gorilla who is seen here dancing. Kids loved him.

American Heritage Festival

We have been going to the American Heritage Festival for a few years now.  Its something the kids really look forward to.  Its very educational and fun, plus the kids have to walk a lot and practice talking to adults and asking questions.  Even I learn something every time we go.  For instance did you know that to be admitted in to the army you needed to have at least 2 teeth?  That was so you could bite the ends off the gun powder packets.  I guess dentistry wasn't real big back then. 

My 18 month old, who gets upset when the tv is too loud, thought the battles were hilarious.  "haha big boom.  haha fall down.  die."  He had the whole stand cracking up.  My 8 year old, who wants to be an army man, got way too emotionally invested in these battles. He would get so upset when our side lost or if we had too many casualties. 

Battle

Ahhh loud

My boys knew every gun by name.

Troops from all eras.

 

When we got home that night the kids made their own reenactments.  With tents and guns and battles and everything.  It was so cute.  They learned a lot and had so much fun.