PB&J Everyday - a daily dose of Speer

Winter scavenger hunt!

2012-01-25T19:06:00.000-05:00

the boy has been sick.

but, outside has been unseasonably warm and wonderful! May needed a little something to encourage her to be outside and not glued to the TV like her brother is. So, I created an outside winter scavenger hunt!

Ready? GO!

She loved it so much that she requested a new one for the next day. I think we'll be doing many more of these and maybe even include the boy next time!

Here are her finds from the first scavenger hunt...

Want to join in?

Between our two lists you could probably come up with one for things common to your yard.

List 1

1. acorn

2. stone

3. shovel

4. colorful leaf (tricky this time of year but we found one!)

5. egg

6. corn cob

7. stick over 12 inches long

8. stick under 12 inches long

9. something that does not belong outside (make sure you find it outside!)

10. bark

List 2

1. shell

2. berry

3. 7 blades of grass

4. brown leaf

5. green leaf (think bushes)

6. trash on ground

7. something (else) that does not belong outside

8. ball

9. flower (good luck!)

10. pine cone

Found stuff from list #2

let's get ready to rumble!

2012-01-25T14:58:00.000-05:00

in this corner we have Mayden Rae Speer: age 6 weighing in at 52lbs and measuring 46 inches tall! The nurse mentioned that despite being overly anxious about the possibility of a needle (which she did not receive) she seems "very mature for her age". it's so nice to hear good things about your kids, isn't it?! She has 20/25 vision in both of her eyes which is good to hear since there was of some concern last time we had a visit.

and.....

in this corner Cameron Jude Speer: age 4 weighing in at 34lbs (he'll never get out of that "baby" car seat) and measuring 39 inches tall! Cameron passed his vision and hearing tests with flying colors. He was praised for his ability to concentrate during these tests (which blew his Mama away but apparently other 4 year olds don't sit still long enough to do them well) He got 4 vaccination shots and 5 stickers (like that makes up for it lol)

speaking of games

2012-01-17T09:12:00.000-05:00

It's probably weird, sad, wrong (insert your own adjective) that i'm this excited about storage. But, I am.

so we recently got a hold of a larger bookshelf and decided to stash it in Cam's room and move all the kid books there. That freed up his little bookshelf to go to Chris. I inherited our shared bookshelf and left May with a small empty one.

yes, we each have our own bookshelves! (plus and large one in the hallway!)

So what's an empty bookshelf to do?... turn into a gameshelf, of course! Yay, we found a perfect spot for all the kid games in May's room. Just in time since we got quite a few new ones for Christmas this year.

Winter is for....

2012-01-14T19:54:00.006-05:00

games!

Merry Christmas Chickies!

2012-01-02T20:59:00.001-05:00

so about a month ago through the power of Facebook I came across this video:

naturally, I though this was a genius idea. and one I had to steal.....

I started by cutting the top of our tree off and plopped it in the coop. interesting indeed, they were curious and stayed nearby for the nearly 1 hour of coop trimming I did this afternoon.

I added some bits of tree everywhere throughout the coop area. they didn't seem to mind and welcomed the change of scenery.

I probably ~~could~~ should have broken down the branches a bit more. this just shows my lazy side... perhaps if i had better clippers....

anyway it sure does smell much better back there now!

Magazine Christmas Tree

2011-12-27T20:55:00.002-05:00

I wanted to share this awesomely cool Christmas decoration idea with you! Mayden started this at Girl Scouts this year and brought it home to finish. It's basically just folding pages of a magazine until you get a tree shape and then decorating it. for real directions go here.

It made the perfect centerpiece for our table this year! I think we'll make more in varying sizes next year.... so fun!

Christmas 2011 & year end review

2011-12-26T19:44:00.000-05:00

Halloween was my last post so I'm thinking its about time for a new post :o)

We've all been extremely busy over the last few months (and year, really) but that's a good thing right? Have you been keeping track of things over at Adia Speer Photography? That's where I've been hanging out a lot lately.

sooooo to sum things up:
Homeschooling = fantastic! met lots of homeschooling friends in the area this year and that helps more than you know! May is writing well and reading even better. She's able to read level 2 books pretty easily which is wonderful! Cameron is finally coming along with his speech and color recognition!
Knitting = learned how to make hats and I love it. excited to get more creative with it.
Sewing = on the back burner due to knitting
Reading = I'm in the middle of two wonderful series. The Hunger Games & Twilight... both teen fiction but both really page turners.
Photography = I learn more and more everyday. I feel like my skills are always improving and I'm focusing on perfecting my post production of images. The biz is really taking off and I'm ready to turn it into a legitimate small business next month. Never in a million years thought I'd be a small business owner but here I go! Stay tuned for a complete ASP makeover soon.

find more Christmas pictures here

Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T19:52:00.001-04:00

trick-or-treat!

so we have little bo peep, her sheep, an ice cream man & pippi longstocking.

they made out well.... to say the least!

May's favorites: Tootsie pops & gobstoppers

Cam's favorites: lollipops, whoopers & startburst

Paetyn Anne is here!

2011-10-07T08:54:00.004-04:00

well, she's been here for a few days and I'm just not putting some info up. busy isn't even the word for what i've been lately. busy is good i guess, but i think i'm going to need to cut back on work soon because i'm missing out on life a little and i hate that!

Paetyn Anne Wallace

October 4th @ 3:10pm

6lbs 10oz 19.5 inches long

VBAC!

{perfection}

Pumpkin (week 8)

2011-09-24T22:11:00.000-04:00

the pumpkin came off the vine and into the loving hands of it's maker. he scrubbed and scrubbed that pumpkin 'till it shined!

and here it sits with batman. i'm guessing this pumpkin will turn into a jack-o-lantern just like that, some time next month!

#14 of 101- things you gotta do

2011-09-24T12:14:00.000-04:00

#14. Ride a Train!

I'd been wanting to take my little train loving Camo to this train for over a year. We recently met new homeschooling friends who have a 4 year old train loving boy too! I mentioned that we should take them and BAM we were there within a week... i guess i needed that extra push!

pumpkin (week 7)

2011-09-19T18:17:00.001-04:00

it's just about pickin' time!! I gave up on all the other vines and mowed them down.

syllables & subtraction

2011-09-19T18:14:00.001-04:00

last week we tackled subtraction (with an abacus) which of course she loves!

we also worked on word syllables and she picked up on it right away. i have a distinct memory of my music teacher teach us syllables in class. one of the few memories of learning in elementary school.

first week of first grade

2011-09-14T22:15:00.000-04:00

we started a new school year last week, which brought a new weekday schedule. 2 things I learned last year were that it's near impossible to focus on any traditional schooling with Mayden when Cam is around. impossible. the second thing I learned is that I really like weekends off. when I first envisioned our homeschool lives I didn't really see a difference between education and life. and really truly & honestly (especially at this age) it's true. however, Mayden and I seem to thrive in a routine and she (so far) likes the idea of school so we've created a weekday schedule for schooling this year. time makes me feel 10,000X better about slacking off on the weekends!

so M-F, 9-11am May and I are left alone to do all things "school". we read (mostly she reads to me), do math worksheets ("I love math because it's like a game to me" she said last week -- surely she is NOT my child!) and I've started having her look up one word in the Children's Dictionary that I pick out and she writes out the first sentence of the definition. so far we've done an A, B & C word... and next week we'll continue. 2 days a week we take our show on the road to the library.

here she was first in line on the first day last week

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after our 2 hours of reading/writing/talking/math ect in the morning we collect Cameron and do some sort of planned activity in the afternoon. pirate map making, cookie baking, playground time, hiking, swimming, soccer ect

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we were lucky enough to find two other families in our area with homeschooled kids who are about the same age as ours.

after a summer of fun we recently decided to try implementing a 'science club' and meet each week to "do science". the kids seem to love it ....

although sometimes it's just more fun to play in mud together!

pumpkin (week 6)

2011-09-10T20:08:00.002-04:00

pumpkin (week 5 and 2 days)

2011-09-10T20:06:00.001-04:00

a little late... today's picture coming next!

the other side.... we have ORANGE!

Vacation 2011: the beach

2011-09-08T08:59:00.003-04:00

ahhh the beach, one of the most peaceful places on earth.... well, that is until the kids wake up. i woke up to see the sunrise over the ocean and it was worth every second of lost sleep. breathtaking!

Cameron prefers the sand

while Mayden is my waterbug. thanks to my mom she picked up boogie boarding this year... i see lots of fun in her future!

eggs!

2011-09-07T14:43:00.001-04:00

We have our first egg!... truth be told, we had out first egg weeks ago and i'm just now blogging about it.

for the first few weeks we were only getting one egg every 2-3 days but now we're consistently getting one egg a day and sometimes 3 a day. so it seems that 3 of the 5 ladies are laying and eventually we should be getting 5 eggs a day! -- send over your eggcellent recipes today!

Vacation 2011: The place

2011-09-06T13:36:00.000-04:00

2 years ago we stayed in Ocean City, NJ at a little tiny place that worked for just the 4 of us. this year we added 3.5 people and were able to get a bigger/nicer place!

more photos here: click me

and more details coming to the blog soon!

Pumpkin (week 4)

2011-08-27T16:50:00.001-04:00

so i'm thinking this is as big as it's going to get (a good size though) and will now just start to change color. yes?

Pumpkin (week 3)

2011-08-21T20:30:00.002-04:00

#99 of 101 - things you gotta do

2011-08-18T11:09:00.003-04:00

#99 Visit a Splash Pad or Sprayground

(a few weeks ago) We went to a Sprayground with our friends Rose & Hazel and Cassie & Simon. It is in south Philly and a much better idea then a public pool! Wet and free on a hot summer day is good!

our friends Hazel & Simon!

of course my kids liked the dry playground even more than the wet part!

it's a bugs world around here

2011-08-14T20:39:00.003-04:00

Cam

May

pumpkin (week 2)

2011-08-13T18:49:00.001-04:00

these suckers sure do take off once they get going! i can't believe the progress in just one week.

Pumpkin (week 1)

2011-08-06T09:42:00.003-04:00

after months and months of waiting we are finally seeing the start of a pumpkin! Cameron planted these seeds himself and has been watching them in amazement as they stretch across our lawn (and our neighbors lawn -oops!) I had almost given up hope but I do believe we're going to have a pumpkin (or two) this year!

Mayden + Summer = tan!

2011-08-05T21:55:00.000-04:00

this is Mayden on Aug 1st with sunblock applied everyday. everyday! the girl tans up like nobody's business you should see her tan lines.... amazing! ever since her second summer (the first one i kept her out of the sun almost entirely, she was so itty bitty) she's been a pro at tanning! some people have it all.

one thing is for sure.... i'm in trouble!

Camo + Summer = blond!

2011-08-04T22:46:00.000-04:00

i imagine he won't always be blond. I was blond as a small child, same as my dad & sister... but for now i'm loving the golden surfer boy look. I like how it's the lightest on the sides. adorable, if i do say so myself!

kid quotes

2011-08-03T21:04:00.003-04:00

About 10 minutes after I tuck Mayden into bed she runs up to me and says very excitedly

"I CAN TOUCH MY EYE BALL!!"

one morning at the breakfast table Mayden goes into this very detailed description about a dream she had the night before. she does this very often and sometimes can describe 2-3 dreams she had in one night. sometimes it can take her 10-15 minutes to get through one dream. when she was finished she asked Cameron if he had any dreams last night. his response.: "Umm hmm, *long pause* ...oh! i dreamed about hummus!"

little bits from today

2011-08-01T22:36:00.000-04:00

just a Monday...

these two

2011-07-24T19:44:00.000-04:00

funny.

favorite playmates.

friends.

family.

And where was May?.... bonding with her new cousin!

below is a little video of Jaedyn talking & laughing @ Cam. please note, no one was harmed in the making of this film.(i can just see the "running with lollipop" email now haha)

video by Mayden Speer.

her green thumb

2011-07-22T20:08:00.001-04:00

Mayden has been tending to these pots all summer long. She received them at some point during the spring each embedded with a seed. May diligently watered them multiple times a day (over-watering? meh) for weeks and weeks. nothing. She kept going back to them and Cam kept reminding her that "nothing is growing in your plants". Well, yesterday she decided to take matters into her own hands and wanted to replant some seeds. I didn't have any flower seeds in the house at the time (only spinach) so she went to her Grandma Miller with pleading eyes and *surprise* got her way! No seeds, but transplants... even better - instant gratification!

May likes to get her hands dirty just like her Mano. Do we have a FFA on our hands?

or a future midwife? that would be my guess. May spent hours touching her Aunt Neeka's belly waiting for her new cousin to move around. Her persistence was rewarded a few times!

in the garden...

2011-07-22T00:05:00.001-04:00

chickens roam

we watch as our pumpkin vines creep into our neighbors yard (sorry!)

I see lots of green tomatoes and trying to be patient!

almost tired of eating zucchini every other day

one of my favorite zucchini recipes! found it years ago as an advertisement for "I can't believe it's not butter" in a magazine.... I of course, use butter when making it :o)

#30 of 101- things you gotta do

2011-07-12T13:21:00.007-04:00

#30 PYO (Pick Your Own)

While we've certanly picked our own fruits & veggies before we've never picked our own blueberries! Turns out that's weird because our immediate area is the #1 producer of blueberries in the whole state and our state ranks 4th in the country for blueberries. It's the sandy soil we have here that makes the growing prime! We went with our good friends & neighbors the Bryans. So we get there (the place we found was about 2 miles from our house) and the tractor driver is our other neighbor (the one with the goats) small world!

In the end team Speer picked 3.5lbs while team Bryan picked just over 5lbs. oh well! so far we've munched on a bunch and i've made one pie (French Glace Blueberry Pie) for my mom's ~~53rd~~ 35th birthday! I plan to make another pie with a different recipe tomorrow with the rest of the blueberries. YUM!

pool progress

2011-07-11T20:52:00.000-04:00

ladies & gentleman we have a full fledged swimmer in our midst! it's amazing how fast they are picking this stuff up and ~~running~~ swimming with it. just when I think they are at their limit for new skills learned they surprise me again! in fact today (the day after I took these videos) May can now jump off the diving board and swim all the way to the shallow end without any help. in a matter or weeks (maybe days) she has become a really strong swimmer. they are now spending most of their swimming time in the deep end (Cam in a tube or life jacket). Cam is the king of the underwater world. his favorite thing in the world is to be underwater. every night after hours and hours of swimming (sometimes nearly 6 or 7 hours) I have to drag him kicking and screaming out of the pool for bed. I'm not sure what we're going to do when we have to close the pool for the winter... maybe find an indoor pool membership.

#1 of 101 - places you gotta see

2011-07-07T23:02:00.002-04:00

So a few weeks ago we inherited this book and we've been so inspired by it. Then I found this next book and bought it. Our goal is to go through both books before Cam is 12. If we've already experienced something in the book we will re-do it in order for it to count. These books are so perfect for us and our homeschooling philosophy. With unschooling being a big part of our life it's important to turn off the TV and DO and trust that knowledge will come.

While we will not necessarily be going in order the first adventure we went on happened to be #1 in the book. So without further ado:

#1 A Lighthouse

the closest lighthouse to us is Barnegat Light on LBI. Chris and I climbed it when we stayed on LBI for our honeymoon but this was the first for the kids.

Both kids climbed up 217 steps to the top! Coming down Cam climbed down the first few flights and kept saying "I feel sick" I didn't need to spend the afternoon cleaning up vomit in a lighthouse so I carried him. It was much easier than it sounds.

Once on top we enjoyed the view and breeze (whew it was hot!)

Once down we ate our packed lunch and walked around the grounds which are really nice. We went off the beaten path a little and got wet (like i said, it was hot!)

I contemplated using this experience as #16 - a swimming hole but I think we'll find a swimming hole on another day.

Being a good homeschooling Mama I picked up 5-6 Lighthouse books from the library a few days earlier. on our way home May (on her own) found the lighthouse we'd just visited!

(long) weekending

2011-07-05T11:53:00.001-04:00

life is good

June garden

2011-07-02T23:42:00.000-04:00

(yes I know it's July.... i'm a little late with this post)

we pulled out 3 zucchini and have many more coming!

one morning i went out to find one of my tomato plants looking like this. mostly leafless --look closely, do you see him? well, when i first saw him i freaked out... i've never seen (what i thought was a) caterpillar that size before!

so this is a Tomato Hornworm. I'd never seen one before and never want to again. ick! nice to meet you now go away!

upon further inspection, turns out he was the smallest of a total of 3 i found on our plants.

my idea was to feed them to the chickens but Cam took a liking to them so we compromised with throwing them in the compost pile. hope they don't make their way back to the tomato plants!

VBS week

2011-06-26T22:29:00.000-04:00

okay i'm going to try really hard to regularly update this blog. I want to a writer so i'd better get writing... anything!

this week I'm teaching the crafts at VBS! I have such fond memories of VBS as a child that I didn't want my kids to miss out.

today we made these really cute chef hats as the theme this week is cooking related. it's only the first day and i'm already exhausted! this is also Cam's first time being in a group w/o me and he did really well! yay!

birthday x2

2011-06-25T22:24:00.000-04:00

oh my poor, poor neglected blog. i'm sorry (if their are any readers left)

So last weekend we had a couple birthdays to celebrate.... and celebrate we did!

more pictures here

we're still alive!

2011-06-07T22:36:00.000-04:00

it's true... we're all still alive, chicks included!

i'm starting to think we might actually get to the egg laying portion of chick rearing!

Mayden says: boys vs. girls

2011-05-25T21:31:00.000-04:00

"I wish I was a boy for two reasons. First, I wouldn't have to have a baby in my belly and second, I'd be able to get my bathing suite on faster."

i'm inclined to agree with her!

ladies & gentleman we have a reader!

2011-05-19T21:32:00.000-04:00

I'm so proud of this girl! she's doing so well with reading and it happened really fast. the best thing about this is how well she does figuring out the bigger words. I'm excited to watch her progress this summer. go! go! go!

Garden 2011

2011-05-18T17:59:00.000-04:00

I'll use this rainy week to take a minute and talk about the garden. the poor sopping wet garden.

so about a week ago on my birthday we planted tomatoes, sunflowers, zucchini & some pumpkins that came from my Pop Pop. He's the patriarch of the family gardening. The only thing I need to get in the ground yet are the peppers.

the spinach has been in the ground a while now and last week we had out first harvest. since then we've harvested a few more times as it regenerates so fast!

slso, new this year are my herbs! (thanks mom!) I have 4 (rosemary, thyme, basil & parsley) I don't know how often i'll use them other than making my favorite basil pesto. Nice to have on hand though!

what we are reading

2011-05-17T15:08:00.000-04:00

can you tell who's is who's?

I'm sure you can figure it out.

1. Trouble at the Dinosaur Cafe- A library book pick of Cam's that he absolutely loves! we've read it about 369 times in the last few weeks and i'm sure that won't be the last of it. Good thing I love it too!

2. The Good Book- Chris's new find that he just started reading. Thoughts broken down into chapters & verses just like the Bible but w/o all the God/Jesus stuff.

3. The Magician's Assistant- I'm almost finished this one! A good read but nothing mind blowing (yet)

4. Ivy & Bean: and the ghost that had to go- The second book in the series and May and I are 1/2 way through it. Good thing we borrowed the 3rd one too!

32 on my 32nd

2011-05-10T22:41:00.000-04:00

taking a break during our birthday hike this morning!

Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4. Vietnam."
Stretch your left arm out as far as you can, What can you touch? wine glass, tums bottle, remote, alarm clock
Before you started this survey, what were you doing? looking for a survey to fill out
What is the last thing you watched on TV? The Wedding Singer
Without looking, guess what time it is 10:06
Now look at the clock. What is the actual time? 10:21
With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? movie playing
When did you last step outside? What were you doing? a couple hours ago. spent most of the day outside gardening, mowing, chick care etc.
Did you dream last night? not to my knowledge
Do you remember your dreams? negative
When did you last laugh? a few minutes ago
Do you remember why / at what? at the movie i'm watching
What is on the walls of the room you are in? shelves, pictures, cobwebs :o)
Seen anything weird lately? i have a 3 year old son, weird things happen often
What do you think of this quiz? not bad
What is the last film you saw? before the one i'm watching now, Walk the Line
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? anywhere but NJ... as long as family/friends are nearby
If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy? a house w/ lots of land
Tell me something about you that most people don't know. i would have more kids if i had the $
If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do? food for everyone!
Do you like to dance? not in public, but with the family in the kitchen- most definitely!
Would you ever consider living abroad? uhhhh YES
Does your name make any interesting anagrams? probably
Who made the last incoming call on your phone? my Nana <3
What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer? a photography related template
Last time you swam in a pool? last summer
Type of music you like most? most anything
Type of music you dislike most? country
Are you listening to music right now? no
What color is your bedroom carpet? blue
If you could change something about your home, without worry about expense or mess, what would you do? fireplace, upstairs... oh i have big plans!
What was the last thing you bought? razors

project hatch 3 - the 6 pack!

2011-05-06T09:38:00.000-04:00

I've failed to give you a final count and account of the hatching project. my bad. Hatching started a day early (as it normally does for us) on Thursday. We'd observed lots of egg movement and peeping on Wednesday and by noon on Thursday #1 was out! In total we have 6 chicks, 3 yellow, 2 black & 1 brown. We almost had 7 but one gave up the good fight just before fully hatching. sad. Cam's brown egg did hatch with a yellow chick, 4 white eggs hatched and one of the blue eggs hatched with a beautiful brown stripped chick. Sadly none of the green eggs hatched. The last to hatch came into the world with some drama and I was almost certain it would die or i'd need to help it die. Thankfully by morning the little guy was doing much better. They are all doing well and becoming less content with living in a box so I maybe transferring them outside at least during the day and brining them in at night for a few weeks. Next step is to reinforce the coop and to start opperation: keep chickens alive! easier said than done.

Mayden's eye: using the timer

2011-05-02T13:23:00.000-04:00

Mayden took this picture of Cam and I snuggling this morning (he wasn't feeling very well) but then May wanted to get in on the action. So i taught her to how to use the timer on her camera. She set the camera on a chair, pushed the button and then ran to get in the picture (about 7 times!)

this time we were instructed to "smile"

"make a funny face"

"make a sad face"

we're live!

2011-04-29T11:52:00.000-04:00

in case you haven' heard... we're streaming live from hatchton & chickville

enjoy!

project hatch 3 - update!

2011-04-27T21:37:00.000-04:00

today we observed lots of rocking (chicks getting into position) and heard a little in-egg peeping! we are waiting & watching for the first pip!

we should have our first hatch sometime tomorrow and by the results of my candling I believe our hatch rate will be very high this year!

check facebook (if i know you) for updates

or twitter (if i don't know you)

btw we've all but cleaned out the library's supply of chicken books. sorry.

Easter 2011

2011-04-26T19:06:00.000-04:00

Easter was lovely with lovely weather! here are my two big kids on Easter morning...more pictures are here!

Mayden's eye: kidding

2011-04-25T11:18:00.000-04:00

our goat birth adventure through Mayden's eye!

May-May figured out how to film video on her camera and she's been doing it A LOT.

here's a little video she took while waiting for the birth.

kidding

2011-04-24T23:02:00.001-04:00

a couple days ago the kids and i were invited to attend a birth! our good friends, the Dohner Family's goat was in labor and if we hurried we might make it in time.... Mayden has voiced her desire to see a human birth. She seems very interested in birth so i thought if we could get through some animal births then maybe a human birth might be doable years down the road (any volunteers?!)

so we arrived around 10:30am & we didn't miss it!

we waited in the barn for a good while. hours really.

5 hours later and we are all still waiting. poor girl!

so we decided to give her some space and...

played with the cat....

and the dog.

made some time for hammering dirt...

checking out the bees...

and even visiting with some of the other goats on the farm!

of course by the time we reached the barn again.... we were just a tad late (about 30 seconds!)

everyone was thrilled!

such a good mama, Liza! thanks for letting us watch :o)

a little video of May helping to dry off the new kid after her birth!

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why we keep our sons alive...

2011-04-14T22:26:00.000-04:00

I don't know if it's all sons or just mine but multiple times a day since around age 18 months he's made me want to ring his little neck. he's always on the go, always into something, always a challenge... and when he's quiet you'd better find him fast because he's up to no good! Cam has a bit of a temper and hitting has become part of his repertoire so he's been spending a good part of his day in time-out.

recently however, he's been bringing me flowers and saying "you beeful" as he hands them to me. just enough to melt my heart and save his life for one more day of chaos.

Mayden's eye: spring!

2011-04-12T21:45:00.000-04:00

a few weeks ago I did my photo journal of Spring... here is May's version!

setting the eggs

2011-04-09T18:47:00.000-04:00

our very beautiful eggs were set yesterday. in 21 days we should have a chick or 12!!

Cam & his favorite egg (the only brown one)

X marks the spot. May puts an X on the eggs so we know which way to turn them each day.

after we set them May promptly went an made her own incubator for our wooden eggs!

click here for more pictures

project hatch - 3rd times a charm, right?

2011-04-07T16:39:00.000-04:00

our play has become very "hatch centric" recently

our books too

must be that time of year again...

the chicks are coming....

Mayden's eye: morning shots

2011-04-03T21:40:00.000-04:00

Mayden caught these moments of Cameron right after he woke up one morning last week. interesting for sure.

ummm..... excuse me?

May informed me that these next three pictures were of Cameron imitating the face of his wrestling guys (a thing i find Hilarius!)

Mayden's eye: she's back!

2011-03-30T22:16:00.000-04:00

if you remember months ago we had a little segment called "Mayden's eye" which abruptly came to an end. Cameron even got in on the action, infact his "action" (read: camera throwing) was the cause of said abrupt end. yes, my beloved point & shoot was dead.

my in-laws gave us this exact model (twice actually, after one was lost forever) and i love it. it's a Canon Powershot A540. it does a really great job for a point & shoot. when the second one died i had my SLR so i wasn't in a rush to get anything else but taking a big camera all over God's green earth isn't ideal. so finding a used one crossed my mind and i found one for like $30!

I intend for the kids to use it mostly but I will be sticking it in my bag when an SLR is too big to drag with me. soon you'll be seeing their work!

our favorite PB&J

2011-03-29T23:40:00.000-04:00

we've been through a lot of PB&J choices over the years. these are the ones that have stuck. yes, you have to stir the peanut butter but it's so smooth & creamy afterwards that it's totally worth the effort. have you ever read the ingredients in your peanut butter? you should.

the jelly we started using after my mother-in-law introduced it to us a few years back. it uses only fruit juice to sweeten and has the least amount of ingredients for the most flavor that i've found so far. apple butter is also another good option. we love it! and if you can't remember how to make it for my kids, click here!

the winter of cards

2011-03-22T21:34:00.000-04:00

the winter weather keeps us inside a lot and that can get old after awhile with 2 small ones. one thing we found is that Mayden is old enough to play cards with us! Cam has actually played a little Uno from time to time but one round is usually more than enough for him. he has trouble with color recognition (not that he can't do it, he just doesn't want to do it) so the game is great for him. not only have we been playing tons of Uno but Chris taught her poker & war and she got a game called Slamwich we've been playing too. 'twas the winter of cards!

typically after i put Cam to bed May and I will play a bunch of rounds until her bedtime.

Spring hair

2011-03-21T18:44:00.000-04:00

along with Spring comes new beginnings and new hair. i miss the curls but the "get the kids ready to be seen in public" time has been cut down dramatically!

Spring? is that you?

2011-03-18T19:16:00.013-04:00

Spring is technically still a couple days away but today sure felt like Spring to us! a nice 74 degrees... of course tomorrow will be 54, but that's besides the point! the kids and i took a walk around the yard discovering signs of new life and hope. we started the beginnings of this years garden. still nothing planted but that will change very soon.

it's not easy being green

2011-03-17T22:37:00.001-04:00

today started out by finding the most green outfit to wear, it was all about being green. right down to the underwear (oh yes)

Mayden had a great idea to buy a green apple or pear. we found a green apple and she tried it.... yeah, no.

Cameron on the other hand loved it! this is amazing because up until today the kid has rejected most fruit including any kind of juice. i guess i'll be buying green apples in addition to the red apples from now on!

so we spent the day getting lunch and playing at the park with friends, in short sleeves none-the-less. Happy St. Patrick's Day from the O'Speers!

birdwatching

2011-03-11T10:23:00.000-05:00

The kids and I remembered that hawks nest at the Franklin Institute (in Philadelphia) this time of year. We went to the website that broadcasts this but it was too dark here on the East Coast. Looking around we stumbled upon two more streaming cameras that watch birds. If you have a minute you should really check them out, very cool perspectives!

Hawks - should be laying eggs soon

Barn Owls -missed the hatch but have 6 ~~ugly~~ babies to watch grow

Hummingbird - waiting for the 2 eggs to hatch any day now!

we are on high alert for hummingbird hatching!

they keep talking so i keep laughing

2011-03-09T20:52:00.000-05:00

Cam: "Mama, smell my mouth"
Me: *sniffs* "what did you eat?"
Cam: "my boogers"

nice.

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after a bath Cam asks what his scrotum is and i tell him it's name
overhearing the conversation May asks "what's the worm part called?"

i tried so hard not to laugh at this one but just couldn't do it... LOL!

recent writting

2011-03-04T20:56:00.000-05:00

this morning i told Mayden "I need you to write me a letter sometime today" her reply was "i don't want to, i don't want to write anything today." then she paused and said "how are you going to make me write something?" wow. that is an excellent question but one i wasn't ready to answer for a few more years. so after i picked my jaw back up off the floor i left her alone. the rest of the day went on and we did some other less "school" like things. as i was putting Cameron to bed i asked her if she wanted to some reading or writing after he was down. she chose writing. on. her. own. ((YAY)) she is much more willing to "do school" in the evenings and writing a list about fun things seemed to be more interesting to her than writing a letter and i'm glad i thought of it because we can make lists of so many things now!

if you need a translation:

Favorite Movies
1. Home Alone 2
2. Mr. Magorium's (Wonder Emporium)
3. The Karate Kid (she did this one completely solo while i was putting Cam to bed)
4. The Polar Express
5. Ponyo
6. My Neighbor Totoro

*a couple of these, namely #1 & 3 i would never have guessed. haha

reading update

2011-03-02T20:46:00.000-05:00

so today is Dr. Seuss's 107th birthday! to celebrate we dug out all of our Dr. Seuss books

and we read every. single. one.

in other news May discovered a misprint in one of her books the other night. if you're not familiar with Lazy Town then i'll tell you that Ziggy & Pixel's names are mixed up on this page (below). i never even noticed before and believe me i've read this book plenty!

we've been reading "Little House in the Big Woods" growing up i was never into the "little house" books but seems to me if you homeschool you must like "little house on the prairie" so we're giving it a try. so far, so good!

as for me, I'm hoping to finally finish this book tonight... i've been working on it for a month or so now!

the bikes are back, baby!

2011-02-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

our weather is erratic at this point in the year but at least once a week we are getting a nice (50+ degree) day. nice enough to open the garage door (ignoring the mess we've made all winter, spring cleaning will come soon enough) and dig out the bikes! the ground is still very wet so staying on the pavement is ideal.

of course we have to try out every wheeled vehicle we own.

whoops, we still the Winter wobbles.... Spring & Summer should cure that!

Mayden says: donuts

2011-02-19T12:52:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning....

Me: "hey! why don't we pause this movie, get dressed, go to Wawa and get some donuts?!?"
May after a bit of a pause: "that sounds like a lot of work"

HAHA wow, too lazy to go and buy donuts?!?! where have i gone wrong?

the who, what, where, when, why & how of our homeschooling

2011-02-17T20:51:00.000-05:00

the who, what, where, when, why & how of our homeschooling

Who: Our family... Mama aka Adia, Dada aka Chris, our daughter Mayden (6/05) & our son Cameron (6/07)

What: -75% unschooling and 25% homeschooling... this is what we envision anyway, we'll see what reality looks like.

Where: Everywhere.... home, in our backyard, the park, grandma's house, the post office, library, in the city, in the country, homeschool co-ops, the beach, Arizona... you get the picture.

When: While we will "offically" start in Sept with traditional schools. We envision year round school because really there will be no turning the learning off.

Why: Let me first say that i don't think homeschooling/unschooling is for everyone just as i don't think public school, private school or any alternate schooling is for everyone. In our case we see this as an opportunity to let our children be free from desks, textbooks, homework, standerdize testing and bullies. And in turn give them space & freedom for growing in directions of their choosing. on a personal note, i think it will be a lot of fun and anticipate learning a lot right along side of them! The real question is...why not??

How: one thing we will be doing to ensure lots of learning time is available will be limiting TV/movies/computer games etc. On "school" days the children will be allowed 1-2 hours of screen time to be used only after dinner. In the early years of schooling we do not plan on using curriculum but might give unit studies a try now and then. Basically literacy, time and plenty of exposure to interesting things should do the trick for now.

one to many blogs

2011-02-17T20:48:00.000-05:00

i read too many blogs and i have too many blogs!

so I am officially closing the "chasing bugs & butterflies" blog and moving all things homeschooling over here to the "life blog". It's not really separate in my mind so no need for a separate blog. I thought about moving all the posts from that blog over here as to not lose anything... but i think that will take too much time so i'm just going to start over.

kids say the darnedest things!

2011-02-15T14:29:00.000-05:00

the other night Chris and I were playing a "whisper down the lane" type game with May and it went like this...

Chris to Mayden: "put me to bed now, woman"
Mayden to me: "poop on the bed now, woman"

it took Chris a few seconds to realize she had said it out loud to me wrong so i was very confused!

________________________________________
Cameron's current "curse" words: butt, blood, hunk, humbug, gross & dude

________________________________________
in other curse word news Mayden said the "F word" a few weeks ago.... her very first one! i was home alone putting her to bed and I guess I was rushing the process. I turned on her music that she always has on when going to sleep and walked out of the room. she comes stomping into the kitchen where I was and yelled "it's to fu*king loud" at me. I think she had to pick my jaw up off the ground before we went any further with our conversation. I'll never forget that!

My little loves!

2011-02-14T12:31:00.000-05:00

the warmest spot in the house

2011-01-21T20:55:00.002-05:00

just follow the cat...

our bedroom is definitely the warmest spot in the house. noticeably warmer. it's in the back southeast corner of the house and misses a lot of the wind that the rest of the house is subjected to. living next to a farm means lots of space for wind to whip up and land at our front door! we have a VHS player in this room where we all snuggle up and watch old movies. lovely!

this info is very good to know seeing as we're not going to get above 25 degrees over the next 5 days. as for the cat, she's convinced that spot on our bed is the warmest spot in the warmest room and i tend to agree.

handmade holiday goodies: what's under the tree

2011-01-09T18:50:00.002-05:00

in one of my 25 days of Christmas photos you see some jars under our tree but what is it?

it's Peppermint Laundry Powder! i took the recipe straight from Soulemama even using the exact same bar soap. i added a tag with the directions for people to make their own.

when i doubled the recipe i had enough for 7 med size mason jars and had plenty left over for myself.

and it smells so good!

2011 resolutions

2011-01-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

1. knit something other than a scarf like maybe a baby hat

2. become apart of some kind of homeschooling group i really need to make this happen. like really.

3. wear makeup daily i don't have a reason really, i'm just curious to see what this will do for me.

4. spend $25 (or more) a month at the farmers market i always want to do this but it doesn't happen often. it's so hard for me to spend money, even on food. but by making it a resolution i'm hoping that it will be easier!

2010 resolutions reviewed....

2011-01-03T23:26:00.000-05:00

here's a link to my 2010 resolutions. let's see how i did...

1. learn to knit: Yes! i started off the year slow and frustrated. in fact i though i'd given up until i gave it one last go this fall... something clicked and now i'm really into it. i knit a scarf (below) and am working on more. i'm already a bit of a yarn addict from crocheting and i'm loving these new bamboo needles i recently picked up!

2. do yoga a few days a week: no, not even close! the kids and i have done it occasionally through out the year but nothing close to a few days a week. it's something i'm still interested in but i'm just really not good at it (yet!)

3. get one paid photography gig: a huge yes! when i first wrote this resolution i had big doubts about it but turns out i had nothing to worry about. i ended up having over 30 paid gigs in 2010!

4. limit internet use: i'm going to have to say no on this one. i made a conscious effort a few times throughout the year but nothing really stuck. it's something i'm still struggling with. how much is too much? should i cut it off 100% or just cut down a little bit.

new resolutions coming up soon!

handmade holiday goodies: food edition

2011-01-02T07:57:00.001-05:00

i didn't so much new with food as gifts this year. i made my holiday granola again in the crock-pot (twice) gosh i love this recipe!

can you tell where i do a lot of shopping?

then at the last minute i spotted this little gem of a recipe! so at the store i decided that using baking chocolate chips instead of the baking chocolate bars would be the same thing..... wrong! the dark chocolate didn't seem to be effected but the white just wasn't melting correctly. so this was our first batch....

right away i knew something was wrong so i headed back out to the store to try again. this time with the real stuff.... and followed the directions WORD FOR WORD.

looks much better, and yes it tasted much better too!

so we set some out for our Christmas day guests to enjoy and had some left over for gifts. i will definitely be doing this again next year! yum!

the last day of 2010

2011-01-01T18:53:00.000-05:00

firstly i should apologize in advance for the photographs on this post (and a few others lately) i sold my camera and will be upgrading this week! very excited about that!! here's a mild documentation of our last day in 2010

the crazy boy

my breakfast

the husband in his usual spot

making banana bread

my little helpers

snow much fun!

self portrait

i love days with snow on the ground but warm enough to be coat-less

how does he do this? this kid never ceases to amaze me!

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory time!

my view during my (literally) maybe twice a year bath.

all is well

25 days of Christmas: day 23-25

2010-12-28T18:48:00.000-05:00

day 23

day 24

day 25

25 days of Christmas: day 16-22

2010-12-23T09:24:00.000-05:00

day 16

day 17

day 18

day 19

day 20

day 21

day 22

25 days of Christmas: day 15

2010-12-15T22:58:00.000-05:00

finally something under our tree!

25 days of Christmas: day 14

2010-12-15T22:55:00.000-05:00

one of my favorite Christmas books as a child... and now hers!

25 days of Christmas: day 13

2010-12-15T22:54:00.001-05:00

i swear he did this to himself!

25 days of Christmas: day 12

2010-12-12T22:15:00.000-05:00

25 days of Christmas: day 11

2010-12-11T20:08:00.002-05:00

going to need to add "electric mixer" to my Christmas list... mine died very dramatic like with lots of smoke making these!

25 days of Christmas: day 10

2010-12-11T14:03:00.000-05:00

a full day with Jae... lots of cousin time!! (yay for Elmo!)

25 days of Christmas: day 9

2010-12-09T17:54:00.002-05:00

just keep sewing, just keep sewing...

25 days of Christmas: day 8

2010-12-08T10:57:00.002-05:00

my peppermint soap is here... now i can start making one of my homemade gifts!

25 days of Christmas: day 7

2010-12-07T15:19:00.000-05:00

loving those little crossed legs!

25 days of Christmas: day 6

2010-12-06T22:37:00.000-05:00

25 days of Christmas: day 5

2010-12-05T22:07:00.000-05:00

25 days of Christmas: day 4

2010-12-05T22:06:00.000-05:00

25 days of Christmas: day 3

2010-12-03T09:59:00.002-05:00

speaking of PB&J

2010-12-02T16:27:00.001-05:00

as a parent of more than one child you get to know who likes what, how, when and where... nothing is the same for both children. nothing is easy. for example if i want to serve breakfast one likes oatmeal and the other hates it. one likes milk in their cereal and the other won't touch milk (in cereal or otherwise) ugh! here's lunch...

Mayden's: with crust, cut in 1/2

Cameron's: without crust, cut in 1/4

25 days of Christmas: day 2

2010-12-02T11:27:00.002-05:00

25 days of Christmas: day 1

2010-12-01T14:03:00.000-05:00

a photo a day

gift making

flashbacks: The Ghost of Christmas Past

2010-12-01T09:04:00.001-05:00

Dec 31, 2005

so a few weeks ago i took a candlelight tour of woodstown, a town nearby where we live. this town also happens to be a neighboring town to the place I grew up. and also where many a aunt, uncle and cousin live/lived. and this place holds the greatest house that ever lived (do houses live?) my grandparents used to own this house. i grew up spending much time in this house and many a christmas evening here. turns out that specific house was on the tour this year...(actually that's why we went). being in that house again (my grandparents sold it when i was 10) was a wild feeling. it brought back tons of memories and feelings. it seemed sooooo much smaller than i remembered it. that's logical since i was so much smaller when i was last in it. i loved that house intensely and was super sad when they sold it. i always secretly hoped to one day own it or really i hoped my grandparents would come back to rescue it back to the family. below is a pic of me sitting on the steps.

p.s

fyi the ghost of christmas present was great, May seemed to have a good (and fairly oblivious) first christmas.

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2010-11-29T10:37:00.000-05:00

the girl thought of this all on her own!

flashbacks: Seeing Pink

2010-11-26T09:03:00.000-05:00

so i'm doing this series VERY slowly (i'll try to be better) where i'm posting my blog posts from years ago that i put on myspace.com i'm trying to move everything over here so that i can finally close my myspace account (that i haven't used in years) but i don't want to lose these memories!

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Nov 21st 2005

is it possible that now that im a mom of a girl i actually like the color pink? i told myself, along with most everyone i know, that if this baby was a girl i would be stearing clear of all things pink. now i must admit May's wardrob consists almost entirly in every shade of pink imaginable. and every peice is super adorable. of course i welcome with open arms the occasional non-pink outfit we get from time to time. but pink just seems to suite her...for now anyway

today May is 5 months...ive been trying not to cry about it all day today. here's a picture from tonight before bed in whatelse but her pink hat