Our New Adventures in Home Schooling

I have just started Home Schooling our son, he is still in Pre School and we are not sure what we will be doing for Kindergarten, but for this moment Home Schooling seemed like our best option. Since my husband is still seasonal and we have both decided I should stay home with the kids we try and save money where ever we can. This is not to be confused with us compromising our son's education, which we both value very highly.  I do have experience with teaching, our son was not responding well to going to school and out of finanacial necessity this is the prayerful choice we made.

I have only been on this adventure for a week and half so far.  We have transformed my son's bedroom into the play room/school room and moved both of the kids into the same room. If I was being completely honest he sleeps in my bed while daddy is away at work anyway so it wasn't a big change. We have rearranged our priorities to make sure school time happens every day. I have investigated library time and kid friendly activites in our community. I am starting to scan Pinterest for new ideas and I have reached out to other mom friends for advice, help and encouragement. We have also gotten sister involved in the schooling which has been a bonus.

I am little nervous, especially since parenting with your partner at work a majority of the time is tough anyway, and to add more is scary, but it was prayed about and the doors opened so we have walked through bravely.

I will keep you all updated on our adventure here. Here are some of the first pictures I have taken.

 

Life...

Life has finally gotten into a rhythm with two kids. It is not always pretty or organized but everyone is happy, healthy and clean! Since my last post lots of changes have happened.  Giuliana turned 1, Braydon turned 4, we moved into a new house, my sister got married, I am selling Li'l Labbee at Pine Street Pediatric and Studio 317 and we began homeschooling my son! Ok...insert breath here.

We also experienced some major losses this year, my Granddad passed, my Great Aunt Mary passed, we were also struck by the firefighter tragedy in Arizona and the loss of a Cal Fire Fighter who was killed in the line of duty. He worked in Southern, CA and left behind a wife, a 2 year old son and a daughter on the way.

We have survived Halloween and are getting ready for Thanksgiving, although if it were up to my son and Husband we would skip right to Christmas.

Fire season is coming to an end, which also means the end of daddy coming home for a "visit" or us visiting him. I am looking forward to the close of this crazy year and the new beginnings next year holds.

St. Patrick's Day Pinterest Challenge

Ok Ok it has been WAY too long since my last post. Things around here are crazy between cultivating Li'l Labbee (we are now in three stores, ETSY, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest), my Granddad passing away, Soroptomist Spring Fling and MOPS we have been one busy family!

Here are some of the pins I tried for our St. Patrick's Day festivities.

These ideas and more can be found on Li'l Labbee's Pinterest Page on the St. Patrick's Day Board
http://pinterest.com/lillabbee/st-patrick-s-day/

Here are some pictures of my creations, a rag wreath and rainbow pancakes. I also made a trail of Gold Nugget Candies to our kitchen table where the kids found the "treasure" the St. Patty's leprachaun brought them.

I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day as well!

HUGE SALE

Li'l Labbee is having a HUGE SALE! Most items are 50% off! Clips, onesies, and headbands! Stock up for baby shower gifts! 20% of sales inFebruary benefit Family Services of Tulare County.

Fun with Felt!

As part of my Pinterest challenge I have tried my hand at more "headband pins." This time it was tackling felt flowers.

These are original pins:
Kandrdesigns.blogspot.com

Taking this inspiration I created these clips

I used felt buttons layered on top of each other and then I added a button and glued on a clip.

This is the next pin inspiration:

Cdn.duitang.com

 

This is what I created for Li'l Labbee. Check out these new items on lillabbee.etsy.com

 

 

Have a Heart

20% of all sales in the month of February will be donated to Family Services of Tulare County. Check them out on Facebook. They are doing a lot to care for members of our community. I am privileged to help support such an amazing organization!

Li'l Labbee items at Pine Street Pediatrics

It is official! Li'l Labbee has a display at Pine Street Pediatrics. We have adorable new headbands, tie onesies, appliqué onesies, flower clips and crochet beanies. They will make adorable Valentine's Day gifts!

Pinterest Challenge

We have all done it! We pin, pin, pin with every intention of completing the adorable projects we have saved only to let the great ideas go to waste on our forgotten boards. Well my New Year's Resolution is to complete my pins!

Here is the first step towards my goal. Here are the bows and clips I have completed and the pin links from my Pinterest account. These are all on my headband board. I hope you love them (I am selling them) and you are inspired to try something new too!

Rolled Flowers tutorial on Cherry Street Cottage Blog
Folded Flower tutorial on Crazy Little Projects Blog
Chiffon Flower tutorial on Holiday Crafts and Creations Blog

Here are some pictures of my creations. Enjoy!

Li'l Labbee

My focus this year is trying to grow my business. I started selling objects at Cappella Coffee House in Exeter, CA and I soon will have items for sale at Pine Street Pediatrics in Exeter as well. I am busy making fun new items and have added baby headbands and clips to my inventory. I have added new items to my Etsy shop as well. Check them out at lillabbee.etsy.com or my thumbnail store on my blog.

Christmas Highlights

Here are some pics of our Christmas fun!

Elf on the Shelf Day 26-28

In his final days Mater played some silly tricks and made sure our Christmas cards were in order before he went home to the North Pole. One day Mater was taped up by the gang from Toy Story, however Braydon and the cars came to his rescue. His final day he painted Braydon's nose like Rudolph. We all thought that was very silly. We will miss our friend Mater.

Christmas Fun with two Sickies

I am determined to make some happy holiday memories even though we are all sick.  We all got in our Christmas pj's and went to look at Christmas lights. There were a lot of neat houses, and a lot of bah humbug ones too, but two of our favorites were the "Grinch" house and another light spectacular house. Both houses synced their lights to music you could access through a radio station. It kind of reminded me of the old drive- in movie theaters. The "Grinch" house was so much fun because the Grinch himself came out to make an appearance and handout candy canes and take pictures. It was a fun way for us all to get out of the house and enjoy some Christmas Cheer.

Elf on the Shelf Day 21-25

ElfOur little elf has been up to some new tricks this week to make our little sickies smile. At first we thought B had croup, turns out it was RSV and an ear infection and in the spirit of giving he gave it to  Gigi, Mom and Dad. So Mater has been trying to cheer us up, since we have all been stuck in doors. Here are the highlights.