Leading Up to the Move

Monday Daddy, Monkey, and I ran a load of scrap to the scrap yard after a cup of coffee. All of the campers were up and in various stages of breakfast or chores. When we got back to the house Daddy made his famous spinach spaghetti (when I put it in blue that means I'm going to add the recipe at the end of the post). Then he and Monkey loaded up the car and went out to the new house to finish the painting that we'd started on Saturday, prep the kitchen walls for paint, and paint at least one more room in the house, along with some other odds and ends. I folded a load of laundry, got the campers working together to gently deflate the floats for the beach, started a load of laundry that was half linen and half clothing, and prepped to wash blankets for the rest of the day. My goals for the day included getting much of the linens that we don't use on a daily basis washed, dried, and packed up using them to cushion my ceramic decorations ... including two dancing lady music "boxes" that my grandmother had given me (these are precious to me and so I made sure to mark the entire box fragile with a red marker). In between doing laundry and writing out the notes for this blog post I did some exercises and also crocheted a bit. The campers helped me and ran the vacuum, did dishes, prepared lunch, and various other things. Daddy and Monkey came home in the early evening and of course our supper was spinach spaghetti! After supper everyone pretty much relaxed, took showers, got meds, and did the bedtime routine... everyone in the house was asleep in bed by 11:30 PM.

On Tuesday we all lazed about in bed until around 9 AM when Daddy got a call from out contractor about the electricity... the fastest he'd be able to get the power company to turn us back on wasn't going to be for another week and Daddy had to fax some forms to the electric company. We did one better. I woke up all of the campers and got them going for the day after which Daddy, Monkey, and I went to one of the customer service centers for the electric company with the paperwork. Paperwork filed and one call made and the electricity and gas would be turned on this Wednesday!!! While we were down in that area we stopped in to do a few things for Papa, Grandma is down in Texas visiting with family and won't be back for another ten days or so. On our way home we actually went out of our way to go to the video store and rent several movies to watch. By the time we got home it was around 4 PM (140 + miles worth of driving this day!) and we turned on Alladin to watch with the girls. After the movie I cooked pork chops, mac and cheese, and broccoli for supper. Meds were passed out on time, crocheting got done, and everyone was in bed asleep (including the adults) by midnight.

Wednesday morning all of the adults woke up really early so that Daddy and Monkey could get out to the new house and get the stove installed in the kitchen while they wait on our morning appointment with the electric/gas company as an adult has to be in the house while things are turned on. Daddy loaded the trunk of the car with most of his tools and off they went. I was enjoying my last cup of coffee after doing 25 squats to exercise my legs, then packed up the rest of my knick knacks (believe me, there are a TON and I have almost as many outside decorations for the house), updated this blog post with notes from Monday and Tuesday, folded a load of laundry and washed another, then took a shower... all before the first child popped their head out of the covers. In between loads of laundry, and while I waited for the campers to wake up, I crocheted ... one of my new goals is to crochet every day to make sure that I'm making time for myself... I also laid out the meat for supper so that it would defrost. Meatloaf done on the bbq anyone? (It's so good!) Daddy and Monkey came home in the afternoon victorious! The electric is on to the new house and so is the natural gas! 

So, here it is Thursday, and I'm wrapping up my blog post for this week. Tomorrow and the weekend will be filled with moving so I won't have much time for being online and we won't have internet on at the new house for at least a week or more. I'll be back to blogging by the beginning of September and the "new" school year... Today we spent the morning quietly together, then ran a load of scrap out to the scrap yard, followed by a quick trip to pick up the newest member of the family! Meet T. Rex! (Tyson Rex) We stopped after picking him up to visit with a friend we hadn't seen in far too long and then came home. The afternoon has been filled with dogs and a puppy playing, baths, cuddles, and more. Supper tonight will be chicken thighs, green beans, noodles, and beets. We'll be getting to bed a bit earlier tonight so that we can get up and busy early in the morning!!! The next time I post a blog post it will be from our new home!! How exciting!!

Spinach Spaghetti

• two cans of spinach
• one large can of whole pealed tomatoes
• one small can of diced tomatoes
• one large can of mushrooms
• 2 -4 jars of favorite spaghetti sauce (this depends on size of jar)
• salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, minced onion, and a dash of sugar
• spaghetti noodles

Drain spinach extremely well. Drain both tomatoes and mushrooms. Place all ingredients in crock pot set to lowest setting (we set it on "keep warm") and let cook from morning until supper time. When ready to serve boil enough noodles for your family to all eat. Serve with garlic bread if desired and parm cheese sprinkled on top. Depending on the size of your family you'll have enough for one or two more meals, you can also freeze the leftovers and use them later. 

Find us on Facebook here. We're also on Instagram!

Not linking up this week. We'll be fully moved in to our new house this weekend and I won't be blogging until we get the internet set up at the new house (not in the top five of our to do list) ... look for updates on how and what we're doing on our Facebook page!!!

Busy Little Campers

Monday we woke up rather early. There was a load of scrap in the truck already that Daddy just secured with ties and then we ran it to the scrap yard. A second trip to the scrap yard happened after a quick run home and another filling of the truck. We were done with scrapping by 11 AM and back at the house. Daddy and I dropped Monkey off so that she could take a shower and grab something to eat and then he and I grabbed some chicken on the way to my 11:30 appointment. I was out just before noon. Daddy and I went and picked up six large boxes to help with the moving and then headed back to the house, where paint was loaded into the trunk and back seat of the car, and Monkey and I traded places. She ran with Daddy out to the new house to finish running some wiring and clean up part of the basement while I stayed home with the other campers and we did two days worth of school. Did we have to do two days worth? Nope, we could have just done one day. But, I figured we could get two out of the four school days scheduled for this week done and then I could either double up another day this week or pick school back up after Noni's scheduled visit for Wednesday. I folded a load of laundry, wrote out my notes for the blog, got both Peanut and YCJ off into the bath and the shower after lunch (which YCJ cooked), and then played a video game for a few minutes to calm my irritation... Yes, for very little reason this day I was irritated and I needed to calm down before I lost my cool. I talked to Daddy on the phone a bit and then I went and crocheted quietly in my room waiting on chicken to defrost so that I could make supper out of it ... possibly two or three suppers out of it. (10 pounds of legs and thighs go a long way when cooked properly.)


On Tuesday the adults were all up by 9:30 (Daddy and Monkey are both early risers and were "sleeping in" when they woke up at 8!) and the campers quickly followed. Daddy and Monkey went back out to the new house to do some more work while I stayed home with the younger campers to do some more school. We did two more days worth of lessons again! That finished out the lessons for the week and we won't be having more lessons until mid-August after we're finished moving (so the campers are getting a larger break of possibly double the time off in July and August, but we'll still do at least two weeks worth of lessons before the "new" school year begins in September.) Approximately 7 pounds worth of chicken had cooked in the crock pot over night while we slept, so I took each piece out and shredded the meat for two more meals (putting each half into two separate containers in the fridge) ... I'll be making chicken noodle soup with one batch of meat and chicken quesadillas with the other batch. ECJ did the breakfast and lunch dishes and then I ran a load of laundry. Afterwards I crocheted while ECJ worked on his coding and the girls worked on crafts and videos. Daddy and Monkey came home in the afternoon and I had a meatloaf ready for Daddy to put on the bbq to cook. Meds were passed out at normal times, bedtime rituals were done, and everyone in the house was asleep by 11 PM.

Wednesday!! Noni came out again and we were off to the inland beach that we went to two weeks ago!! We had the exact same lunch as we did last time, turkey or ham sandwiches with cheese and potato chips. We ate before anyone went into the water and Noni had brought four floatation devices with her that we blew up with her car adapter. The campers all had fun swimming and floating in the water. Noni had hurt her toe two nights before and didn't want to get into the lake and as for me I didn't think it was quite hot enough for swimming so we stayed out and chatted while the campers went swimming. Daddy even showed up about halfway through our time there and hung out and chatted as well! Afterwards Noni stopped by Meijer (a grocery and other store more expensive than Walmart) and we picked up a few things that were needed that I hadn't purchased in the last couple of weeks due to the upcoming move. We had a quiet night after Noni left and all of us were in bed by 11 PM.

On Thursday the girls, Daddy, and I ran out with a load of belongings from our shed (think kids bikes, tools, and yard equipment) to the new house. We unloaded everything into the garage and checked out the inside of the house, straightening a bit of a mess that had been left from all of the electrical work, before turning around and heading back home. But, we hadn't gone out until afternoon so we didn't make it home until supper time ... I threw together some chicken quesadillas for supper, passed out meds, did bedtime rituals, took a long hot bath, and watched some scary movies that we had in the house. 

Friday we had a long day with an appointment for Monkey taking up the better part of the middle of the day. We didn't feel like taking a load of furniture out to the new house and so we picked up several different movies for the campers and the adults and just hung out around the house for the rest of the day.

The weekend was a bit packed with painting being done by the girls, Daddy, and myself at the new house on Saturday. We got two rooms basically finished and did some more cleaning and planning. Daddy and Monkey sanded the plaster walls in the kitchen to prep them for paint when they go back out there. The plan is to be totally moved in by this time next weekend. On Sunday we went to mass and then did a bit of scrapping followed by Monkey learning some basic mechanics from Daddy on our car. Monkey is currently planning on becoming a mechanic and Daddy figures it's time she start learning a bit while he supervises. The rest of the day will be spent with one more trip around the neighborhood looking for scrap, supper of fried bologna/egg/and cheese sandwiches, some crochet, and a few scary movies...

Linked up this week for the Weekly Wrap Up and Homeschool Highlights.

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The 4th of July!!!

Monday rolled around and we thought about doing full force lessons ... instead we just did math. The reason behind this is that Daddy and I had several errands to run during the regular part of the day and some major scrap lifting to do (for a client) in the late afternoon. Math was literally all the planned out lessons that we could get accomplished. Does this mean that the campers didn't learn anything else on Monday? Nope! ECJ not only read his requisite hour of personal reading but also did several hours of coding practice and research. YCJ read her half hour allotted and then practiced putting together videos. And Peanut read her fifteen minutes with me and worked diligently on her crafting projects. After supper (pork chops, rice, and gravy) the campers all got their meds, got read to about Australia, and went off to bed.

Now, for those of you doing the same Give Your Child the World summer book club that are going, "Wait! This week is North America week!" .. Yeah, I know. BUT, we've already covered North America, the Middle East, and Latin America during previous weeks! I knew that we'd not be able to do the book club for the extra three weeks required and slipped lessons in with other lessons to make this work for us. Isn't homeschooling with freedom grand?!?!?! So, this week we're doing Australia and the Polar zones. And we'll be done with this book club a few weeks early, but will revisit much of it throughout next school year.

Tuesday Daddy and I took two trips to the scrap yard during the morning, followed by an oil change and new wipers for the car, new wipers for the truck, checking on the next scrap job for a client, and ran to the grocery store. While we were busy doing this the campers did a lesson of math each and did their independent reading. After Daddy and I had been home about an hour I cooked supper of hot dogs and eggs (scrambled together, really good if you ask us) and melon pieces. Peanut developed a headache from the heat and was given a Tylenol along with a cool damp cloth and sent to lay down for a bit to relax. I passed out meds, read some about Australia (in the room so that Peanut didn't have to get up), and tucked them all into bed... Well, except for ECJ who stayed up a bit later trying to figure out a problem he'd been having with a certain game by watching walk through videos on YouTube. Daddy, ECJ, and I were all asleep by 11 PM.

Wednesday, the fourth of July, Independence Day!!!! We started out the day like any other day ... chores, breakfast, and so on. Then it was time to clean the car and load tools in the trunk for Daddy to take his road trip the next day. After that Daddy and I again ran to the grocery store (yes, that's three trips this week) because Daddy decided to BBQ supper and pick us up some supplies for while he's on his trip ... for those of you who don't know this is because I do NOT drive. That's right, I gave up my drivers license for a regular state ID years ago because I am no longer comfortable behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. There was a heat advisory in effect so we discussed options with the campers: we could go down to the riverfront and see the fireworks but we'd be walking there and back in the heat, OR we could stay home and relax with good food and sparklers. The campers chose the sparklers because Peanut gets headaches from the heat and ECJ didn't like the idea of taking such a long walk. YCJ would have been fine with either choice, she had pros and cons for each lol. We spent the rest of the day relaxing until supper time. Daddy made BBQ steaks and we had noodle salad and melon pieces to go with it. After supper, meds, and bedtime reading we went back outside and did the sparklers behind the house. Then, leaving three boxes completely untouched out of the twelve we'd bought, it was time for bed. But, we had a wonderful time together celebrating our nation's freedom!!!


On Thursday Daddy and I ran to the store really quick before he left for his road trip. Yup, Daddy had to leave for several days and was leaving me in charge of the campers until he gets back. This reminds me of when he was an over the road truck driver, but at least I know when he's coming home this time. The girls and I watched movies and Netflix all day long after Daddy left. Including six episodes (all that Netflix had) of a show called Wild Australia. I finally finished the blanket that I was making for my one niece who's birthday passed about two weeks ago (late birthday gift because I didn't get it done in time). And that was basically our day.

So, it's Friday and we've been a bit busy so far today. We cleaned, ate, did math, I crocheted a bit. The girls are almost ready to watch some more Netflix with me and ECJ is playing a game with one of his friends. I plan on breakfast for supper ... or chicken tacos (we'll see, I have the stuff for both laid out) and a quiet night at home with me working on some crochet projects. I hope that you've had a wonderful week and will have a great weekend!!

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Linked up for the Weekly Wrap Up and Homeschool Highlights.

Where's Everything Else?

Due to my long lapse in blogging I began this new blog ... but everything else from Homeschool Camper is still up and able to be seen! All you need do is click on this little link right here and you can find everything I wrote for just about two years (I think, it could have been longer).

I know it's slightly a pain in the rear end and while I love my previous blog it was time to start a little fresh and turn a new chapter. Much of what you'll find here will be the same as what you used to be able to find on the old blog. 

Recipes
Curriculum
Reviews
Weekly Wrap Ups

You name it and I write it. But, I just wanted to clear up that little bit of confusion just in case any of you were wondering what the heck happened to all the stuff that I had already blogged about.

So Much Has Happened!

Oh my goodness! So much has happened since my last blog entry and it all began even before that! So, get yourself a cup of coffee (or tea if you'd rather) and settle in for an update!

October of 2014 found us moving from that home we remodeled in Michigan to another home in eastern Kentucky. I posted pictures online and blogged just a little, but we spent nearly the next year just enjoying the great outdoors and working on some projects outside on the two acres of land. Well, when we went to pull permits for some work on the house this past summer we were shocked to find out that no one was even supposed to be in that house and indeed it shouldn't have been sold to us. So, we packed up and headed back to good old Michigan.

We stayed with Grandma and Papa while trying to get ourselves reestablished in Michigan. Taking care of those pesky things like transferring the insurance and house hunting. We'd thought we'd only need to stay for a month or two. We were there from August until just the beginning of January! House hunting this time around was harder than we'd thought it would be. But we did eventually find the home we wanted, waited out the couple of months it took for the paperwork to be processed on the other people's side, and then had to redo the plumbing from the floor up in almost the whole house!

We've been in our new home for just over a month now and we're really beginning to feel settled in. The campers are back to their regularly scheduled lessons again (which hadn't been so regular until we were once again in our own home) and our routines are slowly falling into place. 

I'll have pictures and more about the house at another time (I have to find that pesky link cord for my camera to upload them to the computer, I know it's around here somewhere...). 

As for Elder Cracker Jack he's been turning into a regular teenage boy. He's now fourteen and of course thinks that he's heading on forty. Us parents can't possibly understand, don't know what he's going through, as a matter of fact we really don't seem to know much most of the time as far as he's concerned. At least until a doctor or someone else verifies the information that we've just given him. He's doing wonderfully at his lessons, though he still hates writing reports or creative writing unless it's his own idea. He's decided that he'd like to go to public high school in the fall, so we're working on getting him more involved with the co-op near us and getting him ready for the transition. He's been informed that if he's going to "do high school" then he is in it for all four years. He's not coming back home simply because he doesn't like his classes, teachers, or classmates. The high school can literally be seen out of my back window as the house buts up to their field for sports so it's not like he has far to go.

Younger Cracker Jack is chugging along quite nicely. Her reading level is still behind but she is catching up more every day. She's now reading things she sees all around us on her own without prompting and has been doing her language arts assignments with very limited help from me. It takes her longer than when I sat with her and helped her through it but she is doing it on her own and doing it well and that is what matters, not how quickly she can get it done.

Peanut, well she astounds me every single day. Today during spelling, remember that we use  Spelling You See, she wrote this super cute narrative and illustrated it. The rhyme this week was I'm a little teapot and she wrote about how teapots were probably in the people's homes that were involved with the Boston Tea Party. And that it all happened because the taxes were too high. Her illustration showed a teapot, sword in hand, fighting with the king of England! Her imagination is priceless! She's popping up with words I didn't know that she knew how to read on a weekly basis and shocks me all the time with what she knows on subjects I didn't even know she knew about yet. 

I could continue to write more and more all night long, but I would never get to bed and I have a busy day tomorrow. So, I hope this helped shed some light on what's been going on with us for the past 18 months or so and I sincerely hope that I am able to get back into the flow of blogging often!