Enjoying the Chaos

I am sat in my living room, snuggled up with Little J watching Mary Poppins. It is Little J's first time watching this classic. I love sharing things like this with my children it makes old things new again. Don't you love good, clean, fun entertainment. It is true that some things can really span generations. My five year old is laughing and giggling just as I did when I watched it for the first time. My parents are over and we went for a walk this afternoon enjoying the unseasonably warm day. Jam found a whole shell of a snapping turtle. It was a perfect way to spend the last day of the year. I find my parents very inspiring, I caught them holding hands during our walk...Love it. Whatever you are doing this evening, I hope you are spending time with those you love. Happy New Year - from my home to yours!

My husband and I went on our first date on my 16th birthday. We got engaged on my 20th birthday and married six months later. We have been through a lot together, happy and sad; Samuel our stillborn son, the death of our beautiful Heather, a miscarriage, and our three beautiful children who bring us happiness every day . I look forward to many more years together. Happy Anniversary   ©2011-2013 Chickensbunniesandhomeschool. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author Chickensbunniesandhomeschool.blogspot.com

  Merry Christmas 1. I have taken a little time of this week from the blog, school and online media. I feel a little out of touch today. However it has been wonderful. I can't wait till New Year for another little holiday. 2. I have to share this awesome review of the year that I have printed out this pin for myself. It's a really cool New Year's Resolution form that is really simple. I love the kids one here . I recently found this blog (where the printables are found. 3. I decided to finish my Random 5 by picking some of my favorite pictures of my phone. These are the gifts we gave for my Young Women at Church. The theme for the year is “Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness” (Moroni 10:32) aren't they cute. 4. Do you remember this game... Little J found it in the closet and he challenged Dad to quite a few games. It's an action picture so please excuse the blurriness. 5. My husband had to co...

FIVE DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS 1. Dad was given an opportunity to ring a bell this morning, he volunteered to collect change for The Salvation Army. The kids thought it was great. Little J had great fun putting all of my change into the bucket.   2. My friend dropped my a cute gift today. Don't you just love cookie mix in a jar. My pictures not brilliant but it was really cute, and I had to share. 3. This week we finally got the kids back in their own rooms. Dad started to build the wall that created the room last Saturday. Jam moved in Monday night. Monday lunchtime Dad and I had a brilliant idea for Boo's new bed (as the double bed was moved into Jam's room). Dad built the frame with Boo's help in 2 hours. The space under her bed is now the beautiful home to her American Girl Dolls. 4. I am SO excited to see my Mom and Dad tomorrow. They have been working away since the summer, and they are coming home for Christmas. Little J has been counting do...

This last year my daughter made a new friend Lily Lapp. We were asked to review the first two books in the the series, you can read our review here . Boo drove me crazy wanting to read the next two books in the series. I had planned to buy one for her birthday and one for Christmas, however I was offered both books to review. Needless to say we were both thrilled. Boo is eleven just the same age as Lily in the last book so it was easy for her to relate so I will turn the time over to her; I love the Life of Lily series it has been one of my favorite. In the story Lily's cousin moved away, I know what it is like to have your cousin move away. My cousin moved twice each time further away, but I get to see her more than Lily saw her cousin, which was once a year. I also know what it's like having all brothers. I have an older brother and a younger brother. I wanted a little sister, but wouldn't trade my little brother for anything. I have read all of the Little house on ...

Random Five - Friday the 13th 1. I'm not superstitious so the fact it is Friday the 13th doesn't bother me at all. 2. The kids made Gingerbread Graham Cracker Houses today. This year everyone worked on their own - even Little J so some of them turned out better than others.  They made a huge mess, and the houses...well like I said they had fun. 2. For once I am prepared in advance. thanks to my awesome secretary I have the Christmas presents for the Young Women in my ward (the name of a specific church area in the LDS church) made and wrapped. I am SO excited. 3. Dad has been working on Jam's new room. Last Saturday the wall went up and this morning he put the first coat of paint on. Hopefully next week I will be showing you the inside of his new room. Jam has been so patient. We moved from a small 4 bedroom house to a larger 3 bedroom. Luckily there was space to make Jam a bedroom. It's been nearly 6 months and I am ready to have the boys in their own r...

I grew up reading and being read too. My Mom used to read me the classics written by  Enid Blyton . I spent my childhood reading about  Felicity and her adventures at Malory Towers, The Secret Seven, Famous Five, and by far my favorite The Magic Faraway Tree . I feel very sad that such classic books are being edited and made 'politically correct'. I read that schools in England are having to take some of these classics of their shelves to become eligible for a 'race quality awards'. You can read the article I found here. When I read books to my children that contain terms or vocabulary that we don't use anymore. I feel it is my job to explain it to them. I don't think it's right for others to make that decision for me. What do you think... ©2011-2013 Chickensbunniesandhomeschool. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author Chickens...

When I was in school my Mom signed me up for a 'Speech and Drama' class. I think that she wanted to rid me of my Yorkshire accent. Which unfortunately didn't work that well, until we moved to the US. Now I have a Yorkshire/US drawl when I am in England people think I sound American and here people always ask me where I am from. When I say the name of my town, they look at me weird and then say...no before that. Anyway on of the poems I had to memorize in class was 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' by Robert Frost. We had our first snowfall today so I thought I would share; Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening By Robert Frost Whose woods these are I think I know.    His house is in the village though;    He will not see me stopping here    To watch his woods fill up with snow.    My little horse must think it queer    To stop without a...

Random Five Friday  December 6th 1. The kids and I went on a spur of the moment field trip today. Our local university has a rock climbing wall. They recently purchased small climbing harnesses - Little J approved!  2. I work with the Young Women of my church. Wednesday I gave some of the girls a hot-gun and some baubles and asked them to make something that looked like a tree, as a centerpiece.  This is what they made - pretty good right. 3. It's a tradition here to put up our Christmas tree December 1st. It was fun, this year the kids did all the work, except for the star (You can't tell well from the picture but Little J needed a little help from Daddy). 4. I made Weight Watcher's Chilli for dinner tonight. It's one of our favorites.   5. We went for another one of our walks Saturday. Dad even packed up Turkey sandwiches and included some of our favorite sparkling apple juice. The kids thought that was awesome. Little J found a rock he ...

  Don't forget to enter the Twelve Days of Christmas giveaway! a Rafflecopter giveaway ©2011-2013 Chickensbunniesandhomeschool. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author Chickensbunniesandhomeschool.blogspot.com

We love reading books and making crafts. So when we were asked to review a copy of the book Why I Give - An Activity Book We haven't had time to do any of the activities in the book yet. We do have some picked out to do in the month of December. To be honest we don't start any Christmas festivities until December 1. I love Christmas, always have however I feel that the world is taking this special time of year and turning it into a time of greed and I want, I want, I want. Anything that helps teach our children that this season is worth more than that. This book definitely talks about why we should give to others and has a ton of ideas of things that children can easily make for others by themselves. There is also a lot of scripture references, I wish however there was a choice of translation. We personally just use the KJV not the NIV version used in the book. Some of the projects the kids have picked out to make are; Bottlecap magnets (our local craft store se...

1. This Thanksgiving was the first that the five of us spent together without any other extended family. It was different, but still good. Dad and Jam spent Thursday morning playing flag football with some friends. I can't complain at all that he left me cooking dinner, as he had already prepared the Turkey, and made the most amazing stuffing. 2. Thursday afternoon after we ate dinner, we went out for a walk. The countryside around us is amazing. I love having an excuse to take more pictures. 3. My youngest is ALL boy. Sometimes he reminds me more than others... He found something that looked REALLY interesting and insisted on digging it out. 4. I heard that my local Walmart had about 4,000 people fighting for bargains on Thursday, while I was out on a beautiful walk with my family. I know my memories of Thanksgiving will be a lot more meaningful. 5. I woke up this morning and decided to pop into Walmart as my husband wanted Turkey sandwiches. The place was SO quie...

Happy Thanksgiving fr om my family to yours Count y our many b lessings ; n ame them one by one... and it will surpr ise you what the Lo rd has done . ©2011-2013 Chickensbunniesandhomeschool. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author Chickensbunniesandhomeschool.blogspot.com

I love making my own laundry detergent. However when I get a good deal on laundry soap I don't see the point. However I always keep the ingredients in just in case,  mainly because deep down I am a little bit of a prepper. I have tried the homemade liquid detergent but to be honest it is just too gloppy for me, and so decided I had to find a better way. After a little research I found a cool website and blogged about their recipe here . You basically need 3 ingredients so it's really easy to keep the supplies at hand. 1. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 2. Borax 3.  Purex Fels- Naptha soap I have heard that you can make laundry soap with different bars of soap but personally I think the Fels-Naptha has the best results with stain removal. It really works great and even my majorly fussy ex-Tide loving husband loves the results. I have even used the bar for stain removal when I had enough of my Purex tabs and didn't need to make soap. (As a work from home, ho...

Tyndale Direct   is a new website where you can find awesome, gift suggestions, and a special selection of books etc direct from the publishers at awesome prices. PLUS from December 2nd - 13th they are having a Deal of the Day promotion just for you. There are selections for everyone including the hubby and kids.  So what you waiting for...go check it out. ©2011-2013 Chickensbunniesandhomeschool. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author Chickensbunniesandhomeschool.blogspot.com

Just another reminder about the huge sale going on over AplusTutorsoft . a Rafflecopter giveaway Thanks for using my affiliate link if you make a purchase.   ©2011-2013 Chickensbunniesandhomeschool. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author Chickensbunniesandhomeschool.blogspot.com

  I had to let you know of the awesome deal over at Aplushomeschool for Thanksgiving. Use my link above to get an additional 60% off. Remember even if you want to buy for next year that's OK because the subscription doesn't start until it's activated. This post contains affiliate links. ©2011-2013 Chickensbunniesandhomeschool. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author Chickensbunniesandhomeschool.blogspot.com

I am late doing my post for today because I have been preparing for Boo's birthday party. 1. I made a Pinterest project for her birthday cake.  2. They are all out making smores. That's eleven, eleven year old's (and we didn't even plan the eleven eleven thing).   3. It's 8:32 and Little J is playing Jam's DS which is not a normal thing - but it keeps him from bugging the girls. 4. One of the HUGE highlights of my week is that I was invited back onto the Schoolhouse Review Crew . I have loved this last year, and I am so excited to see what next year holds. 5. My niece who swims for  BYU swam in the same heat as Missy Franklin at a UNLV swim meet in Las Vegas this weekend. She was stood on the blocks in the same heat as a an Olympic swimmer. You have got to love college swimming. Check out what others have said for their random five by clicking ©2011-2013 Chickensbunniesandhomeschool. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork,...

Schoolhouse Review Crew Favorite Reviews 2013  Bl ue Ribb on Awards This year has been our first on the Schoolhouse Review Crew . It has been a huge blessing to our family, and the year has flown by. I have come to know and use some amazing curriculum and books this year, so many it's hard to count. I think we have done 30 reviews since last November. I said 'we' because I couldn't have done it without my kids. Everyone on the crew voted in the Blue Ribbon Awards there were lots of categories to cover all of the many products we reviewed throughout the year. So I decided to write a top 10 list - that is if I can keep it to 10. I don't consider these in any particular order as some of the reviews are so different it would be very difficult to match them against each other. So a lot of these in my list are products that we are still using or completed. 1. Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics (this links to my review) We love this curriculum...

  The First Christmas Night- Book Review and Giveaway I recently received a copy of  The First Christmas Night written by Keith Christopher and illustrated by Christine Kornacki. Wh en I first opened th e packaging I was absolutely thrilled with the quality of the book. The illustrations are amazing and the quality of the book itself is wonderful. In fact for the sake of this review I almost wanted to put up my Christmas Tree just to take the 'perfect' picture.      The First Christmas Night   Written by: Keith Christopher  Illustrated by: Christine Kornacki Publisher: Ideals Books Hardcover: 32 pages  $16.99 I love poetry and that is just what you will find inside this book as you read it you can feel the musical influences. Keith Christopher is a composer, arranger, orchestrator, and educator, and he has served as editor and producer for several major music publishers. Keith Christopher is served on the facul...