Busy Hands Make a Sleepy Mama!

I have been having trouble sleeping well this week and it's been so very frustrating. What I really struggle to understand is how when I'm restless the nightmares seem to appear. That then makes my sleep worse and it's a vicious cycle! This morning I decided that we needed some muffins to snack on this week and I had varied frozen fruit in the freezer that I wanted to use up. We will be moving soon and while I don't want my extra freezer empty there are some things that could be used up to make the packing go much smoother :) I found a bag of craisins in the freezer and decided to use those for muffins. For the life of me I have NO idea why I have a LARGE bag of craisins in the freezer (LOL) I hit Pinterest looking for some recipes and found one that looked good.  Found this recipe for Cranberry Blueberry Muffins that looked good, so we went with it. I decided to do 2 batches with just the craisins, did 2 batches with just the blueberries and then used the same recipe and used banana. Issac said he wasn't sure he liked the craisins and proceded to pick them out of one of his muffins! (LOL) I thought they tasted good, so I'll use this recipe again. I actually would have continued baking more, but realized I didn't have much Pam spray and I ran out of eggs (LOL) I hadn't planned on baking muffins today, so the eggs I had on hand were already planned out for deviled eggs, potato salad and dying.  I went to grab extra eggs last night when I was at Family Dollar, but I noticed the eggs that are usually $1 per dozen were marked $2.40 per dozen, so I skipped them!

While working on the muffins I cooked about 2 1/2 dozen eggs. After they cooled I made about a dozen into deviled eggs for our dinner on Easter. I left a few for the potato salad and then Issac dyed about a dozen. The last two years Issac hasn't had any interest in dying eggs. We were talking about it today and he told me he doesn't remember EVER dying eggs nor how you would even do it! He dyed his eggs in about 10 minutes and went back to what he was previously doing (LOL)

He was working on a project for me today going through our dvd case. We have tons of movies that we've had for over 10 years and they haven't always been kept in cases like they should. Sometimes the kids left them on the floor, in closets, etc. I suggested he start watching them and if they started freezing, skipping, etc. that he toss them in the trash. It frustrated me terribly if I start a music cd or movie and it messes up. I told him I'd rather toss them all than have that happen (LOL)

We had also decided we were going to do a bunny cake like I grew up having at Easter. I honestly don't know how many years we had that cake, but in my mind it was every year (LOL) I don't like coconut, so after a year, maybe the first??, I took over making the cake, so that I could eat it :) I would just ice it entirely in white, put pink icing in the ears, use jelly beans for the bow tie and call it a day. We had it all planned out and when I got home last night I realized we don't own the two round cake pans needed to bake it :( We went with plan b and that was just to have cake! (LOL) We made a box chocolate cake with homeade white frosting. Issac still wanted it to be a bunny cake, so he put the three cookie cutters we had on it that were in the shape we were originally going to make. We decided, or rather I did, that we should have cake tonight because I was so tired! After cooking dinner, making all the muffins, the deviled eggs, the potato salad, doing 3 loads of laundry, baking the cake and doing ALL the dishes I felt cake was required. I'm totally exhausted and could have went to bed about 7 tonight, but had to wait until Issac was in bed asleep. I have a feeling I will sleep WONDERFULLY tonight!

I wish you all a wonderful Easter Sunday!

Review: The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y'Barbo

I truly enjoy historical fiction reads, but they are even better when the characters are relying on God to help them through situations.  In The Pirate Bride, Book 2 of the The Daughters of the Mayflower Series, we meet Maribel Cordoba. She is the daughter of Spanish nobleman, Antonio Cordoba, and he has told her that her mother and grandfather have died and she has to go with him. Her father hasn't had much time for her during her short life, but one of her favorite books is The Notorious Seafaring Pyrates and Their Exploits, so she views this trip as an adventure. Her traveling companion, William Spencer, is with her and that makes the trip better.  As they start out on their venture they are approached and fired on by a ship that William deems the legendary Ghost Ship.  As they are attacked Maribel's last thoughts are to Pray Away the Fear before she succumbs to the darkness.  

Captain Jean Beaumont and his crew have overtaken the ship and to his surprise he comes face-to-face with Antonio Cordoba, the man that killed his family.  All Beaumont has dreamt of was avenging his family, but close friends on the ship try to dissuade him. They try to convince him that God doesn't want him to punish Cordoba for his sins.  That is something God will do. As Beaumont and Cordoba are fighting as well as Beaumont fighting his inner being Cordoba is thought to have died in the sea.  Now Captain Beaumont is left with Maribel and while she tries to persuade him to allow her to join his crew he knows that he cannot let that happen. Her companion, William Spencer, almost begs to join the crew and is quickly accepted. Maribel just doesn't understand why she isn't allowed to join and she tries explaining she knows everything about pyrating from her book reading.  

As time goes by things have settled on the ship and Maribel is even allowed in her favorite spot, the look out tower. She always has a book with her and insists that she can keep her eyes open all the while reading. One day as she's on duty a vessel approaches and they are fired upon. The look out tower is destroyed and Maribel is lost at sea. The captain and his crew search for her, but to no avail. While searching they are again attacked and this time the captain is injured. As the ship is boarded and the captain is to be taken hostage his good friend, the doctor, does some quick talking and is able to save his life. 

As time goes on the captain doesn't know that Maribel WAS rescued by his crew and taken to a safe place to be forever protected. As the years go by he often thinks of her and feels he let her down by not finding her. He doesn't know that she is alive and that she too thinks of him only to be told her memories are dreams. 

Will they ever meet again? Will the captain continue sailing and living a double life? I highly recommend you read The Pirate Bride to find the answers to these questions and much more! Throughout this story we see how God has guided these characters and how they have tried to turn to him in all situations.

** I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review." 

Review: Beneath The Surface by Lynn H. Blackburn

This might be THE best suspense novel that I have read in a while! Lynn H. Blackburn had me engaged from the very first chapter right until the end of the book. Beneath The Surface is one of those books that I didn't want to have to put down until it was finished.  Ryan Parker and his dive team are doing some routine training in Lake Porter. As he was maneuvering under water he ran into something that made the hair rise on the back of his head.  A body, or what was left of it, was being held under the water by chains and weights. What started out as a routine training exercise has now turned into a murder investigation.

Leigh Weston has been dealing with the after effects of having been stalked.  She's startled by a knock at the door one afternoon and when she opens it she finds her brothers best friend, Ryan Parker. He explains that they've found something in the lake they need to investigate and requests the use of her boat dock.

As the investigation is starting into the murder of the man in the lake Leigh ends up in a car accident that was no accident. Her brake line was cut and suddenly everyone is wondering if her stalker is still around. The man thought to be her stalker was dead, but why would someone try to harm Leigh?  As danger continues to surround Leigh she and Ryan get closer. Her brother had warned all his friends when they were younger that she was off limits, but Ryan is finding it very hard to keep his feelings about her to himself. When it seems like accident after accident continues to happen to Leigh Ryan and his team are running a race to find the person responsible before she is killed.

I thought Lynn H. Blackburn did an amazing job developing the characters as well as keeping the intrigue and mystery going throughout the story. This book is 337 pages long, but I have to say that it didn't feel like it. It was such an easy read and I was so hooked that I kept reading until I finished.

For more information on this book and others by Lynn H. Blackburn check out her social media sites.

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** I received this book free from Revell for my honest review.**

Intensive Home Therapy Update

I realized I haven't done an update on the Intensive Home Therapy we have been doing with Issac. We started right before Thanksgiving and are going into our 5th month. We saw a few inklings of better behavior and working on coping skills, but that seems to not have lasted. Around Christmas we took off two weeks for the holiday and then my aunt passed away, so we ended up with a third week out of school. The small improvement that we had seen haven't grown much since then. We are better in the sense that we don't have multiple meltdowns every day that can last for hours. That is huge, but we haven't seen the grand improvements that everyone thought we would :( We have had someone in the house anywhere from three to five days a week for between one and two hours a day. That has been a HUGE adjustment for us with our school life as well as everything else.

We were recently told that Issac isn't going to be approved for anymore Intensive Home Therapy. They believe that he's been taught the coping skills, but isn't necessarily able to use them. They feel that is related to his IDD, Intellectual Developmental Disability. When I heard that I thought to myself, does he have an IDD? I don't know and the truth is that is something we have been trying to find out for a long time. He understands lots of things and can have VERY intellectual conversations with you. Then he can want to get "huggies", climb into bed with us, sit on my lap and act about 3 years old. Part of me wants to be done with this entire thing, but part of me feels that MAYBE we are FINALLY getting to a person that can truly help us. For years I have said that Issac understands certain things and not others. His Developmental Pediatrician thinks all his "tantrums" come from the inability to problem solve. All the testing that has been done has had some large gaps in areas that she feels is the cause. What is the solution then?? We were told it was going back to Occupational Therapy, but they didn't really address any of those issues I felt. It seems to be a never ending cycle of going from here to there, but I feel I have to try for Issac's sake. I want him to be the best he can be as he grows older.

Thankful Tuesday 3/27/2018

Today I am so thankful that Issac is reading without being forced :) For those of you, like me, that love to read it might be hard to understand why a child wouldn't want to read. Issac has struggled with reading for the longest time, but honestly is a pretty good reader at this stage. Recently in our homeschool co-op the kids started reading Rush Revere. We had reviewed the set last year and Issac really enjoyed it.  Hearing that the other kids were reading it got him wanting to read it again. Last time I read them all to him, but this time he's actually been reading them to himself. That is SO HUGE and I want to shout from the rooftops (LOL)

Review: Carole P. Roman books and collections

We first learned of Carole P. Roman and her amazing books last year when we got to Review a few of them.  This year rolled around and we had the opportunity to review  Carole P. Roman books and collections again, so Issac and I jumped on it. Last year one of Issac's favorite books was the If You Were Me and Lived in...Viking Europe: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time. This year we decided to stick to books in that collection and learn more about additional periods in time. Issac chose to read the following books:

If You Were Me and Lived in...Renaissance Italy: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time

If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time 

If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time.



Issac really enjoys this series because it gives him a sense of how kids his age lived in different time periods.  He chose to read If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time.  I figured this one might interest him the most because it was a time when people rode horses, traveled west and hunted their own food. It seems truly like the adventure of a lifetime to a child.  Young children more often than not don't realize how dangerous it was to travel west.  There were all sorts of challenges for the families to overcome.  The book starts out talking about "The Great Migration of 1843" which is something Issac hadn't heard of before. We had a great discussion about it. Issac learned that the covered wagons that the families traveled in were called Conestoga.  We also learned that some people called them prairie schooners because they looked like a boat.  Horses were something every family had, but for a journey such as this oxen were the reliable animal. They would also help with the planting once the family reached the new home.  When we moved from California to North Carolina Issac were very young. We talked about what type of items we packed for the move verses what the settlers needed to pack. They had to pack huge amounts of food and supplies not only for the trip, but to help get them started. There were no grocery stores or gardens already planted for them. This type of move was for the survival of the fittest. Probable one of the toughest part of the trip was always traveling over the water.  Once they arrived at their new home there was building of homes to be completed and gardens started.  When the children weren't needed at home as much they attended school. In the age of technology these days our children find it very hard to understand how our ancestors lived.  These great books by Carole P. Roman can help them to understand better.  

The next book on our list was If You Were Me and Lived in...Renaissance Italy: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time.  This is a time period that has always fascinated me personally. I was excited to read this book with Issac for my own enjoyment!  We start the book with a map, so that the kids know exactly where Florence, Italy is located.  One thing I always enjoy that is included in these books are possibly names for the children in that time period. Here we learned that Dolce and Lisabetta were common girls names and Lorenzo and Cosimo were common for boys. Issac thought all those names sounded strange, but I explained to him that our names are usually much less informal than they used to be long ago. Many people were poor and owned little.  Children didn't go to school and disease was widespread. We learned that Renaissance meant rebirth in French.  As this change emerged there were many new merchants.  Literature was coming into life much more than it ever had before.  Issac learned that the Medici family owned the largest bank in Europe. Also that he supported many artists such as Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael.  Issac asked if the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were artists?? We both got a good laugh about the common names.  In this day and age we all have our own place settings at the table and would think it rude if someone ate off our plate. Issac liked that meals were shared with another person and used wooden plates. He figured it was a race to see who finished the food the quickest! The end of the books always have the most amazing pages.  Here we saw art from the famous artists.  We also got to read about some of the famous people.  As always there is a glossary included to help the kids with any words they might not understand.  

Our final book, If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time, was another favorite of mine.  We started off looking at life in the rural villages.  We learned that small territories were called fiefdoms and the rulers controlled all the people and money.  Issac realized as we were reading that it seemed as though people were either wealthy or they were poor. There didn't seem to be much of an in between.  Children's names could be Lelisende or Aalis for girls and Roul or Geoffrey for boys.  Issac continued to struggle with the "strangeness" of these names compared to people he knows. I think Issac's favorite part of the book would be the descriptions of the motte and bailey castle.  He asked if we could have a moat around our house to protect us from enemies.  He learned that the portcullis was an iron gate that allowed people to enter. He thought it would be fun to raise and lower it. We talked about how important it was in a time of battle to help keep the people inside safe. I found it interesting to learn that two chimneys meant your family was wealthy. We have a fire often in the winter, but Issac said he wouldn't want to have to have that as our only source of heat. He also said he wouldn't have wanted to be a servant and sleep on piles of straw. We discussed how huge a part of life the church was in the Middle Ages.  There seemed to be much more a sense of community then than we have these days. Issac said he'd love to go to a festival because it sounded like all they did was eat and play games. He didn't like the idea of the hard work that was required just to get through each day.  

There are so many great things about these books that it's hard to talk about everything.  Some of the things I love about the books are:
The Beautiful Illustrations
The Famous People Listed in the Back of the Book
The Glossary to Help the Kids with All the Words They Don't Know
The Fact That You Could Read These Books Over and Over and Continue to Learn New Information Each Time.  
All in all I find these wonderfully written, not too long to lose a child's interest and truly great reads for anyone that has children. You could use these to add into your history, you could read them aloud during the day or even use them as nighttime reads.  
I hope to add If You Were Me and Lived in...the Ancient Mali Empire: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time as well as If You Were Me and Lived in....the Mayan Empire: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time to our current library of Carole P. Roman books. There are so many choices in the  Carole P. Roman books and collections that I highly recommend checking out what all the other families chose to read.  As always social media is the place to find new and updated information on the collections.
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Review: The Innkeeper's Daughter by Michelle Griep

In this day and age it can be hard for a single woman to be running the family business as well as being responsible for her mother and brother.  Imagine having that life back when the women that worked were looked down on and frowned upon.  Typically it was the ladies of the night or the truly poor females that worked. All others has gentleman to provide for them and keep them safe.  Enter Johanna Langley who is running her families business, The Blue Hedge Inn. All the while trying to keep her mother from working herself to death and keep her younger brother out of trouble. The rent and hearth payments are due, there is only one customer and he hasn't paid. Then enters the mysterious Mr. Morton.  He's in town with one mission on his mind, but after meeting Johanna he struggles to stay focused.  He seems to be a mysterious gambler and Johanna has no time for one who gambles.  He does have a tender spot for her young brother, seeing himself as a child in him.  As he tries to get closer to Johanna he's suddenly imprisoned.  Will he be able to complete his mission? Will Johanna and her family be able to keep the inn? What is really going on with Mr. Nutbrown and his puppet? To find out the answer you'll need to read The Innkeeper's Daughter.  There is a page of historical notes at the end of the book that I found truly fascinating.  

** I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review." 

Review: Super Beads by Zirrly

Issac enjoys doing almost anything crafty and he especially loves things that are vehicles or somehow related to vehicles. He currently has an obsession with a Ford F-150 and constantly talks about how that's the vehicle he wants to own when he turns 16. Granted that's almost six years away, so he's got some time. I knew when I was looking at the Super Beads  from Zirrly that his first choice would more than likely be the 3D Car and Truck set.  When I showed him our options he immediately said he wanted the Ferrari!! The 3D Car and Truck set had a red car in it and he thought it looked like a sports car!  We had tried other bead sets with my older kids, but Issac was too young at the time for him to be successful. The type we had used required an iron to fuse the beads together, but with the Super Beads from Zirrly water is the agent that fuses the beads together. When you have younger children working on projects parents are going to chose water over heat almost always.  The day that our kit arrived Issac wanted to open it up and get started right away.  We got a nice, colorful box that had pictures on the front of the projects we'd be making as well as a list of what was included on the back.  

The above is what was included in our set minus the yellow Super Beads that didn't make the picture. I liked that the colors were in fairly small bags, so we didn't have a ton of beads out that we weren't working with at the time.  We had the two paper patterns and they were on fairly sturdy paper.  It was also helpful for Issac that the patterns have cutouts that match those on the trays to help line up the project. We also had a great little tool that aided in putting the beads on as well as removing the finished product.  

I liked the setup that came in the box because there is a plastic container that holds all the product and it's great for the kids to keep the beads in while they are working. We found that by keeping the beads in the tray less ended up on the floor which meant we didn't come up greatly short while finishing up our projects.  Issac decided that he wanted to work on the orange jeep first, but before he could complete it he decided to jump to the red car. He calls the red car his Ferrari and was truly so excited to work on both of them that he just went back and forth. There wasn't an issue to work on both vehicles at the same time because the set included two trays, so he was able to have one tray for each project and work on whichever he preferred.  He did have a little trouble when starting the jeep and following the pattern. He somehow just got above the pattern line that he could see through the tray. He was able to quickly fix his error once we noticed it by just removing that line of beads.  He really liked the little green tool that came in the set. It helped him make sure his beads were on correct and lift the finished product off the tray.  Issac often times has difficulty working with small items or anything that takes a lot of fine motor skills. He more often than not also gets tired more quickly, but I found he didn't have too much trouble while working on this set. He was able to pick up and maneuver the Super Beads without hardly any issues. He dropped a few, but he didn't get frustrated and was able to follow the process with minimal help from me. He really enjoyed spraying the water to fuse the beads together. We left ours overnight before we pulled them off the tray. The directions recommend about an hour, but we were usually working on them after dinner. I did have to watch him carefully as he removed the items because a few had thin rows and he ripped those apart while taking them off the tray. Thankfully we were able to put it back on and spray again to refuse that section. 

When it came time to actually put the vehicles together Issac struggled a bit more.  The directions have great pictures which really helped him be able to work through each step. Where he struggled was when he actually took the two side pieces and needed to connect them with the plastic pipes. That was a real struggle for him to get each of the pieces to meet up. I have to admit that I helped him and I struggled at that point as well.  At one point on the second vehicle my husband and I were both working to match the parts together.  I'm not sure if we approached it in a way that made it harder or if that is truly difficult to mesh all those pieces together. Even with that issue Issac really enjoyed these and wants to do more projects. He was able to complete almost both of the entire vehicles on his own. His favorite part might have been to spray the water to mesh his Super Beads  together. I think maybe the 3D set wasn't the best fit for Issac and if we had chosen one that wasn't 3D he could have completed the project totally on his own. That said he still felt he was successful on making his vehicles and that's what's truly important I think! 

Sadly we somehow lost one of the pieces that keeps the wheels together, so one of our vehicles doesn't have wheels. I have a feeling it got knocked to the ground and probably swept up.  That could so easily happen that I think it would be nice if maybe one extra of those rods were included. We are going to try and see what we can come up with to replace the rod, so both vehicles have wheels. He actually put large wheels on the front of the car and the small ones on the back. He apparently had his own style for the wheels! There were plenty of all the colors as well as the plastic pipes to do both projects and we still have beads. Issac plans to use them to make up his own project.  

What I liked about the Super Beads set from Zirrly were that they were Non-Toxic, no heat or glue were needed.  They fit well on the board, so when Issac bumped the table they didn't go flying all over the place.  They also didn't come off the pegs while he was working on the project which was an issue we had previously with other beads. The best part of all is probably that the beads fuse together with plain old water.  What I didn't care for in the 3D Car and Truck set was that the process to connect the pieces to make the vehicles 3D seemed harder than I thought and wasn't something that Issac, or really even I, could easily do. That being said I would highly recommend trying out these Super Beads. Issac says he recommends them to ALL of his friends! I have my eye on the Mega Pack because the project options would be endless with that kit! The crew reviewed a variety of sets, so make sure you head over and check out what the other families made. 

Jungle Animals

3D Animals

Birds

3D Car and Truck

Spinning Tops

Jewelry Set

Mega Pack

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Wordless Wednesday 3/21/2018

Wordless Wednesday

Thankful Tuesday 3/20/2018

Today I'm thankful for all those things in our homes that make us comfortable. I have a nice large bed with warm blankets. When I get really cold I can turn on my electric blanket and be nice and toasty. When it's too hot we have fans and air conditioners. We've got refrigerators to keep our food cold and stoves to cook that same food. I'm so thankful for all the modern conveniences we have to make our days easier.

Review: Home School in the Woods

I have heard about the wonderful products from Home School in the Woods for almost as long as I have been schooling my kids.  Last year we were blessed to be able to try a few of the projects.  We reviewed HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study:Ancient Greece and World War II Time Travelers American Series. They were both chalked full of information and fun activities.  This year we are trying projects out from their new series:  Á La Carte. 

This time our choice was a little different. Usually we are given one item that we can review if we are interested or we might get to choose one item out of a few. This time we were basically given a $10 credit and allowed to chose up to three items that fit in that $10 range. I thought this was kind of cool because the projects ranged in prices. You could chose one item that was more expensive, one medium price range and one less expensive, etc.  I showed Issac our choices and explained the monetary range we had and let him chose what his top three were. Then we set down and talked about whether they would fit in that $10 range or not. He ended up choosing two that he really wanted to do and I had one item that I was interested in doing.  Issac chose The Jamestown Replica (3D) for $2.95 and the  Name That State! File Folder Game for $4.95. I chose the The Art of Quilling (3D) for $1.95.   I thought this downloadable project of making the 3D Jamestown replica would be a great project for my husband and Issac.  I downloaded the item and printed the pages.  Issac doesn't really care for coloring, so I actually colored them for him. My original thought was if he didn't want to color them then was that ok. It was his project, so if he didn't want to color it that was fine.  Then I started thinking it would look so much nicer with some color.  I enjoy coloring, so I spent a few minutes working on it. He and his dad ended up cutting the pieces out and putting the project together. I realized as the project progressed that this really wasn't something that was a great fit for Issac unfortunately. I noticed that my husband did the majority of all the work. Issac struggles with fine motor skills and that seemed to make this project very hard for him. My husband did most of the cutting as well as the basic construction of the product.  The directions were just a bit too hard for Issac to be able to follow. I think he loved the idea, but when it came to executing it the project was just too hard for him. The suggested age range is  3rd-8th grade. Issac is in 5th grade, so I thought it would be a good fit with a little help from my husband. He just needed much more help than we had expected he would have. My older son at the same age would have been able to complete this project on his own. Probably with no help from my husband or myself. For Issac it was just too hard to do right now.  I personally thought it was a really cute project and would be a great extra for a homeschooling project. The The Jamestown Replica (3D) is actually just one small part of Time Travelers: The American Revolution.  I like that we are able to pick projects and games in the new  Á La Carte section because sometimes you have your own plan for a time period and just want a few fun little activities to add to it.  

Issac also chose to get Name That State! File Folder Game. When I first saw this option I knew Issac would pick this because he has a great love of anything Geography related.  This is a super cute game that is easily played in several ways. There is an option to have the state map have no writing on it, have the abbreviations or have the full name.We chose to play with the abbreviations and see how we did with that. I like that the cards have the shape of the state on the front and then the back has the state name, capital, rank, when it entered the Union and the region. All that information lets you truly customize the game your way. You can play with the capitals, just the name, both, the region, etc.  The choices really are endless.  This game is part of the larger set Activity-Pak: Make-A-State Issac learns so much more when we are playing games or doing fun activities that he doesn't think of as school :) His entire education could be made of doing projects and playing games and he'd think he was never doing school.

When I saw the option of The Art of Quilling (3D) I knew that I wanted to do this project! It's not often that I do much crafting for myself anymore. I ordered a basic quilling set that had the tool and pre-cut papers.  I knew that would make things easier for me :) This project was one that I was able to complete in an afternoon and it felt very therapeutic! The directions were very clean and I really loved that there were pictures there to help me understand what I was doing. These instructions are some of the best I've ever seen for a craft project.  One thing I would recommend if you buy a pre-cut pack of papers is to make sure you have enough strips of the colors you are planning to use. I realized about half-way through my project that I didn't have enough of the colors I was using. I had to alter my plan just a tad bit, but I was still pleased with the end result. This project is part of a larger unit called Time Travelers: Colonial Life. I had such fun doing this project that I'm already researching other quilling projects to do in the near future. 

We have so loved the  Á La Carte choices we received from Home School in the Woods.  They've got so many options to choose from and you can easily encorporate them into your every day homeschool lessons. Some of the other items Issac and I were interested in were: A Trip to Town File Folder Game, The Erie Canal Lap Book Project,  Art Gallery File Folder Game and Pirate Panoply Game. I have a feeling we'll be trying these out soon! The crew had so many different options to review, so check out what all the families chose and how they fit them into their homeschool days.  Follow Home School in the Woods on social media to keep up to date on all their new products.

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