Teacher Strike

Running a dayhome and trying to home school kids with their school text books is LOTS of work!

The teachers union here served strike notice and the kids have not been in school since February 15th. So now we have "school" at home.

Some point in every day the kids have to do math, science, social studies, reading, "life skills" (a.k.a. housework), and whatever else I can think of. Phys. Ed class is delivering papers, going for a walk, or some other such activity.

Megan also has music class, where she practices her piano for her lesson on Wednesday. Today she started Home Ec. cooking class with her new teacher, Rick! I teach everything else, I figured he can cover that class.

Yesterday, we started a little bit more of a routine for school. It includes my oldest dayhome boy working on a preschool workbook that he has. He has to do at least four pages before he can go play. It seems to help keep Denver on task a bit too.

I sure hope this thing ends soon! It is trying my patience and messing up the daily routine! It seems like the kids are hardly ever in school since the Christmas holidays ended! They already had 2 snow days and a bunch of PD days. Why wasn't there ever a strike when we were in school?

New post, third one down!

I didn't realize that if you just edit a post it puts it on the original day you started. So my new one is actually after the last two.

Then and Now!

Then


This is my all time favorite photo of me as a baby! Unfortunately I used it for my High School Grad yearbook and they didn't give me the original back!


This next photo is of me at 11 1/2 months of age in the river at Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta in July 1976. The hat is the same one as the previous photo.

Now

This is Savannah in my hat! I think it is the only baby clothes of mine that are left! It is still cute. Maybe not today's colors, but I like it anyways.

So much good stuff!

Time is flying by these days! January 26th a new little angel joined our family. February 2nd we found out we get to adopt her. We named her Savannah. She is almost always a happy baby, even when she is sick! Today was her first "cranky" day since she got used to living here. Hopefully adoption will be complete in the next couple months.



The day before, February 1st, we got guardianship of our other two children, so our family is growing by leaps and bounds this year! It's about time! We have been waiting FOREVER to have children of our own.



The older two are hoping to add a kitten to the family soon as well. There just don't seem to be any to give away in our area at the moment. Before Christmas there were lots, but now there are none. We check the paper as soon as we get up every Friday morning. The day there are finally kittens to go look at will be a long wait until the work day is over!



Here is Savannah. Isn't she adorable?

Sleep Deprived Happenings!

Ever feel like a zombie? I sure did the first few weeks Savannah was here!

The second night of constant wakings with her, I had shut our bedroom door because she decided about 4:30 a.m. that it was playtime! Then the next time she fussed I jumped straight out of bed and right into our door!!!!! Rick lay in bed and when he figured out what had happened spent the next 5 minutes laughing his head off!

I think it was the next night I was carrying Savannah and went to grab a bottle out of the fridge. After getting the top off and opening the microwave, I realized it was the wrong one (half full instead of the full one). So, I went to set it down on the stove to put the top back on and proceeded to spill it all over the stove and into two of the burners! What a mess!

A couple weeks later I thought things were starting to go pretty smoothly. Usually I got up with her without any problems. Rick got up the times I didn't wake up, or when I asked him to do it. Then one Sunday morning he told me that he woke up to Savannah crying and me in my sleep going "Shhhhh, shhhh!" He decided that wasn't going to work and got up to get her a bottle! To me that is the funniest thing I've done, the others were just annoying! I think I must have been dreaming when I was saying "Shhh!"

Last night I was about ready to rip my hair out, she kept waking up screaming, every half hour or so for awhile. Then I finally thought, "I wonder if her diaper needs changed?" She was soaked, bed sheets and all! No wonder she was mad! After I got everything changed she was happy as a lark and we all got several good hours of sleep. At least until my dayhome kids arrived!

Evolution!

It all started with this coin purse I made for myself! Well, not quite, I got the purse idea from some of my old neighbors, but didn't try the purse until second. I love this coin purse. It's a bit odd and off center, but it holds LOTS of coins and various other things.

Here is the first purse I made:


Then I got asked to make some custom smaller coin purses from a pattern my customer had found. Little boys especially, love to use these as wallets. I've had a couple teenagers purchase them as well.

After those I made LOTS of purses and coin purses for the Christmas crafts sales we attend. Here is a teal purse. I made red, orange, blue, green, teal, and purple solid color purses as well as the mixed color purses like the first one I made. I no longer use the snaps to close the flap as velcro is much easier to use and I find it actually holds more of the flap closed.

The Educational Diaper Bag came next. Right now it is my favorite thing. So big and perfect for the Mum that likes to be prepared when away from home! My previous post is all about it.

Megan and Denver have the only two actual wallets I have made so far. They are a combination of Kool-Aid Jammers juice pouches and duct tape style wallets! Much easier to make that way than trying to figure out how to sew them and still have them fold properly. Megan's was actually made in the Fall. Denver's was just made last night.

This is Denver's

This is Megan's

What they look like when closed

Now here is a binder that Megan brought home to be fixed. She wanted a new binder, but I refuse to pay outrageous middle of the school year prices for a binder! It looks quite good I think! Even with all the Tic-Tac-Toe on the covers.

Educational Recycled Diaper Bag

The following information is mostly text and photos from my Etsy store page. I am quite happy with how this item turned out!! :) For the full listing please click on the title of this blog for a link to my store page.

This original is a versatile, large diaper bag made from recycled Del Monte fruit juice pouches. The pouches have all been carefully opened and thoroughly cleaned by myself. Also the glue from the straws has been removed from the front of the pouches.



It measures approximately 13 1/2 inches across, 10 1/2 inches wide by 10 3/4 inches tall. The handle (strap) hangs 22 inches when on your shoulder.

One side of the bag features a large pocket with a center velcro closure. This allows you to place smaller items in the bottom of the pocket and leaves plenty of room to place a bottle or two on either side of the velcro.



The top flap features two 3 1/4 inch velcro strips to allow you to adjust how you close the bag based on how full it is.



I really LOVE this type of bag as it cleans easily with a damp cloth if you or your child happen to spill something on it. It is also very strong and durable for years of use.

Pass it on to others in your family when you have finished with it! It also makes a great gift for a new or experienced Mother. Your toddler may also like it as a carrying bag for all his/her toys and special items when going on an outing. Great as an educational tool when in a doctors office (or waiting for some other appointment), you can make up games pointing out different fruits or colors. Also has fruit names in English and French if you'd like to experiment with another language!