About Honey

Honey is a homeschooling mama of five amazing children. She and her husband Jonah run Sunflower Schoolhouse together. She provides the content and he provides the technical support. Please see the About for more information.

More Snow Pictures

Posted on November 25, 2010 by Honey

Okay, so I promised more snow pictures.

Grab yourself a coffee (tea or hot chocolate is okay too) because it is going to get really cold in here, but not as cold as Dawn's house was. It was snowing inside. If you go over there to read, make sure you come back and look at the pictures (You might get lost over there because she has TONS of great content).

Can I tell you how much I absolutely LOVE having a camera? I have missed being able to take really good pictures of the kids for such a very long time. Did you read the story of how I got my camera? If not, you should. You can go do that now and I will wait right here for you.

Malachi being cool wearing Zion's hat.

What? You want to take another picture of me? Come on mom.

This picture was taken totally by accident, but hey, it works.

Another "almost" family picture (missing Zion and Mommy).

Hosanna is not really sure about the snow, but thankful for the snowsuit from her cousin who has the coolest girlie hand me downs.

Playing with a stick like the big boys do.

Zion didn't like the cold. Really. He didn't like it at all.

Trying to hold back the tears and on his 5th pair of dry socks on his hands. Yes, socks work just as well as mittens.

Contemplating the snow. He was deep in thought and hiding out from the wind that had started blowing.

Caught in the act of eating snow. Yes, we have had the discussions about eating "yellow" snow. We usually eat ours with Maple Syrup like all good Canadians do. Well, we all do that right? Help a girl out here.

I absolutely love this picture. He was looking up trying to catch snowflakes and I had him repeat it several times because he kept moving just as the camera clicked.

What is the weather like where you are?

Surprise! Snow

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Honey

We were surprised by snow this week. It started to fall.

And it just kept on falling.

The kids were excited at the prospect of actually being able to play in snow.

Their toys sat waiting outside in the snow.

While the kids sat inside anxiously glued to the window.

I love the contrast of the colors...

against the whiteness of the snow.

Flowers in November?

How cool is that?

Can you guess how many shots I had to click in order to be able to capture this cool "almost" family photo? (Too many, but I am glad that I was able to get a good one, even if I was not in it.)

Come back tomorrow for some more fun pictures of kids in the snow. They are cute, honest.

Do you have snow where you live?

Menu Plan Monday

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Honey

Our family does not eat eggs, dairy, nuts, and mushrooms due to allergies. If you have AWESOME recipes with very basic ingredients that will easily feed a large family, please share links in the comments.

Menu planning is often a source of frustration for me these days. I really would love for our meal times to be much more simple and less stressful. I have a hard time pleasing everyone at meal times and as a consequence, I am not enjoying our meals much anymore.

I didn't mean for this to be all depressing, but I am being honest. Between the various allergies in the house and Elisha not being able to make up his from day to day what he likes and doesn't like to eat due to his autism and sensory issues, meal time is not what it could be.

I don't always share our menu's because sometimes they just aren't very interesting and other times, I am not prepared enough to plan a whole week in advance. I am excited to be doing a little bit of advanced planning this weekend, so here is a rough idea of what our menu will look like for this week.

Breakfasts

For breakfasts we will rotate through these favorites.

Pancakes and Fruit
Oatmeal and Fruit
Toast and Fruit

Lunches

For yummy lunches we will dish up homemade soup, a variety of sandwiches, and some fresh cut vegetables.

Soup and Sandwiches Veggie Platters

Main Dishes

This meals are in no particular order, but they will all be cooked from scratch.

BBQ Chicken
Spaghetti
Beef Stew
Hamburger Gravy and Mashed Potatoes
Shepherds Pie
Honey Garlic Pork

If you have picky eaters or you struggle with a not so perfect menu and meal time I would love to hear how you deal with it (or maybe just to know that I am not alone).

Happy American Thanksgiving this week.

I am linking this post up with Menu Plan Monday. Check out what everyone else is cooking this week.

The Fall Decluttering And Beautifying Project Week 8

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Honey

Week 8 Challenge

office / office area / paper clutter / bookshelves

Here is your challenge:

What is the purpose of this area?
Go through your piles and stacks of paper and purge as much as you can as quickly as you can.
Organize your desk.
Go through your bookshelves and evaluate your books. Is there anything that you can get rid of?
Are their cupboards that you need to go through and organize or declutter?
Is there anything in this room that you are not using that you need to get rid of?
What simple things can you do to make this space more beautiful?
Is there anything stashed in this room that that you can use as part of a Christmas gift? (Pull it out and put it aside)
What frugal ideas do you have for decorating and organizing?
Are you getting rid of anything interesting?
Write a blog post and come back and link it up next week.
Include some before and after pictures of the room/s that you chose.

Leave me a note and let me know if you are still participating in the challenge.

Letting The Creative Side Out

Posted on November 20, 2010 by Honey

I am an artist, but I am trapped. Can anyone relate to that feeling?

Before the twins were born (2.5 years ago) I regularly painted abstract watercolor paintings. I painted one small painting in the hospital while I was waiting to have the twins and I have not painted since. I have not had time.

Honestly, the first six months were spent getting the hang of nursing. Life went into survival mode. You know that place right? You get the dishes done. You keep on top of the laundry. You make sure the family gets meals three times a day. You get a shower as often as you can, but not nearly often enough. You can forget about the hot bubble baths because as soon as you run the water someone wakes up to nurse. Just when they are getting back to sleep someone else wakes up to nurse. There are two of them, remember?

The last 2.5 years has been spent being creative on-line. I learned how to do digital graphic design which has kept me happy, mostly. It was a lot simpler to open up Inkscape and create a fun gameboard or a web design than it was to pull out the paints. Pulling out the paints meant also pulling out the paper and get everything all set up.

What I really, really, really want to do is paint again.

So, guess what?

I have made a date with paint and my hubby is okay with that, honest. We talked about it this afternoon. And yesterday. And the day before.

I really need to paint.

The twins are sleeping long enough in one stretch for me to complete some smallish paintings. A large one takes about 6 hours in a row, which I don't have yet. Soon. I really hope. I really need to let this creative side out again. It is a way to connect with my emotions, a way to connect with my Creator, and a way to express this deep inner side of myself.

I thought I would share with you a few of my past paintings just to give you some idea what I am longing for again.