Novemberness

November 1st was All saints Day. I found this adorable craft on Oriental Trading and I colored it and then used it for a homeschooling lesson on saints. The kids really liked it!

Ella told me that next Halloween she wants to dress as a knight like St. Joan of Arc. She was thrilled to see a woman dressed in armor. I think it's a great choice!

I got this great tip from Pinterest the other day: instead of throwing cut green onions away, simply place them in a jar with water and place in a sunny window and they will continue to grow. I tried it, and sure enough, our onions grew 11 inches in one week! I just trim them with scissors and add them to meals. It's nice to have an easy indoor garden. 

I have been in a cooking slump lately so I have been looking at recipes on Pinterest too, trying to find new meal ideas. One I made this week was jalapeno cheese stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in bacon. They were delicious!

We had our family photos taken by a good friend, Heather Purdin of Click Photography, a couple of weeks ago and got a sneak peek of a few of the photos this past week. I LOVE them and cannot wait to see more! The top two with the kids together are my most favorite so far. 

We love our home, but its pretty small at just 1400 square feet, so I did not have many options when it came to organizing and storing home school supplies. After some deliberation I decided to clean out this antique icebox my parents gave to us which was just housing some papers anyway. I organized manipulatives, scissors, crayons, markers, thematic literature, lessons, felt boards, and textbooks in this space. I still need to go through a couple of boxes in the attic that are full of my old first/second grade classroom items to see if any will work for preschool and kindergarten curriculum. Then I plan to go to Learning Palace and fill in as needed. So far, everyone loves our new home school routine, me included!

Homeschooling is in full swing and I am so grateful to another homeschooling mama who passed on some manipulates that her children have outgrown. One is pictured here. It's a letter/word puzzle and Nicholas and Ella have enjoyed using it these past couple of weeks. Ella was working on her won here while Nicholas has his OT therapy with his favorite teacher, Pam. 

We have been working on sitting tolerance with Nicholas. We are hoping to start a new power chair trial next year and sitting up as much as possible will be important for Nicholas when he starts to drive a power chair. We are also working with another OT, Carrie, to find a seating system that can help with sitting tolerance as our sofa isn't conducive to proper placement and we don't often use his Easy S stroller in the house. 

Nicholas has been continuing his eye gaze trials with the Tobii and is having so much success navigating it. Meanwhile, Ella keeps herself entertained with a DVD & a snack.

We've never had many Halloween or Thanksgiving decorations, but as I was navigating through Etsy one afternoon I was happily surprised to find several adorable holiday items for our home, all handmade and all at great prices. I am pretty pleased with our few decorations and will display them for years to come. 

Happy fall y'all!