Plants Brownie Try-It

This is the 28th badge for Shayla!

We quickly skimmed through this badge because after all, our girl is a Junior Naturalist. Nature and Gardening are in her blood.  Plants was the topic at Shayla's last Cloverbuds meeting and later today she will help work in our family's vegetable garden.Here's the marigold she planted at the last Cloverbuds meeting. 

Too bad mom didn't know she put it outside.  As you can see, it hasn't been watered for a few days.

We read these books to go along with the badge.

Seed Sprout.  We are waiting for our apple seeds to sprout.  Each day we wet the paper towel, watch, and wait. 

I must say I am getting a little impatient and am beginning to think they will never sprout.

Supermarket Plant Hunt.  Many plants we eat as food.  Shayla understands this since we garden each year. 

We have also went to the produce section of Krogers before and discussed the different and unusual fruits and vegetables there.  No need to bring them home, because I'm sure she would refuse to eat them just like many domestic varieties. 

Adopt a Tree.  Shayla planted several trees with her dad this past spring.  This is Samson her favorite tree.  Why did she name him Samson, because someday he will grow into a mighty tree. 

Leaf Hunt.   There are no leaves on the ground to do this activity, but we have identified trees by their leaves in the past.  Dad has taught Shayla how to identify many trees by their leaves and bark.

Food Chains.    Several weeks ago the topic at Wee Discover was food chains.  At that time, they made a cool craft that showed a food chain. 

We did verbally go over food chains and came up with this one:

corn - ladybug - bird - raccoon

Simple Plants - Growing Mold.  No, don't be silly!  Not in my refrigerator!  I just cleaned it out. 

The reason Shayla's marigold from Cloverbuds is outside is because the soil started to mold, we have already discussed that mold is part of the decomposition process.  No need to grow a fungus in my house!

2009 Goals

Happy New Year, everyone!



I've been pondering over what resolutions to make. I've already shared the resolutions that I've made for my youngest daughter (to feel more comfortable in social settings - overcoming shyness and more learning through play).



My personal goals are:



Financial

1. To stay out of debt. We became debt free last year (except our mortgage). It couldn't have come at a better time!


2. To pay down our mortgage.


3. Start saving for a new car. I guess I'm going to have to face it, hubby's car isn't going to last forever, it's 11 years old. And dd #2 is going to be 15 in a few days. (Where did the time go?)She'll be driving soon.


4. I think our family will try the "no spend" thing for the months of January, February, March, and maybe part of April.


5. I will still be CVSing because I have almost a hundred dollars of ecbs to roll around.


6. I started coupon shopping about a year and a half ago. I still will, but I'm going to try to cut back to doing it every other week, instead of every week. We have built up a large stockpile in that amount of time. I'm going to need some help from family here because I have truly become addicted to getting cheap & free stuff! Honestly I'm thinking of cutting it out all together because of the health implications of using the normal brands of products.


7. Although our family has a budget, we need to sit down and plan for 2009. I would like to tighten it up in the food & miscellaneous budget to start doing goals 1 & 2.

Personal & Family

1. I am a very list oriented person. I love the gratification of crossing something off the to-do list. My hubby thinks I'm crazy to take the time to do this. He could get several things done in the time it takes me to write down my goals. I'm not going to quit this (because I seriously suffer from the Can't Remember Anything Syndrome!), but I'm not going to follow a list so much. I'm going to allow for more spontaneous time.

2. Building relationships with family and friends. Sometimes it's too easy to be too BUSY (btw, a cute acronym for busy is being under Satan's yolk). I am going to take the time to slow down and listen to my children and play on their levels. BTW, I'm set for a day of baking cookies, practicing hairstyles with miss teen, and having a mommy makeover done by Shayla. Oh my!

3. I hope to work on my parenting this year. Being consistent with discipline and rewards - this is a hard one. Continue work of making Morgan and Shayla to be friends. I hope to someday train myself out of a job.

4. I hope to find the time, patience, and energy to help my daughters learn to run a household. We're going to be re-evaluating the chore schedules.

Spiritual

1. Tame my tongue. This is hard for me, maybe I need to have more social anxiety. *Smiles* My girls "pick-up" more than I realized.

2. Allowing my husband to be the "supervisor" at home. I struggle so much with this. I usually flop on this one the first day. But hey, it's a new year, I can try.

Home & Organization

1. I hope to eliminate stuff. This is also difficult for me. When I do finally get sick of it and try to take it to Goodwill, my husband usually says, why are we getting rid of that? Then it gets put back and never surfaces again until I go on a "stuff-hunt" again. I also hope to enlist the help of my girls. Allowing them the chance to make $$$ by selling their stuff at yard sales, half.com, ebay, consignment shop, etc. or exchanging things through online swap programs.

2. I want to learn to simplify. Pray over what needs done. Learning to let-go of the perfectionist sydrome. Stress less and live, laugh, and love more.

3. I am going to definately try to follow through with this one. Picking a mess up immediately instead of putting it off. I estimate spending an hour a day picking up and putting away!

Health

1. Hubby and Morgan have decided to try to eat better. More like Shayla and I do. Yay! Hopefully this will last!

2. I have also ordered our garden seeds and supplies. We are planning on expanding our 1/2 acre garden! This means cheap, organic food! I guess this falls under finances, too.

So what's your goals? Do you make goals/resolutions? How long do you actually do the goals?

Shayla's New Year's Resolution

First off, this is a disclaimer: This is my resolution for Shayla. She has not agreed to do any of these things. It could be a total flop, but I'm trying!

We are going to tackle her shyness, social anxiety, selective mutism - whatever label you choose to give it.

I was reading an online article about selective mutism. There was a children's book written about it (I don't remember the name). I thought about adding it to our never-ending book collection, but after reading the Amazon reviews, one suggested searching the shyness topic instead.

So I searched "shyness" at our local library. There was a whole slew of books available. I explained to Shayla what I was going to do. She was more than happy to go on a field trip to the library! She also seems open to addressing this problem. I never thought that her non-verbalizing may be making her unhappy, as well as me!

Unfortunately, when we got there we realized that someone else must be addressing this same issue because many of the books I wanted were out. SIGH! Oh well, I've got a few, it's a start.

I've already decided to focus on this daily. I feel that she has made great improvements in her "school related" subjects, so it's past time to work on this. (that's another post!) Now to come up with some creative ways of doing this, oh, and time to blog about it. . .