Been a whiles since I have been on my blog. Where has the time gone. Quick update on our world and why I have not been around.

If you have read this blog before you know my father passed away on May 31, 2013. Sad to say my mother in law has passed away on Sept 8, 2015. A week or so later my best friend, Owlbee, passed away Sept 25. It has been a roller coaster ride of emotions around here.


The kids...

Bigger (16) is still playing the bass at church, doing okay in school and has a girlfriend and has been spending a lot of time with her family.

 

Super D (16) is still with us and is more of our family every day. He is taking classes at St. Petersburg College duel enrollment program.

(no picture, he does not like me posting them online, sad mom face)

Honey (8) is her typical girly self. She is struggling with school.  We have added a tutor once a week for reading and I am looking into a new curriculum for math.

Moose (6 about to be 7) is an active boy. He has such an imagination and can turn any items into a playing field. (Who needs toys, right) His is great at math and is moving along slowly with reading.

The hubby...

Big Daddy is dealing with the death of his mom in his own way. We got him a puppy, his name is Duke. He is still playing the drums at church and shows me every day how much he loves me.

As for Me, Lil Momma,

I have been dealing with migraines/headaches for a while now and they are finally getting to the point I can not function. I am see neurologist. I have really thrown myself into daily doodling and drawing to help my stress level. You can follow me on Instagram at #lilmommab. Dealing with so much loss, mother in law and best friend, Owlbee. It has been even more stressful.


I think that is the update for us.

PS. The school pictures are proof pics from the best photographer! Mor


Lil Momma Strouse

Another New Family Member

We have been so busy that I forgot to share that we have yet another new family member.

Meet Georgie Grace!

Gerogie gets along very well with Cali 

(flash makes eyes close) 

Georgie loves to sit in Mooses lap and watch his DS. 

Georgie is Moose's kitten and Cali is Honey's kitten. 

Everyone is doing great adjusting to being part of our family. 

Lil Momma Strouse

Go Fish!

Today in our homeschool elementary we have enjoyed one of our favorite games.

 This seems to be a popular game in our house right now.

I love that my two youngest like to play together. It make my heart over flow when I see all of my kids playing a game like this together!

Lil Momma Strouse

Honey is Unique!

In the past few weeks my Honey has turned 7 years old. I wanted to share with ya'll about her.

If there was one phrase that would describe my girl right now it would be 

"Unique Style"

She has a beautiful smile that will draw you in, but it is her sense of style that will keep your attention. 

This is what she wore to her yearly check up.

Yes, you do see bright green leggins under her jean shorts, with bright orange/pink shoes. I wish you could see her socks they are bright yellow and pink stripped. She loves to wear the bracelets and you got to have big bag!!!

It is not just her clothing style that gives her unique style but her personality will capture you, too. 

She looks like a mini me. 

I guess we both have unique style. 

This is our version of homeschool social studies

Lil Momma Strouse

Elementary Science Series: Week 4

As I have said over the past few weeks hands on activities are great for my children to learn about science or anything. We have been enjoying a youtube channel called Art for Kids.  

Not only have the kids learned some hand eye coordination and art skills they have also learned about different features in animals. This would go great with second grade science worksheets. Some examples of this are…

This is an owl that Honey drew.  She learned about eyes and feathers while drawing this owl. It also lead to more conversations and research on all kinds of owls.

This is a Raccoon that Honey drew. This lead to conversation and research on why raccoons have the mask look on their face along with raccoons being scavenger animals. 

Lastly, Moose got in on this art/science fun but he fell in love with drawing a dragon. In the video the man states draw lines on the belly like other lizards.  That lead us to look up all kinds of lizards and see how those lines are actually scales on their belly. 

Art is a great way to incorporate other subjects like science. What subjects do use art with? 

Lil Momma Strouse

Happy 7th Birthday Honey!!!

Lil Momma Strouse

Animals in Our Life

I have caught our family animal wildlife in the cutest settings in the last few weeks. Animals are part of the family and these animals are very much a part of our family and our work.

Daisy May is the BEST DOG we have ever had. She is so pretty and so well behaved.

She is very spoiled. This was a day that my son was listening to his history and Daisy May laid down next to him and napped. 

Later after history we all left the room and found her sound asleep under the blankets on a pillow. That is spoiled....

Levi loves to lay with Daisy May, too. Snuggle buddies!

But then Levi likes to sleep anywhere. 

I promise he does do more then JUST SLEEP!

See I finally got a picture of him awake!!!!

Then there is my work paper weight, Tinker Bell. She gets on my desk and eats my paper, pulls all the push pins off the bulletin board, goes after my pencil while I write. Yep she is always trying to "HELP" 

This is the other cat at work Tigger.  He slept on this type writer for days. I finally just had to take this picture. He is always finding a way to "Help" too. 

Lil Momma Strouse

Publix Flowers Last Forever!

If you live in Florida you probably know the grocery store "Publix." Have you ever purchased flowers at Publix? If not I highly recommend you purchase a bouquet.  They will last for at least 2 or 3 weeks. Honey picked a bouquet of "BRIGHT" flowers when she was grocery shopping with Daddy.

  That is their thing ever Saturday. This bouquet of flowers was a wonderful science lesson and nature games. Since she chose the flowers that where dyed that meant the water was going to change colors. The funny thing is the only color that came out in the vase of water was blue. I wish I had taken a picture of the water.

Even when we changed the water it would be blue again with in a few hours of putting fresh water in it. My kids where amazed. We need to do a white carnation experiment. One where you 

or maybe this cool one with 

I have to remember to purchase the items to do this science experiment. 

Here are some other pictures of flowers we have gotten over the past few months...

This rose bud came from Gamma's rose bush!

Lil Momma Strouse

2013-2014 School Year

It is that time of year again when everyone is writing about what they are doing for the next school year and their first day of school.

We have been schooling for about 2 weeks now. I know I am a bad mom I did not take those pictures where my kids hold up a sign that says the grade they are in. O'well so is life.

This year I have a 9th grader, 1st grader and PreK5. Wow what a stretch between the 9th and 1st grader. I am not sure how this is going to work with all that earth and space between them, but we will do it that is why I love homeschooling.

For my 9th grader we are using the following....

• Notgrass Exploring America - this covers English, Bible, History and for us Writing
• Keys to Algebra 
• God's Design for Life - science/biology
• Spellingcity.com for vocabulary/spelling list

We might add a class from Time4Learning.com High School. This is new this year!!

For my 1st grader we are using the following...

• Time4Learning.com K/1st grade curriculum
• All About Reading Level 1
• Complete Math workbook grade 1
• "Today is" notebook
• Lots of Dry Erase practice sheets
• Hands on games
• Read, Read, Read, Read, Read and did I say read out loud?

For my PreKer we are using...

• Time4Learning.com K grade curriculum
• All About Reading Level 1 (relaxed)
• Complete Math workbook grade Pre-K
• "Today is" notebook
• Lots of Dry Erase Practice Sheets
• Hands on games 
• Read, Read, Read, Read out loud!

9th grader! "Biggun"

1st grader! "Honey"

PreK 5 "Moose"

Lil Momma Strouse