Little Okie Homestead

Another fun craft filled day with Easter around the corner. We had a bunch of egg cartons laying around and we needed something to do so I searched for some ideas online and Monkey chose to make these fun Easter egg holders. All you need is egg cartons cut up, paint & supplies, black marker, colored feathers and glue.      Painting the egg cartons all different fun colors! Then it was time to dye the eggs to put them in our fun holders! Grandma bought special tie dye for the eggs. Monkey enjoyed this for a bit but it didn't last long.  Goose joined in for a short time and tried to enjoy an egg with us!  But with a fever of about 100 degrees he wasn't to happy to be doing anything other than cuddling and shortly after this picture he went to bed for another short cat nap.  Monkey enjoyed coloring on his eggs before he put them in the colors Entertaining Monkey while we waited for the eggs to get done! I was tickling hi...

I saw this great idea on my Facebook page yesterday from Mamas Like Me and knew that we just had to do this fun project for Easter. Now to be truthful Monkey has no idea what chicks have to do with Easter and we really didn't talk about it as I want him to understand the true Biblical reason behind it but it was still so much fun! First, I cut out all the shapes and placed them on little paper plates. Then we made an example together so he could make more by himself. Monkey loves making crafts and I knew that he would be making many of them. After brother woke up from his nap we set up all his things on his craft table in the corner of his room. It looks a little crowded but he loves working here and it's all the space we currently have for him.  He set right to work with Goose and I watching making his first chicken. And he did great with very little instruction from me.  Look at the proud face!  That just has to melt your heart seeing him s...

Do you love to head out to the farmer's markets in the summer? Do you go to the pool or beach and want something fun to carry your stuff? Check out my latest listings on Devotional Homemaker etsy shop! Every bag can be made into any color you want and shipped 2 days after your order! Hurry and order soon before shipping gets pushed longer because of to many orders!

Have you heard about common core? It is absolutely horrifying when you read about it and discover what the government is trying to teach our children. Now we are a homeschool family and this still affects us! It also affects many children that I care about and I really want to find out more about it and how to stop it! Our schools now have the power to collect data on our children while in school about everything in their lives and ours. They will not only  collect test scores but income levels, our children's posture and pages upon pages of other data that can not be related to raising the education level in our country. When you start reading things about common core it will scare you! Or it should! Please do your research! Start right now and help our next generation before it is too late! We need to stand and stop this now. I'm still new to my research but I'm so horrified that I have to share so you too can start looking into it. I know many of ...

We were at the zoo with friends when I over heard a nice mom near by say to her kids... "You all have been such great listeners that you each get a Mommy Buck when we get home." So naturally it sparked my interest and I had to ask what exactly are Mommy's Bucks and she was nice enough to share the idea with me. I was so excited to get started and I did that night! Mommy Bucks is money that you make from home (google it and find printables, cut up paper, go to the dollar store and find the fake money) and that your kids can earn around the house and/or for good behavior. Then you have a bin full of goodies such as books, crayons, stickers, snacks, toys, etc. that they can buy with their money earned!  I loved this idea! It has worked wonders! It can teach so many things while also accomplishing good behavior. Of course I'm not opposed to other forms of discipline when needed also. I'm excited for Monkey to start learning the concept of money and of ...

This weeks  free and cheap kindle books  are here! Hurry and go look and see if there are any this week that would benefit your home or homeschool! Brought to you by Free Homeschool Deals !

So now that I have struggled with having a failed birthday party for Monkey we had to cancel. Not because of any of my concerns posted yesterday but because of the wonderful Colorado weather that dumped 8 inches of snow on the ground and there is still more falling from the sky. So now we have a little boy who is disappointed that he doesn't get to have his party today. The good news is that we can reschedule for next Saturday, which I avoided at first because it's the day before Easter, and the weather is suppose to be nice so hopefully we can have the party at the park like I originally planned. So everyone that is somewhere where it is snowing or having bad weather stay warm and safe like we plan to here in Colorado and all of you enjoying warm weather today I'm a little jealous of you today. I really wish that we had that so Monkey could celebrate turning 4! Hope everyone can enjoy their Saturday!

So I planned Monkey's birthday party for this Saturday because his actually birthday is Easter which we will spend with family. Once again I tried to plan his birthday party at the park which is always a toss up with a March birthday. I have plenty of experience with birthday's at this time of year as mine is only 3 days after Monkey's and the weather here in Colorado can change quickly! So we have had to move his party to inside our house which means that I have to find things for the kiddos to do instead of spending time burning energy on the playground. Well as I have been getting everything together for his new party everyone started canceling on me. We were down to one child and 2 babies coming as of Wednesday and then it dropped again to only the one family with the child and baby. I feel horrible for Monkey. I completely understand everyone has things going on and that came up so I'm not upset I'm just feeling like a failure because his 4th birthday is lo...

Free Homeschool Deals  is at it again this week! Go check out what books you can get for free or cheap this week!

Marriage is hard. Everyday brings new challenges that we must face. But the good thing is that each day is a new day and we can respond in a new way if needed. If you are struggling in your marriage make a choice today to do something different. Respond differently this morning to something going on in your marriage and shock your spouse. Make them stop in their tracks and try and figure out what is different. Ask God for strength to keep moving and ask Him for healing. Give forgiveness. Be different. Every day you have many choices on how to respond to your spouse so make sure to make the positive choice each time and if you choose different make sure to change when the next one comes. This can make a huge change in your marriage so go now...make a change...and see what happens within your marriage today!

Head on over to  Free Homeschool Deals  and get some FREE and cheap kindle books! I love this resource!

This is the current project I'm working on for my new Esty shop ! Come check out  Devotional Homemaker  and see what I'm making in order to fulfill by godly responsibility to help bring income into our home. Proverbs 31 says, " 13 She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. 17 She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. 18 She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes." So here is what I'm doing. I'm making all sorts of things to sell and things I have never made before (like this purse) so please pass along the link for my  Esty shop  and help me bring in some income for my household. Most things are custom order and you can check out my  Pinterest  page and if there is something you like that I have pinned I will do my best to make that for yo...

This weekend we got it with a pretty big snow storm in Denver. By no means the blizzard they made it out to be but enough that we were able to go  sledding  and have some fun outside. Monday morning I woke up in a grumpy mood. I really don't know why I was just not happy. We planned to go sledding and I knew that once we got there I would enjoy myself. Well I had to head out before our sledding adventure to borrow some snow pants for Goose which gave me a chance to be kid free and hopefully come home in a better mood. While driving down the main street out of our neighborhood I saw an older man that was trying to shovel the previous days snow which was about 12 inches deep. The poor man would shovel 2 loads of snow then have to stop and take a break. I was watching as I was driving down the road and as I passed him God put it on my heart to turn around and help him. So that's what I did. I parked in front of his house and told him to let me finish while he went inside...

So I'm super energized tonight even though I feel horrible! I have some kind of congestion cold going on which means little sleep for me on the couch so instead of sleeping I'm up and preparing lessons and activities  for the next week or so for Monkey. He is asking all sorts of questions about the mail man and how his letters are going to get to his cousins in Oklahoma so this is where I'm starting! We are going to study all about our community and the people that help us in our community. I'm so excited! I'm looking online for different activities and books to check out from the library. I'm going to get the number to the local fire department, police station, post office, and maybe more to set up field trips to and I will be inviting my wonderful mom's group with us. I could see this turning into a whole month of learning about this huge topic. I have to say this is what I'm excited for with choosing homeschooling over public school. I get to ...