Author: Erin @ Cracker Crumb Life

I try to create a culture of celebration in our home. For life, for the little things, for wonder and for whimsy. I try to find the beauty around us and teach my son Wyatt to find it, and appreciate it and love it as well. We are a homeschool family, and we love it. We love the freedom it gives us to explore a topic or idea more deeply, and I like that I can adjust our schedule around Wyatt’s other needs. Wyatt has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and his week often has therapy, doctor’s appointments, naps peppered throughout which would make a traditional school schedule difficult. He is also an asynchronous learner, and I love that I can tailor learning to where Wyatt is at that moment. We have a house full of animals and will probably add more because we like a zoo. We have one cat, Miso, who is a rescue. She is 14 years old and my little floofy girl. We also have one leopard gecko, Luna, a pictus gecko named Harlow, a pacman frog named Freddy, and two crested geckos, Applejack and Oliver. We love all of our little friends! My husband Billy, Wyatt, and I are all curious, creative, stubborn humans which makes for some fun times around here. We love the outdoors, except we are not made for high temps so we retreat inside when the temps start to soar. We are nature lovers through and through. We are trying to downsize our lives too, to live more simply, to buy things that last and eat real food from small local farmers. (and of course Goldfish crackers) We live seasonally and are always up for adventure. We love books and reading, and can be found at the library at least once a week!

Back To School Basics: Homeschooler Edition

On August 8, 2024August 7, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling14 Comments

Part of me is like, we homeschool. Do we even really need anything for back to school? We roll differently around here. We school differently around here. If we decide to spend a whole day just focused on one topic, we will! If we want to take a day off, we do! Do we want to have school at the museum one day? Then we go!

Every homeschool family has their own routine, their own way of doing things that work for them, and things that are useful. What works for me might not work for other people, and that is ok. In fact, that is the point! I make my homeschool work for Wyatt, for his strengths and interests.

However, that being said, there are some things that I have found to be very helpful. Some are just things for my ease and convenience, some are things that are needed by Wyatt. And no, not just snacks, although we do need those too. I have made this list just to put it out there in the world, in case someone is looking around for some ideas or has a need and I know the answer. I know that I learn from other homeschool parents, even if I take their idea and adapt it a bit. I love that about homeschool, how organic it is.

Let’s start with the things that I really like and use a lot.

This post does contain affiliate links.

I tried to take a photo of my two favorite workhorses, Laminator and Hole Punch, but it turned out really weird no matter what I did. Like a sketchy ad on Facebook Marketplace or something. So, I am just using the stock photos from Amazon.

Laminator || Electric Hole Punch

A lot of the time, Wyatt’s curriculum that I buy is stuff we have to print. Thank goodness Billy works for an industrial printshop! At the beginning of the year, when I am putting together all the binders of material for him and for me, since they do come with a teacher/parent guide, I am extremely thankful for my electric hole punch. It’s a hit with the kids too, as both Wyatt and Mermaid Girl enjoy playing with it if it is out. Lol.

The laminator is also super useful. I make all sort of different resources for Wyatt that we use over and over, and having them laminated preserves them. I also use it for other things as well – I just bought a game that has those slips of paper for each game play, where you check off, etc, and we are just going to laminate a few so that we can use those with dry erase markers as well.

Another thing that I really love are the front opening changeable frames that I have! Like every kid, Wyatt loves his work displayed Since we homeschool in the dining room most of the time, I wanted a way I could display his work in a bit nicer, tidier way. These frames are perfect for that, and Wyatt loves it. And during the summer I can just put photos in there, or Wyatt’s art work – whatever I want. We also use bunting to display his artwork in our den. I actually love this myself – it is always so bright and cheery and cozy feeling to see it hanging there.

Frames

Also, our aquarium water is not green – that is just a reflection. We actually just had it tested and it is perfect, the lady said!

I also need a planner to survive. I am a planner girl. I have a Passion Planner for my life, and then a Clever Fox Teacher Planner for school this year. I am a person who has to physically write things down to keep track of appointments and lessons and all that stuff and this system works well for me. I also liked my planner that I used last year. I also might really like green.

Clever Fox Teacher Planner || Passion Planner

And that is enough about me! Let’s see what Wyatt likes!

I asked him what he liked best that we had, and unsurprisingly his first answer was paint. So then I asked him what else he liked, and he told me a few different things. The second thing he picked, and I should have known, is all the games we have. He loves games so I have a bunch of games to accompany his learning. It took me a while to get used to the idea that learning through games was also learning, and for Wyatt it works really well! I should probably look and see if there are any games that would be useful for this school year.

Zingo || Money Bags || Sentence Building (also good for speech therapy) || Bananagrams || Sum Swamp

His final favorite is his little light up globe! This made me smile, I wasn’t expecting him to pick this. My mom got him the globe for Christmas and I am sure she will be tickled when I tell her it made his favorites list. You can actually see it in the picture above of our table, but this is the stock photo. It’s a small little globe and it lights up – it is pretty cute and does the trick!

Globe

I had put together a homeschool curriculum earlier this spring; if you are interested in peeping what we are doing this year, you can find it here.

So these are our favorites – now what about you? I would love to hear from anyone, homeschoolers, parents, teachers, grandparents – whoever! If you have any tips, favorite items, anything at all, just let me know in the comments!

Wednesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On August 7, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Coffee Catch UP16 Comments

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing well! I was in a bit of a mood yesterday, and looking back it seems really common for me to be in a bit of a funk in August. In my blog last year I even quoted Sylvia Plath, and her reference to August as the “odd uneven time”. And who am I to argue with that, it feels so true. Today though, the sun is shining and I am feeling a bit more me, and less like the algae at the bottom of a pool during a long humid summer. (last night I was texting my friend Lisa and I was being super emo on purpose and referred to myself as the algae and she told me to write a poem, and I added on some worn out and dirty flip flop imagery. Just being silly. Lol)

We have been having a lot of fun though lately. We went to a Parisian-inspired brasserie for Billy’s birthday, and then the next day, which was way too hot and humid to actually be outside, we went for a drive to see what we could see.

Everyone was enjoying the lily pads, including that adorable young buck there. We hung out riverside for a bit, the breeze just idling past us as we sat in the back of the Subaru until we just could not do it any longer. Look at my poor little guy! He shows heat immediately!

Afterwards we were feeling peckish so we pulled in to an A&W. Are these just a Michigan thing, or are they all over? It’s just a drive up restaurant, like you see in all those 1950s movies, where you eat in your car. Billy ordered a root beer float for us all to share which was the perfect idea on such a hot day.

We also had a sad moment Saturday morning. Our beautiful Betta, Moon, had passed away in the night. Wyatt was upset over this, as was I. I could not figure out why either, which was more troubling. We took a sample of our water in to the aquarium store we go to, which only deals with fish and they are very knowledgeable, and the nice lady who always helps us, Sam, checked our water parameters and said our water was perfect. I showed her a picture of our set up to make sure I didn’t have to many plants, and nope that wasn’t it either. So we talked about some different things, trying to brainstorm what happened to our poor Moon – is the filter too fast, creating a current? No. Anything obviously wrong, like discoloration of the fins, etc? Nope. Then we got to feeding. I only fed him 3-4 pellets once a day, with a fasting day, which is what you are supposed to do. However, I do feed the snail in there as well, and we came to the conclusion that he was snacking on Sunny’s food too, and Betta’s will eat themselves to death. We decided as well that since I do have so many plants that I don’t need to give Sunny a wafer to supplement his food. We did end up getting another fish for Wyatt, which he has named New Moon. This one is a female Betta, and has the shorter fins. She is very pretty, petite, and very zippy. As a mother I am obsessed with keeping this fish alive for my kid; I told my Dad, of all the pets we have Wyatt decides he most loves the two fish, who are the most fragile. I am happy he loves them though.

We also went to a good old-fashioned block party on Saturday! The next block down was having a block party, with the street closed off and everything, and one of the families who we talk to here and there invited us down. We didn’t stay super long since it was so humid and hot, but we did go and hang out for a bit. It was nice to chat with them more than just the hi here and there small talk. And Wyatt had a blast!!! They had a ramp for bikes and of course, Billy took Wyatt up and down it. And his face! He also tried to go up it by himself when were chatting which gave me a heart attack. That kid, I swear. Lol.

Overall, it has been a fun few days!

And here are just some random photos..

And I hope that whatever you all do today, that you do something that makes you smile!

Top Ten Tuesday: Series Books

On August 6, 2024August 2, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized36 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This weeks prompt is: Ten Favorite Books from Ten Series

I am not really much of a series reader! There are times when I just will stop reading a series because I don’t want things to change in the series; I like it just the way it is. I did this with Outlander – I didn’t want to read on while Jamie got older. I wanted to keep the book memory of him just how I liked it, thank you very much. Or sometimes I start a sequel, and I just don’t like it. The magic of the first book is gone. This happens to me a lot. So, saying all of this, this was a difficult TTT for me. It was a fun one though! I can’t say that these are my favorite series or not, but I must have liked them quite a bit to read more than one book, and I will leave it at that!

I love Amanda Flower! I love these two series by her, and also her Living History series as well. I haven’t started the Garden magic one yet but I know I will love it too. And, I guess I must like the Halloween/fall theme quite a bit since all three of these are autumnal! I also love the Lighthouse Library series – I mean who would not want to be a librarian living in a lighthouse library? What a cool job!

Three very different books in this row! Lol. The Farmer’s Daughter by Lisa Howeler is the first book in her Spencer Valley Chronicles books, and my favorite of them all. I just love the story of Alex and Molly, the humor that Howeler infuses into her books, and the community as a whole.

This is not the last book in the series that I have read, although it is my favorite. I love Claire and Jamie in America, although the previous books were awesome as well.

I have read and reread the Little House series a billion times. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have read them, it is insane. I do have a few standout favorites in the series, but of them all, I love this one. I love the little sod house – as a kid I thought that would be amazing to live in! As an adult, I can understand why Ma was a little less enthused.

I really enjoyed the Fox Crossing Maine series by Melinda Metz. For three years I could count on a new one to bring in the new year with. There was just something so fun about this little town in Maine that made me want to read about it – plus, a magical fox!

I LOVE the Truly Devious books (except for the last one). This one was my absolute favorite so far. I was so wrapped up in the mystery and could not wait to find out whodunit.

So I am still waiting for the third book in this series to come out, and I am hoping that there is one in the works. This is a newer series by Karen White and I absolutely love it. I love New Orleans and always have, I love historic preservation, and I love ghost stories, so this series is a huge win for me!

And finally Harry Potter. It probably is one of my favorite series of books I have read to be honest, so I don’t think I should leave it off the list (even though I did mention HP in my last TTT post! So repetitive of me!) This one was really cool I thought, with the whole Triwizard Tournament and dragons!

And there you have it! I am looking forward to seeing everyone else’s posts and then putting a hand to my head and saying “Oh yeah! I love that series too!!”

Birthday at the Brasserie!

On August 5, 2024August 5, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Detroit23 Comments

In Detroit at the corner of Grand River and Washington, nestled into the stunning Book Tower building, is the gem that is Le Supreme.

It was a Saturday morning, just in time for brunch, when we headed downtown in nicer clothes than normal, for Billy’s birthday brunch. Billy loves all things French, and I thought it would be fun to surprise him with a special meal for his birthday. We don’t usually make a fuss over our birthdays, but this year, I wanted to make a fuss over my hard working husband.

We chose to valet park since parking can be difficult in that area and we had Wyatt’s wheelchair to consider as well, then made our way through the French blue doors into the colorful lobby of Le Supreme. The hosts were both so sweet, with the male host complimenting my rabbit necklace and the woman being very helpful in finding just the right table. When I made our reservation, I had mentioned it was Billy’s birthday and that we had a wheelchair user so they were prepared for us. They wished Billy a happy birthday and directed us to our table.

I was busy looking all around but trying not to look like a rube who never goes anywhere, but I couldn’t help it. I felt like I wandered into the movie Amelie, which is one of my favorite movies and I was taking it all in. So was Wyatt – his head was on a swivel on our way to the table as well.

It wasn’t too busy yet in the room we sat in, although the front section was bustling and filled with chatter. The color palette of the design and the architectural details of both rooms were absolutely gorgeous – I loved both areas. The sage green, the tiled floor, the wood details of the front room, to the wood and mirrors of the room that we were in both transported Billy and I to another place, reminding us of vacations in New Orleans (we have never been to France but we have been to New Orleans many times!). The waitress offered us a choice of sparkling water or regular – Billy and I chose sparkling, Wyatt the regular. Then we perused the menu.

So I am not the most adventurous eater, but I knew I wanted to explore a bit more than my usual orders at places. I didn’t go wild, but I did order something different than my norm – Eggs Benedict. I wavered between a few things, the Omlette Francais, the Baguette Jambon Beurre et Brie, the Salade Nicoise, or… something safer. I went for slightly safer but out of my comfort zone since I am not a sauces person. Wyatt ordered the pancakes and bacon, and then Billy plumped for the Croque Madame. I also ordered a glass of wine. When in a Parisian-inspired restaurant, why not?

Those pancakes were bigger than Wyatt!

Everything was delicious! Seriously, the best thing I have eaten all year. We were just about filled to the brim with goodness when the waitress told us that she hoped we had saved some room, because they were going to bring Billy out a complimentary Creme Brulee for his birthday. How did they know that is his favorite?

Billy was nice and shared. It was safe to say Wyatt enjoyed his first experience with Creme Brulee…

After we ate we took a quick walk through the lobby of Book Tower, while we waited for the car to be pulled around. It was gorgeous, and we loved the giant window into part of the kitchen.

I want to give a shout out to the valet team here. They were so thoughtful and accommodating, making sure to park so that it was easier to load the wheelchair, offering to actually load the wheelchair, holding the doors open for all three of us.. they were just very good at their job and sort of made the outing feel even more like a dream.

Billy absolutely loved his birthday brunch, and we loved making a bit of special over him. He doesn’t get that very much and he deserves it way more often.

We had a fantastic time, and would 100% go back again. We definitely want to go back for dinner one night, perhaps a date night, although Wyatt behaved perfectly and I was so proud of him.

Overall, this experience was amazing, every last bit of it.

The Details

Le Supreme is located at 1265 Washington Blvd Detroit, MI 48226 and they are open for brunch and dinner on the weekends, and from 4-10 during the week. If you go, I highly recommend the valet service, although there is a parking garage directly across the street, but honestly you might end up paying the same amount. I also recommend making a reservation.

As for accessibility, they were very accommodating with Wyatt. They do have outdoor seating, but not much of it is shaded and if shade is important, keep that in mind. (it is for us)

I also want to just add that we got a little postcard when we left with our bill, of The Supremes, and I loved that touch of Detroit. Full circle.

My Sunday-Monday Post

On August 4, 2024August 4, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized35 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a terrific week! Ours had a lot of up and down moments, but we have made it to the weekend, and to Billy’s birthday which is today. We went out for a fancy brunch yesterday to celebrate at a Parisian-inspired brasserie named Le Supreme in Detroit and it was amazing!! I will share all the photos and a full write up later this week, but it was so much fun and so delicious.

I had really good reading week as well!

Read Last Week:

I was gifted a copy of The Blue Castle and I absolutely loved it! So many people told me that this was their favorite Montgomery book and while I have not read very many, I can say that I adored it. The nature writing alone made me sigh with happiness, and the plot of Valancy coming into her own was such a good story.

The Bewitching of Aveline Jones is a middle grade that was really well done. It actually sort of gave me the creeps in a part or two or three! This is the second in the series, and while I haven’t read the first it didn’t really matter. I wanted to read this one first since it takes place in the summer, while the first one is a fall read. I know, I am super weird.

Reading This Week:

These are the two I have lined up! I don’t know if I will get to them both however. Primer and Punishment looks so cute, and I LOVE a houseboat setting. When She Was Me I am reading as part of my own Spooky Summer Camp reading that I am doing this summer.

Posted Last Week:

Thursday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Book Reviews – The Berry Pickers

Watching:

We are boring with our viewing over here this summer – we just are totally binge watching The Great British Sewing Bee. We are trying to find the Pottery Throw Down for winter, because apparently we can’t get enough of British television.

And that is it from me today! I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Book Reviewish – The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

On August 2, 2024August 2, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review12 Comments

It seems like every July/August I am in the mood for a book that is so beautiful and emotional that I cry. Last summer it was Tom Lake; this summer, it was The Berry Pickers.

The Berry Pickers Publisher Summary:

“July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.”

My thoughts:

This book made me cry. A lot. I don’t know if it will make others have the same emotional response that I did however, as some of my emotions were triggered by my own past and trauma. I am just going to say though, it will probably make you cry some. I posted this on my Instagram and someone commented that they read it in the laundromat and just sobbed while reading. I felt that comment.

The story follows the story of a Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia, who spend their summers every year picking blueberries in the same area of Maine. This has been the way it is for years. They are known, they are expected. Yet when one of their own goes missing, not much is done. (surprise surprise) The Mi’kmaq community who is in Maine for the harvest searches secretly while giving the appearance of working, although of course their focus is on finding little Ruthie, not necessarily how many berries end up in their baskets. At the end of the season though, the family must return to Nova Scotia, leaving the mystery of what happened to Ruthie, their daughter, their sister, behind.

The rest of the book is told from the perspectives of two characters, Joe and Norma. Joe was the last one to see his little sister Ruthie before she disappeared, and the guilt of this weighs on him his entire life. We hear from his point of view what the next fifty years were like for him, living in this shadow his entire life – in addition to what also happens to him those next fifty years. Through it all he always has his family though, and the love of his mother, who never ever gave up on thinking her daughter Ruthie was alive.

Norma on the other hand, grows up in a home of privilege, the daughter of a judge. She has been suffocated by her mother’s love which is strangling and oppressive and not healthy, and her mother’s overprotectiveness. Her father is more distant, but she has her aunt June who is the breath of life for her. Supportive and loving, she is there to help and guide and just be there for Norma when she needs it, her whole life. She tries to help Norma understand her mother some but really helps fill in those cracks. Norma has these memories though that don’t make sense, and the sense of unease, or of something missing, never leaves her.

While there is the underlying mystery and the fallout, the idea of love and family in all of its forms is such a huge theme in this book. The love of siblings, of two very different mothers who desperately want to hold on to their daughters yet in two very different ways and under different circumstances – one the physical, the other the memory. It shows the goodness of love and how it can be just joyous and free and supportive and all the things that love is, and also the darkness that some love can bring.

It is a very wonderfully written amazing story, from start to finish. It left me exhausted but so glad that I read it. It was just one of those books that I will never forget.

Thursday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On August 1, 2024August 1, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized16 Comments

Hello everyone!! Last week when I wrote this post I didn’t have any coffee – only instant packs that Billy had taken camping! Now thankfully we have a full pot brewing in the kitchen, and I have a steaming cup next to me.

It’s been hot and muggy out there this week. Disgustingly humid. Wyatt and I have been hanging out at home most of the time, but we have ventured out a few times.

Saturday we hung out with my brother and his family for a small fire, which was nice. It was before the really gross weather moved in and it was a nice preview of fall and fires. I can’t wait. The kiddos were all just doing their thing, and my littlest niece Wild Child was having fun playing with the portable fan I had bought Wyatt. (Thanks for the suggestion Captain, we take it everywhere!) It was just a nice relaxing evening, hanging out.

Sunday we spent in our shady spot at the park, under the trees. Wyatt absolutely loves this so we try to do it whenever we can. On the way there though we passed a local rotary club having a little to-do at the fire station. They had demonstrations shooting off the fire hose, and also had some free ice cream from the Good Humor woman. We spent a nice time at the park afterwards, full of ice cream, just drawing, enjoying the breeze under the trees, the singing of birds, and reading. (me lol)

Later that evening, we had game night, which is Wyatt’s favorite. This time we played a game we had checked out from the library called What’s Next. It was really fun! It is sort of a choose your own adventure/rpg type game. There are three stories you can choose from, and each card has either an event or a choice you need to make or do. There are little side challenges as well, and a tower of peril! It really was a lot of fun, and we are definitely adding it to the wish list!

The rest of the week we have been home, with one journey to the library to check out more books, and to collect Wyatt’s summer reading National Parks Card and cryptid card that he earned. Next week he gets to shop the library “shop” with the book bucks he earned with all the reading we have been doing.

I have been working on getting our school plans together for next year. I absolutely love doing it honestly, putting together the plans and then finding fun tie-ins. Fall looks like it is going to be a lot of fun, with reading adventures like Alice in Wonderland and The Phantom Tollbooth, Indigenous history of Michigan, dinosaurs, and artists like Charley Harper! I am just starting to construct my Charley Harper art study for Wyatt, and I am having to taper things down because there is just so much we can do – too many ideas and not enough time. I think Harper will be a really fun artist to start off the year!

And just some randoms from the camera roll!

Have a great week everyone, and stay safe!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On July 28, 2024July 27, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized33 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hello everyone!! I hope you all had a good week last week! We had just a normal week around here. Nothing exciting – which is a good thing sometimes! I finished up some things to make our Cub Scout Pack official, and I started working on planning for school in September.

Read Last Week:

The Berry Pickers was phenomenal. Definitely one of the best books I have read all year, hands down. It was also a tear jerker! I needed a giant emotional break after reading it and Crime and Cherry Pits was perfect for a follow up. Summery, a light little cozy set in Michigan, it was perfect.

Reading This Week:

I am still sort of recovering from The Berry Pickers but I have a few I am going to be choosing from.

I really don’t know where I will land this week!

Posted Last Week:

Our Animal Menagerie

Top Ten Tuesday – Debut Novels

Coffee Catch Up

Watching:

I was pretty emotionally drained after The Berry Pickers so I told Billy I needed to go back to the Sewing Bee for a bit. Lol. So we watched The Great British Sewing Bee all week.

And that is it from around here today! I hope you are doing well!

Our Animal Menagerie

On July 25, 2024July 25, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized15 Comments

Hello everyone! It has been a hot minute since I chatted about our beloved critter family. Through the years we have lost a few of our family pets, and each time took a bit of my heart, sometimes large chunks. We are all animal people here and while they do consume a lot of resources and time, it is worth it. They bring us happiness and joy and peace, and I hope that they feel the love we have for them, even our little fishes or lizards. I know Miso does, spoiled princess that she is. Or should I say Queen?

Our sweet little Miso girl. We had two other kitty faces but we lost them both back to back almost two years ago. Maggie and Marlow. They were both seniors, as is Miso, who is 14. When we got her she was six months and was found in a cat hoarders apartment with 50 other cats. I was volunteering at the shelter during that time and fell in love with her little face and brought her home. She is a super goofball, a bit of a klutz, likes to stand on her back legs and chatter like a squirrel, and has a super loud purr. And best of all, I am her favorite person to cuddle with.

This is Luna! She is a leopard gecko, but I don’t really know what her type is. Maybe a Mack Snow? We got her from a pet store we were poking around in. When the store employees told us she was not doing well we knew she was the one we had to take home. The breeder had fed her inappropriate food for her size and she was ill, and we had to give her twice daily soaks. It was always funny to have little Luna in a jar next to me on my desk. She escaped once and gave me a heart attack when I went in and her tank door was open and she was missing! I found her in the closet after fifteen minutes of desperate searching.

Next up is Applejack! I love her little smile in this photo! She was a birthday present to me from Billy and Wyatt in 2021 and she is a crested gecko from Josh’s Frogs. We have very friendly geckos, and Applejack loves to be taken out and talked to – unless it is before evening. Then she wants only her beauty rest, and to sleep in her hanging coconut house. Cresties are crepuscular so they are most active at dusk and dawn. Her diet is mainly crestie food, and her favorite flavor is watermelon.

Freddy is our only frog. He is a pacman frog, and they are pretty….inactive as pets. They mainly dig a little spot in their tank and wait for food and barely move. He is not our most exciting pet but we love him anyway. They are very food and hunting focused and when I dropped these leaves into his tank he immediately attacked them before quickly realizing that they were not food.

This is Harlow, our shyest gecko. He is a pictus gecko and they are private little shy lizards by nature. He is also from Josh’s Frogs. He doesn’t really like a lot of interaction so I mostly leave him be which is how he likes it. He does tolerate me though because I am the one who feeds him…

Still with me? Good, because we have a few more to go!

This is my newest gecko baby, Oliver. I got him a few months ago and he was the size of my thumb, just so itty-bitty teeny weeny! He is another crested like Applejack, but he doesn’t sleep in his coconut yet. He mainly sleeps behind his plants. I love his tiny little feet! Oliver is also from Josh’s Frogs, who we obviously love.

Finally. We are nearing the end.

Wyatt’s fish tanks. Wyatt has always wanted a fish, and Billy and I were always like no no, it’s hard to take care of them, etc. But when his meds were switched a few months ago and he was sick every single morning for hours, we caved and got him a fish to cheer him up and help keep him occupied when he all he could do was rest. He picked a black and purple betta and named him Moon. Then when we started redoing his room, we got him another one. This time he picked a white one, that has yellow and blue markings (his favorite colors) and he named it Star. It’s not that much harder to clean two tanks than one honestly and it makes him happy. And oh yeah..each fish has a snail friend. Sunny lives with Moon, and Escargot lives with Star.

We love having our whole little menagerie of animals. We love them all very much, although it does add quite a bit of time to my day to care for them all. I usually do maintenance on the weekends and feedings after our dinner, so it is not really too bad though, in all honesty. Billy does the fish, I do everyone else.

And there you have it! Our little zoo.

Wednesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On July 24, 2024July 24, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized9 Comments

Hello everyone!! We are out of coffee and I am drinking an instant coffee from a Via pack Billy found that was leftover from his camping trip this morning. This does not bode well…. or I can look it like I am lucky that he had that. I think I will view it that way, Billy pulling some magic out of his bag.

Anyway… we have been super busy it feels like. We are just in the middle of so many house projects and taking care of business around here, and also making sure that we have some fun too. It is summer after all.

I mentioned on my Sunday-Monday post that last week was like the perfect quintessential summer week. We had a bike ride, trips to the library, a softball game, ice cream, dinner out (at Wyatt’s request, he is such a homebody but asked to go out and we were so shocked that we did!), reading, and for me, some embroidery as well. Then over the weekend we had our Saturday night game night, and Sunday a party! Let me tell you about all that.

On weekends we have a bit of a routine – Friday night is pizza night, and Saturday night is game night. Wyatt loves game night, which makes me so happy! Usually I put together our little snack tray and it is half cookies/candy or some sort of junk, and then the other half is healthy. This week I let Wyatt pick everything for our snacks and who would have guessed it, but he picked all cookies and candy. That plate by the way is our plate for us all to share, and we didn’t eat everything thank goodness. It was fun though!

Sunday night we had our Full Moon party! We joined the Kids Moon Club from Wilder Child when Wyatt was like 3 or 4, as something to do and make the long winters more fun. I didn’t take him out too much during the winter due to ~germs~ and he was so tiny at the time, my little tiny preemie boy who remained small for a long time. So we did stuff here to have fun. For a year or two we followed the club, doing all the things, and then as years passed, sometimes we would join in, other times not. (it’s a lifetime membership) This year and last year Mermaid Girl started joining us and it has been super fun. This year she has joined us as well, and we have been mixing it up and taking inspiration from the “official” club activities but have been doing our own things too. This month for sure. This month is the Buck Moon but we decided to make it the Blueberry Moon instead, and had a blueberry party! We also invited Mermaid Girl’s whole family this time around, and it was fun to have Mermaid Girl and Wild Child here together for the fun.

We had blueberry drinks – blueberry lemonade for the older kids, blueberry hard cider for the adults, and I kept the menu simple. Grilled cheese all around, with fancy cheese and bread for the adults and kids grilled cheese, with Kraft singles and white bread. We also had spinach salad with walnuts, goat cheese, and blueberries, and a lemon blueberry trifle that was absolutely devoured.

The craft activity this time was painting tshirts, and it was so neat to see what the kids all chose to do- and for Wild Child to get in on it too. They all really enjoyed it. They also made a blueberry moon collage, which turned out really well! After crafting, we went outside, threw down a blanket, and the kids played with a frisbee and with Wyatt’s metal detector. We all had such a good time!

We also added a new fish to our family last week! His name is Star and he lives in Wyatt’s bedroom, near the end of his bed so Wyatt can watch him swimming around. He is super tiny for a betta and I kind of wonder if he is young. He seems to be happy with his new home, as he made a bubble nest! This really has nothing to do with happiness and is actually a sign that he is ready for a lady friend but all betta owners like to think it is because their fish is happy.

Here is little Star! His tank is sort of a weird eerie yellow because the wood (Manzanita) leaks tannins into the water that is actually good for the fish but it makes the water yellowish. It dissipates after a while though, like a week or two or three. Right now it is funny though because it looks so 70s to me. He put so much work into this bubble nest. I didn’t have the heart to tell him though that he is not getting a lady friend.