Currently…February

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized24 Comments
Taken at book club at my friend’s house. Isn’t she brilliant?

Currently..is a meme hosted by Anne in Residence. Today we are sharing what we are currently….. loving, embracing, tasting, wearing, and preparing.

Loving: My blue light protective glasses! My little guy had to get glasses so I ordered these to wear along with him, to help to get him to keep his on. I had heard of the blue light protective glasses, so I ordered these from Zenni and I really like them! I had been noticing my eyes were getting dry and I had headaches after sitting in front of my computer, and these glasses are helping with that as well! So it worked out nicely all around!

Embracing: The 1000 Hours Outside Challenge! We are trying to go all out with our outdoors experiences this year. I am not sure we will make all 1000 hours but we are going to give it our best! We have gone out in cold weather, rainy weather, and nice weather so far this year so I can say with certainty that we are doing our best.

Tasting: All sorts of comfort food recipes. It’s winter in the mitten state now, and we have hunkered down with soups and chili, and this year, after twenty some years of vegetarianism, I have started to eat some meat, about one meat dish a month for me. It’s sort of a whole new learning curve, since my entire adult life I have never eaten meat – so I have to learn how to cook it. It is fun finding new recipes and trying them out, and my always carnivorous husband is very happy about this turn in events.

Wearing: Another new for me – I’ve started to add beauty products to my life. I know this probably sounds weird, but until recently I have never done much besides occasionally a little mascara and moisturizer. But lately I have just been feeling so frumpy – I don’t work outside my home and when I do go out, it is usually for a hike or outside somewhere so I never really take much time with that sort of regime. Lately though I have added some stuff in, and it makes me feel a little nicer, which in turn makes me feel a little happier. I started small and easy, since this is new to me, and have been absolutely loving the Pacifica line of products. I chose this brand because over the summer I found the perfect hair balm for my crazy thick wavy hair – the Salty Waves Beach Balm. A little of this and my hair would dry perfectly, no frizz, nice curls. So, when I decided to add in a different moisturizer and BB cream, I looked to this line again. I bought the Sea and C Life face lotion and the Alight BB Cream, and I love them both. So much that I now have a few other products on order. I also love the fact that these products don’t have a bunch of harmful chemicals, and are cruelty free – plus when you are finished with the product, the company will send you an envelope so you can send the packaging back! All things that make my hippy heart happy!

Preparing: For my son’s fifth birthday party next month! I am so excited! We are planning a lumberjack themed party, and we are talking about a cake that looks like pancakes and a maple syrup tapping demonstration, and I have a few other ideas percolating as well.

Winter Ponds & Snowy Walks

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn family10 Comments

This past week winter decided to rear its head here in Michigan. We had freezing temperatures and even snow. It was a great week to study winter ponds with the Exploring Nature with Children curriculum – I was so pleased that the weather in Michigan cooperate with us. It was just a great week honestly – we had a lot of outside time, and had some fun inside too, with our indoor campout on Friday night!

We started our week last Sunday with a short hike around a bay in the Detroit River, and then around the small pond that is nearby as well. We were excited to see that it had frozen over since the last time we had visited this area, as the last time there was no sign of ice at all. We looked for signs of life around the pond, tracks in the snow, birds, animals, plants and talked about those with Wyatt a bit. We did find some interesting tracks and we are still just learning to identify these ourselves, so we made our best ID’s with the help of Google lens.

We decided that these were coyote and raccoon tracks, based on the Google ID and a little more online searching. Also, for the coyote tracks I did not see any footprints near them, from a person walking their dog. If you are better at identifying tracks then us, I would love your opinions!

Then Friday, Wyatt and I made our own winter pond. We talked about water freezes, what some of the animals that live in or around the water do when this happens, and then froze some things in water while we were at it to simulate a pond in winter. We also checked on it every hour noting the temperature and whether it had frozen or not yet.

Unfortunately after checking for 7 hours, it still had not frozen. The temperature would not budge from 33 degrees! It eventually did freeze but overnight so Wyatt did not get to see it gradually happen as I had hoped. But he did get to play with his frozen pond the next morning. He was a pretty dedicated little scientist though, and enjoyed checked the water every hour. He wouldn’t let me cheat and just look from the front door either, we had to go out every time lol.

Later that evening we had a indoor camp-out in our living room which was a super fun way to unplug. We set up his tent, laid down blankets, turned on our little electric stove, and read books by lantern light. Wyatt was seriously excited by the whole thing, it was cute. To be honest, Billy and I were so relaxed as well – it was quiet and warm and we were just having such a great time hanging out. We will definitely be doing this again.

Saturday morning after a breakfast of homemade pancakes, we threw on our winter clothes and headed outside, because it was snowing! It was the weather we had been waiting for all winter and we were so excited to get in the woods and walk through the falling snow. My brother and his family had the same idea and they had a beautiful walk, complete with wild turkeys, deer, and birds that ate birdseed from their hands at the nature center. We didn’t see anything on our walk, but enjoyed the brisk walk together, trying to catch snowflakes on our tongues.

It was the kind of weekend I love, with plenty of family time and hiking!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized19 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

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for books, where I will make a small commission if you were to make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. And I only Amazon link books that I have bought not checked out..

After a few crazy weeks, we started to settle in back to normal last week. Finally. Friday we had a great family day! Wyatt and I talked about winter ponds and then “made” our own, watching to see when it would freeze. Later that evening when Billy got home, we made personal pizzas and had an indoor campout, where we hung out around the tent, put blankets on the floor, our little fake fireplace stove, and turned out the lights except for my one lantern. Then we hung out talking and reading out loud. It was a great way to unplug!

Read Last Week:

Love Begins at Willow Tree Hall: I completely adored this book! So much so that I had to go and download the next two. I was really in the mood for something lighthearted and easy, there is just so much going on in the world right now that I need a true escape when I read. And this book was perfect. I loved every bit of it. (Amazon)

Reading This Week:

Summer Secrets at Willow Tree Hall: Like I said, I enjoyed the first so much I wanted to read on! (Amazon)

Around the World in 80 Trees: I am so looking forward to starting this book! It sounds like a wonderful journey through trees.

Posted Last Week:

January Book Tallies

A Few Quick Book Reviews

What Wyatt’s Reading – January

Hello February!

Watching:

We finished up The Ranch, which had me all teary at the end of the final episode. Sam Elliot is an amazing actor! Love him. We started watching This Farming Life, Season 3 on Britbox and we are loving the new farmers this year. We can’t agree on another show right now so we are sticking with farmers for the moment. Lol.

How about you guys? What is going on in your neighborhood?

Hello February!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Hello16 Comments

After what felt like the longest January ever, it is finally February! And it snowed! We have been waiting forever for a real winter walk with gently falling snow and we finally got one. My hair smelled like a cold winter woods, Billy had snow all in his beard and eyelashes and Wyatt’s little cheeks were so rosy. It was a great hike.

I am pretty excited for this month, we have some fun things lined up! Tomorrow we are celebrating Candlemas with my brother, and if I can find beeswax sheets, try our hand at making candles. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner too, with Wyatt’s classroom party and our own family celebrations. And I think Billy and I might go out on a date night too! It’s been a minute since we have done that. Wyatt is also having a little party with his cousin’s, thrown by cousin at his house. I think it will be the start of a fun new tradition. So lots of Valentine’s love happening around here!

Then later this month my brother is having our whole family over for a UK themed potluck dinner. We all have to pick a traditional dish from somewhere in the UK (England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) and bring it. I can’t tell you how super excited I am about this! Our ancestry is heavily from the UK (my DNA test came back roughly 90% from these four countries, with the most being Irish) I am second and third generation American on all sides, so we grew up eating a lot of traditional English food. I remember the first time I cut Wyatt’s toast into strips and called them soldiers, my husband was so confused! My mom always cut my toast into soldiers so that is what I called them too – I didn’t know that this was not a universal term. I am probably not taking toast to the dinner though. I am considering Cullen Skink just because I like saying the name. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else brings as well. It should be a fun event, one to look forward to in this sometimes dreary month. If anyone has any suggestions as to what I should take, I would love to hear them!

We are also going to be talking a lot together this month about snow, worms, and evergreens as part of our Exploring Nature with Children curriculum, although I am considering saving worms for next month, when it will be the worm moon. If I do skip it, I might focus on squirrels and possums, both of which live around our house. We have been having a great time this year, learning together with this program.

We will also be continuing work on my office. This room has long been neglected and we really need to get it done and make it useful. January was super busy but this month we are going to be ants instead of grasshoppers and work on some home projects. Billy and I have a tendency to adventure more than work on things, but sometimes you have to just do them. Lol. I am also going to try my hand at embroidery this month! I have been on a crafting binge lately, trying all different sorts and having fun with them all. I have never been great at sewing though, so fingers crossed for me!

How about you guys? Any big plans for the month?

January Book Tallies

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn books and reading13 Comments

This month I tried something new – I started keeping track of different things related to my reading. I tracked the books I read, the books I read with Wyatt, the amount of money I saved using the library for the month, reviews I completed and ones that I need to do, and any type of challenge books read, so right now any nonfiction that fits with the nonfiction challenge I am participating in. So pretty simple stuff, and I kept track in an even easier way. A journal. I am a blank book fanatic so I have billions around the house, so I decided to use one just for this. It’s nothing fancy to look at, right now just little dot lists. Maybe as I get used to it I will get fancier but for now it is pretty straightforward.

So, looking back at my month, let’s look at books read.

Despite my reading slump, I managed to read six books! Not too shabby.

Out of these I reviewed Winterwood and The Secret Life of the Owl so far, in my post yesterday. I also read one challenge book, The Secret Life of the Owl!

Wyatt and I read 26 picture books together this month! Some of them more than once, I am not counting that! Lol. I did put together a post of our favorites the other day, if you are interested.

I am pretty excited about the money saved by using the library category. My library always puts it at the bottom of my receipt. I can’t really think of it exactly as money saved, since I wouldn’t actually be able to spend this money on books! But because of the library, we were able to read this many books and that is even more important. Without the library, our reading, especially for Wyatt since we go through so many, would be lower.

The total amount saved was…. $656.10. Isn’t that crazy!! On average our total for each visit was about $130.00. This number means so much to me, honestly. It shows just how important the library is to our lives. We would never be able to purchase this amount in books, especially in just one month; thank goodness the library exists! And for us, the library is such a part of Wyatt’s community. The librarians and clerks all know him, and if I stop in without him they want to know where he is. I went the other day to the library with my mom, and it brought back so many memories, of all the times the two of US went to that very same library, when I was Wyatt’s age. My mom has memories of going to that same library when she was a little girl, with her brother and sister. It’s a family tradition. One of the librarians has been there my entire life and has known me since I was a little girl. The clerk who checked us out has known me over 20 years. It is such a part of my history, and now Wyatt’s too. I love that I am continuing this tradition with Wyatt that began with my mom and me.

This was my first month collecting this information and it was pretty interesting! I am sort of excited to see where I end up next month!

A Few Quick Book Reviews

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review16 Comments

It’s been a minute since I have posted a review, but I have read some great books so far this year that I wanted to share my thoughts on, especially the Cozy Minimalist Home! That book feels like a game changer!

This post may include Amazon links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Cozy Minimalist Home: I loved this book! I found it so inspiring. We live in a small house – like 900 sq feet. I love this house, it was my grandparent’s, my mom grew up here, but it is small. And it always worked for Billy and I. Then we added a child to our family, and not only does he have all the toys and books and everything that most kids do, he also has a lot of equipment, like walkers and wheelchairs. I had to get creative with space, and also get rid of some of my stuff just to save on time, since I didn’t want to spend my days just cleaning them away. I began rethinking our spaces and getting rid of things, but it didn’t feel… cozy. I loved the new open feeling, the lightness, but I still needed some warmth. And this book really showed me how to add that touch of cozy. Instead of having a bunch of stuff that maybe is not as important, you choose what you want in your room thoughtfully. Add in those cozy touches without overdoing – a warm, comfy blanket, pillows, a great rug.. books. For me, bits of natural elements are really important too. There is a little bit more to it than that, but Smith has clear, simple, easy steps you should take in order when thinking about your space that make so much sense! I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to pare down yet still keep that cozy warm feeling! We are slowly redoing our house, room by room, and what I have learned is definitely going to come in handy. (and I just wanted to add, this applies to any size home!)

Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw: This cover is gorgeous, isn’t it? I had just read The Wicked Deep when this book came out, and it sounded so perfect for me. A woods, secrets, winter, magic… I love all of these things! I actually started reading it on the first night of a full moon, which is purely coincidence but it was funny because this book begins on a full moon in winter, just like when I began reading it. It sort of set the mood. And I loved this book. I think the woods have always been a foreboding setting throughout history and literature – warnings to not go into the woods alone, or at night, bad news lurks within. And there is an otherworldy feeling to standing in a quiet wood in the dark. I think this book captures that perfectly, that feeling of almost unease. Nora Walker, like the women in her family before her, can communicate with her woods, and right now, it is telling her something is amiss. I really enjoyed this atmospheric read!

The Secret Life of the Owl by John Lewis-Stempel: Lewis-Stempel is one of my favorite authors to read. He has such a way of describing his surroundings and the natural world that just invites you in, and makes you want to know more. This short little book about owls is no different. I love owls, and this book was a great journey through folklore and poetry and facts about owls. If you love owls, I wouldn’t miss this one. It’s not overly scientific and includes mythology and other fun bits about hoo-hoos as Wyatt likes to say.

What Wyatt’s Reading – January

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

We have had such a great reading month together! I have started keeping a book journal, where I am tracking a few different things, including the picture books we read together every month. We always have a mix of books, the ones that Wyatt picks out for himself and then the books that I pick out, because I like to theme his reading around the things we are doing and learning together. This month they were mostly picked out by me – for some reason we just couldn’t get to the library together this month, which is a bummer because I love when Wyatt and I go to the library – which generally is every Friday! Next month we will start again. And get hot chocolate afterwards too, I think.

As usual, I just listed our favorites, his and my own. Wyatt adored Snow Sisters – I read that one to him a million times, I think partly because the brunette girl in the illustrations looks a little like his cousin! Wyatt is also a little obsessed with wolves and howling right now lol, and he loved Little Wolf’s Song, and Little Wolf’s First Howling. He definitely enjoyed all the howling. And then surprisingly, he really loved Winter Walk. I say surprisingly because it had a lot of nonfiction elements, learning about different things you can find on a winter walk, like blue spruces and blue spruce pinecones, but that was his go to, drag it from the library basket favorite ALL MONTH. I guess I need to buy that one! He also seemed to love Sugar White Snow and Evergreens, and honestly I did too. The illustrations and story were wonderful!

I loved Wolf in the Snow – it was so cute, and also heartwarming. And Winter Trees book was seriously cool, I actually learned a lot from it. Wyatt wasn’t super interested in it, but I read it a few times for me. Lol. Another one I think we will buy. I actually loved all of the books this time, quite honestly.

And then, the Scout and the Gumboot Kids books! We loved these so much. We only did the craft from one of the books, but I am going to go back to them the more seasonally appropriate they become for the other books that we have. If you are interested in learning more about them, check out my Puddles and Pinecones post. We had so much with that book and activity!

Next month we have more snow books on the horizon, although I do plan to start adding in some Valentine’s books- plus whatever Wyatt finds on the shelves. I am looking forward to going to the library with him again – and I know the librarians miss him too, as they told me!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized32 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

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for books, where I will make a small commission if you were to make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.

Last week went sideways fast. Wyatt had a million appointments, Billy had to work late every single night, and I spent countless hours on the phone with insurance and doctors. We did have “book club” last week though, which I desperately needed by the time it came. Sometimes you just need those few hours to unwind, to recharge so that you can get back to work again right? And Michigan is so ugly right now guys. All mud and gray. Yuck. I miss the snow that we usually have – and now I sound so whiny! I apologize for sounding like a gloomy Gus, I guess I am feeling a bit of the January blues! I feel encouraged though, everyday brings us closer to spring and more light and new life in our world. We are going to start a calendar of firsts in a few weeks, where we look for these signs of the earth waking up from winter (the silly winter that we have had!), the first buds we see, etc. I think it will be so hopeful! This week in our Exploring Nature with Children program, we are going to be studying winter ponds. I am pretty excited to do this one! We are going to start by slipping on our muck boots this afternoon and hiking around the pond we have chosen to observe.

My friend Kelly’s house for book club.

Read Last Week:

Good news, I broke my reading slump!

The Hand on the Wall: I was super excited to see that this was out! I downloaded it and immediately started reading it. Such a great series!!

Reading This Week:

One thing I miss about working my old job in the elementary school library is the excuse to read all those middle grade and younger books. Now I have no excuse, I just still like them at times. I really think I am going to buy a whole collection of Jean Craighead George for our house – I think Wyatt will enjoy them when he is older. Right now I am enjoying the Seasons of the Moon series.

Love Begins at Willow Tree Hall: I also was in the mood for something lighthearted as well – and Valentine’s Day is right around the corner so… romance it is. I thought this looked like such an inviting cover.

Watching:

The Ranch, WinterWatch on Britbox, some Rachel Khoo in London cooking show whose name eludes me but I love. She made a Black Forest Gateaux in one episode that looked insanely delicious! That show is also on Britbox. We might start Frankie and Grace pretty soon – I love those ladies. When I grow up I want to be Lily Tomlin.

How about you guys? What is going on in your neighborhood?

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized29 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

Last week was just a week, living the everyday life. Meetings, appointments, dinners, errands. Not bad but nothing special. It does seem like winter has arrived full force in Michigan, with freezing temperatures and snow. We did play outside in the snow for a few minutes yesterday, not too long as it was sort of sleeting outside, so not the most fun, but we still got outside for a little bit in the snow. We are going to be talking about winter trees this week with the Exploring Nature with Children homeschool curriculum (Wyatt goes to school, but I do a little supplementing) and I am looking forward to this week! We already had a little bit of discussion and play having to do with trees last week, with our book and activity, which you can see in my Puddles and Pinecones post. As for what else we are doing, that is up in the air too! I guess we are totally flexible this week and open to anything!

Read Last Week/This Week:

Things are not going well here with reading. I seem to be in a…. slump. I pick stuff up and I am just meh, not interested. And these are books I know I will probably like! So this week I am just going to give myself some freedom to read whatever, and explore my stacks and see what pulls me, hopefully, from my reading slump. I do have some contenders, from my nonfiction reading stack, that I am going to try. So this week is all up in the air!

Posted Last Week:

Puddles and Pinecones – Scout and the Gumboot Kids

1000 Hours Outside Challenge

Last Week in Photos

Watching:

We started watching The Ranch again, what a great show. I love the addition of Dax Shepherd! We finished up His Dark Materials, which was amazing, and also finished Anne with an “E”, which I loved and was so sad when the season ended! We are also watching The Elliot Homestead YouTube videos, and have a list of shows to watch, although we are not sure what is next. I kind of want to watch Troop Zero on Amazon, so that might be what we watch.

What about all of you? What is going on in your neighborhood?

Puddles and Pinecones

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review, books and reading, day in the life, DIY craft, family, special needs parenting8 Comments

Over the weekend the weatherman predicted torrential rain storms, flooding, and then to top it all off, ice. Well, it did rain, a very drizzly cold rain that did do a little flooding, and raised the rivers and creeks a little bit higher. We had plans to stay inside and do fun things there for most of the day and night, but..we couldn’t resist a little splashing in puddles first!

Wyatt wears AFO’s – braces for his feet to help him stand stronger when he is working on walking and standing. We love his braces, they are great tools to help him. But they also make it hard to buy shoes and boots, boots especially, as we can’t really manipulate his foot into one with the stiff braces. But we found that Butler boots have enough give in them that they slide fairly easily right over the braces – so we ordered him a pair of bright cheery yellow boots, his favorite color, and perfect for adding some sunshine to a dreary day. Then it rained and we got our wish to go stomp around in the puddles!

The cutest little stomp and splash ever!

While we are all excited that we found boots that work with his needs, Wyatt is more excited about the fact that he now has gumboots like the character and kids on one of his favorite shows, Scout and the Gumboot Kids! This very morning while we were watching one before school (they are short and perfect for a moment like this!) Wyatt went and got his boots out and started putting them on, just like Scout and the Gumboot Kids. Gumboots are another name for rain boots, or wellies, whatever you want to call them, and this show is adorable, with nature mysteries presented by a felt mouse in his own little cardigan and gumboots. The episodes are short, with a quick mystery that includes clues, and a mindful moment, which I am hoping to incorporate more of into our lives. The talented Jessie Farrell also provides the music and song for these episodes, with lovely lilting tunes that are so catchy that kids don’t even realize they are learning as they are singing along. As a companion to the Scout series, there is also Daisy and the Gumboot Kids, and Daisy is a crafty little mouse full of ideas for nature crafts. We love these shows and I love the inspiration they provide, while teaching Wyatt about all sorts of things – caterpillars and butterflies, space, agates, trees, dinosaurs are some of our favorites!

Not only is this series on television, they are now a series of books published by Firefly Books! We were lucky enough to receive a set of four signed books before Christmas, and now that the holidays are over, we really have time to spend looking through them together and talking about what we read. These books are beautiful, with full page artwork that captures the eye and attention, as page-size photos of the characters that Wyatt loves, solving the mysteries on paper within a book! Each book also contains two pages of field notes that relate to the mystery, mindful moments, and a nature craft. There is so much within the pages to inspire creativity and learning! We have been having a lot of fun with them. We also received a cute little coloring and activity book, a signed CD of Jessie Farrell’s music for the show, and stickers!

Today we spent some time reading through the books a little after school – Wyatt likes to “read” them to me too.

After we read about bird feeders and butterflies, I had a book and craft set up in the other room waiting for us.

We read the book, The Wooden Timekeeper, and talked about conifer trees, pincones, and the rings on trees, and how when you count them you can find the age of the tree. Wyatt really liked playing with the pinecones and petrified wood the best.

I showed him the pictures in the book of the craft, and let him choose whether we made an owl, bear, or mouse. My sweet boy chose to make an owl, my favorite! It was a group effort, with him doing the gluing while I helped out with the placement and cutting. We had a great time reading and making this little owl together! And look how cute!

Scout and the Gumboot Kids and the series, both on television and the books by Firefly Books are such a great resource for kids to learn, and entertaining and cute to boot! (yeah, see what I did there..)

Thanks to Firefly Books for the wonderful gift of the books, CD and extra little fun things!