Tag: family

Happy New Year! Happy January!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized25 Comments

Happy New Year everyone!

I am not a big New Year’s Eve kind of person. I find it a kind of sad day actually. However, I love New Year’s Day! The first day of a new year, just feels so fresh and full of hope and promise.

This morning, we made a last minute decision to go see the first sunrise of the year. We pulled on warm clothes, filled our travelers with hot coffee and warm cocoa, heated up our hot pretzels, and piled into the car to head to the river. The sky was full of clouds but we were in luck; there was a sliver of sky wide enough to allow us to the see the fiery beauty of the rising sun.

I stepped out for a moment to take this photo, and it was quiet over the river, except for the cries of the circling seagulls above. It was cold though, and my old yoga pants were no match for the wind, so I hurried back to the car and the warmth of my family. Wyatt and I were sharing the front seat for the sunrise show, so it was doubly warm. As the sun fully emerged over the horizon, whole families erupted from their cars around us, celebrating the rising of the sun as well. It was a really cool way to start the year.

Yesterday we spent the day in creativity. It wasn’t planned, it just evolved that way. Wyatt has been busy creating collages and drawings for two days now, just fully immersed in his artwork. Billy did some leatherwork, I worked on my embroidery and a did a bit of writing with the Winter Writing Sanctuary with Beth Kempton. Everyday she has a new invitation (prompt) and I give myself ten or fifteen minutes to scribble out some thoughts. I am not a great writer but I am enjoying the process. In the first video Beth invites us to wake early, light a candle, and write by candlelight. However, Billy has forbidden me from lighting a candle, since I am an enormous calamity in the morning and he feels he would wake to a house on fire. I mean, he is right. I am a super klutz in the morning. It’s like my brain is awake far earlier than my body. We had pizza for dinner, in front of the Christmas tree per Wyatt’s request, watched some videos together, and then had a quiet night and I totally fell asleep way before midnight. Wyatt has never made it past 9 pm. I guess he takes after me, more of an early riser than a night owl.

I’ve been thinking hard about my word for the year, and I don’t quite have one yet. Last year was my year of community. I want to continue that, building more community physically around us, more dinners and outings with our family and friends, but also digitally, here on my blog. Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are hosting Cozy Crafternoon zoom sessions this January and February to beat the winter blahs, and I hope it is just the beginning of such things. Maybe I will stick with the same word, Community.

Today we will go for a ride to Belle Isle, the way we always do, and then Billy is making us a good luck dinner – pork chops, black eyed peas, and greens. For lunch we are also having a good luck meal, tamales that his mom made for us. Then tonight, we will watch the movie we watch every year on New Years Day and have for years, The Big Year starring Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson. It’s such a tradition at this point and we only ever watch that movie on January 1st. I look forward to it every year.

And now, I am going to get another cup of coffee. I wish you all a wonderful day and a Happy New Year!

My Last Christmas Coffee Catch Up of 2024

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized24 Comments

Hello everyone!! This time in between Christmas and New Year is always so weird. I never really want to start anything new and I feel sort of stuck. Lol. It’s like a limbo time. It isn’t helping that it is super gloomy out these past few days (weeks?) Anyway, we had a wonderful holiday with family the past week.

Last Saturday we spent Christmas at my dad’s. It is always so relaxed and chill. They order food, we all sit around and watch the kiddos open their gifts, and that is about it. The kids sort of have the run of the house and do what they want and make messes and play and eat all the candy…

It was a wonderful day!

Then the next few days I spent in a flurry of baking and cleaning, as I am sure many of us did.

Christmas Eve, we went to Billy’s brother’s house for dinner and to hang out with everyone. The kids opened their gifts and played together, and it was a blast. I have awesome pictures but they do not wish their kids to be on the internet, and I am more than happy to respect their wishes.

Christmas Day started early, at 6:30 am when Wyatt got up. Billy and I stumbled out the family room with Wyatt and watched him happily open his gifts. We also exchanged our gifts to each other as well. ( He got me two of the books that I wanted!)

Then we had a little time to sit around and relax because my family wasn’t coming until 4. We were making a slow cooker pot roast, macaroni and cheese, cresecent rolls (I even made a baby size one for the Hurricane), and a winter fruit salad so we didn’t even have to spend the whole day cooking. The winter fruit salad was amazing by the way. Pear, apple, clementines, pomegranate seeds, and it was supposed to have kiwi but I didn’t get them with my order and forgot to get them later. I would say though that it didn’t need it. I am probably going to make it all winter long.

Before long my other nieces descended upon us, along with my brother and SIL, and my mom. We ate, the kids opened gifts – you guys know the drill. It was a lovely evening and I had so much fun with the kids.

I fell into bed that night, full of happy feelings, joy, and exhaustion. I had big plans for the next day – to do not one thing. And I didn’t.

I totally relaxed 100% on Thursday. Wyatt played with all of his new stuff, and I did too. I flipped through my new books, played with the new markers that were in my stocking from Santa, and just totally goblinmoded out. Wyatt was cracking me up taking photos of his books….I wonder who he was emulating? Lol.

Friday Billy was home! He took a few extra vacation days, although we have no idea what we are going to do. Maybe nothing! Yesterday we drove down to an antique store in Ohio and I picked up some cast iron rabbits and sent a bunch of pictures to my friend Kelly who also wanted to go to this antique store. She had a few things she was looking for. We also went to my favorite plant store, The Conservatory, but didn’t pick anything up this time, although they did give Wyatt a few stickers. Next we went to our favorite local fish store, to buy some little plants for the frogs, Hurkle and Durkle, and then ended up at the local book store down the street because of a certain little boy’s request. He picked up a used copy of an Avi book because to him when we say we are going shopping he thinks that means for books.

We were hoping to stop at the zoo but it was cold and raining so we opted for home and pizza instead. I painted my nails with the very sparkly polish Wyatt gave me for Christmas, we watched some tv, and that was that! Which brings us to right this very moment, Saturday morning, typing this up.

I hope that you all had a wonderful week, and that whatever you do today, that you do something that makes you smile.

Christmas Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized16 Comments

Hello everyone! It is bitter cold out this morning! It is fifteen degrees, feels like temp of negative 2! I’ve got our little fireplace on, and I am drinking my coffee and enjoying the warmth of it all. Pretty soon I will get up and make a peanut butter sandwich for the squirrels, and maybe today I will cut it up in little star shapes for them. I might throw some raisins out there as well. Right now though, I am happy to enjoy this time to sit and write, with Wyatt playing with his magnatiles on the floor, busily occupied.

We have Scouts tonight and it is our winter solstice celebration! I have some fun, I hope, activities for the kids to do tonight; they are building winter solstice lanterns decorated with gnome and woodsy silhouettes, and edible campfire cookies to bring the “scout” aspect in as well. I am looking forward to taking field trips with these guys soon, which is what I am going to start researching after the holiday.

I think the late Thanksgiving threw me off! How is it only two weeks until Christmas? I feel like I am just starting out in my Christmas journey. I don’t like it! I need more time to make the magic happen! I have most of the presents bought thank goodness, but I thought we had more time for all of the other stuff, the making of Christmas, you know what I mean? We will be binging Christmas movies starting tomorrow night, with an old old favorite, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. It is nostalgic for me – I loved the movie and would listen to the record of it every night during the holiday season as I fell asleep as a little girl. I can remember laying there in the dark of my yellow Holly Hobby bedroom, listening to Big Bird try to figure out how Santa fit down the chimney, and I would eventually fall asleep before he got his answer. I also can’t wait to watch Emmett Otter, another favorite of mine from childhood that I have gotten Wyatt to love as well.

I have done a few Christmas-y things. Last Sunday, I went to the Potter’s Market with my friends Chrissy and Kelly. I love this pottery show, and I have been going for quite a few years now, minus the pandemic years. I always find great gifts, or sometimes just things for our family, like this year.

It is set up with table after table of handmade ceramic pieces, starting out with the smaller items like ornaments and winding its way up to bigger things, like serving bowls and decorative items. You get a basket and just jump in and start shopping. There were so many cool things there, that I switched out what I wanted multiple times. They have it set up so that you can pick stuff up and if you change your mind as you wind around, you can set the discarded items on the tables at the end, and the volunteer potters put them back where they belong, which is genius.

I did not take many photos, I just forgot as we chatted and laughed and filled our baskets. Well, not filled exactly, but added a few things. Lol.

I did make a reel for Instagram:

I ended up buying a happy little snail ornament for Wyatt and his bedroom tree, an ornament for the family, and then the cutest little toad house for our yard this spring! I did see a big serving bowl I coveted, it is in the video actually if you can spot it. It is is black with birch trees and a moon and I wanted it but thought what in the world would I do with it? I also really liked the raku rabbits which were so wonderfully made, and adorable.

Last weekend we spent a good two hours as a family crafting together. We had such a great time! We made little reindeer “portraits’, and it was so fun to just sit and not hurry and add in all the details that we wanted. Mine is the red background reindeer, Wyatt is the blue background, and Billy made the “Cousin Eddie” from Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation version. Afterwards, we ate some peppermint popcorn and watched the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It was a wonderfully cozy evening together.

This weekend we have plans for baking! Billy has a gift card to a local home improvement store and we are buying a small deep freeze, and I plan on filling it pretty quickly with baked goods for Christmas, before filling it with more practical things. We are going to start with ginger pancakes in the morning and then go from there!

And with that, I need to finish up school and scout prep today – and hopefully order some groceries too!

Before I go, I also wanted to share that I was asked to give a quote about my favorite movie to an article published in an article on Rent. It is a super cool article, with lots of suggestions that pair some of your favorite Christmas movies to interior design styles.

I was quoted in a Rent. article!
Read the full article here: Design Styles to Try, Based on Your Favorite Holiday Movie

Rent. is a subsidiary of Redfin.com

I hope you all have at least one small moment today that makes you smile!

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Coffee Catch UP14 Comments

Hello everyone! It is such a cozy morning here. It is snowing, big fat snowflakes, Wyatt is playing, I have coffee, and it is relatively quiet. I don’t have too many plans for today. I think today we will do some Christmas crafting, and I need to sit down with a giant stack of books to prep for some of Wyatt’s history unit the next few weeks. Today seems like the perfect day to do that. We definitely have enough books here to last us a while, for reading for fun and for school.

Otherwise, it has been a weird week. I had to take care of a few things for my mom, like paying some of her bills, and making sure her health insurance was set for next year. Why does this have to be done every year? I was so confused. I have a guy who looks at all the different insurance plans and chooses one based off of my mom’s needs so at least that is helpful and I don’t need to actually figure it out myself.

Then Tuesday Wyatt woke up with a slight fever. Nothing crazy, and not even technically a fever but it was close and you could tell he didn’t feel well. His little cheeks were flushed and he just wasn’t himself. He stayed in bed watching tv pretty much all day, quiet, which is unusual for him and I just hung out with him. By about 5 that night he had rallied and was feeling much better, and Wednesday he was almost back to normal. Except we did have a return of the medicine induced nausea! I have learned that if he doesn’t eat a lot the night before he will feel sick the next morning after his meds. Observation is key with this kid and I have honed my mom observation skills to a t! But Tuesday night he just didn’t feel like eating – not because he still didn’t feel good, mind you, but because as he started to feel better he ate a ton in the afternoon. We were off our norm, and that was ok.

Yesterday, we kind of played catch up. We took it easy until Wyatt’s stomach was better, than we caught up on some school work. It’s been really nice with the ramp, because now Wyatt’s wheelchair can actually come in the house! Before there was no way I could carry it in and out all the time, and Wyatt as well. Wyatt was easy honestly, even though he weighs more than it – the chair is just super awkward. Anyway, he has been excited about it and we have had school in my office the past few days for a change. He can sit in his wheelchair at my antique double desk. It’s fun to switch it up. I have also been spending a lot of time there besides my time with Wyatt, working on the already mentioned history unit study.

Last night we finally got out of the house though for a little event at the library. I had signed us up for the 3d printing cookie cutter event, which was entirely free, and I thought it would be neat. We got to design a cookie cutter, and then the library printed it on the 3d printer. Wyatt and I discussed what he wanted before we went, a Christmas snail, so all I had to do when we got there was find an image. Our end of it was very simple. I have no idea what the librarian had to do on his end but we left with our cookie cutter. We will have to do a lot of fill in with decoration but that is ok. We can handle that. I also got to show Wyatt how magical a 3d printer is. I find them a mystery since I have no idea how they work honestly but it seems like you can make anything on earth with them. Anyway, there were only four of us there to make them, including Wyatt, and ours was the last to be printed, so we had some time to chat with the librarian. He told us that he plans on having little workshops like that frequently, for different items, and that we can design things at home and have the library print them, for $1.00. He also said that he is planning on making small assistive devices, like pencil grips or things to help open doors, etc, to have available for free for those who need them. I of course thought that was a fabulous idea!

Today I think we will just chill a little, do a little school, have some independent time so I can get some work done, and then tonight is pizza Friday so yay! I don’t have to make dinner!

So, our week this week was a little bleh, but that is ok. I was able to get a lot of different things done that needed to get done, work on my stepmom’s Christmas present that I am embroidering, and just hang out with my kid. So it wasn’t too terrible overall.

I hope that whatever you are doing today, you do something to make you smile, no matter how small!

Hello December!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized25 Comments

Hello everyone! It’s December, the last month of the year – already! Didn’t we just have New Year’s? This year certainly flew by. I will be doing a look back later, but for now, I want to just look forward to this month.

I talk a lot about slowing down, enjoying the quiet of this month, as it gets darker so much earlier, drawing us all in, indoors and maybe also, drawing us in for some more introspective thoughts, reflection, spiritual and otherwise. It is the month of the Quiet Full Moon, at least in the Kid’s Moon Club my son is in, and I can see why it was called that. We are drawing in, quieting ourselves and our spirits. (January is also known as the Quiet Moon, but Wyatt likes the alternate version of course, of the Wolf Moon).

The last few days winter has arrived fast and furious with very low temperatures here in the Mitten state. Some cities in Michigan have received up to 23 inches of snow already! Today we actually have a terrible weather forecast, that has low to zero visibility, snow squalls, flash freezes, and arctic temps but then we are back to normal in a few days. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t get all that. I like winter and snow but I don’t want anything crazy!!

I love to be outside in the cold, the crunch of the snow underfoot. It is just so refreshing and invigorating. I feel like it just sweeps through me and clears out anything negative hanging around. And to me, one of my favorite places to be is in the cold winter woods at night (but with Billy, not alone). We always go on an owl prowl every winter and it is one of my favorite things, walking through the woods with Billy and our friends the interpreters and other people excited about seeing little screech owls. There is something indescribable about waiting there silently, waiting for the owl to call back to let us know it is there. They have silent flight so you will never hear them fly in, but if you keep your eyes on the horizon at the right time, you might catch a glimpse of one.

I am being mindful this year to not overload us with too many activities- I want to do just enough. Just that right amount of going out, of seeing the lights and being a part of festivities, but also time at home spent baking and making and watching Christmas movies. All those good old nostalgic kids movies, Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas (a personal favorite of mine), A Muppet Christmas Carol, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas – they just bring all the feels. And of course some just for Billy and I too, like the Man Who Invented Christmas or Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation.

We are also listening to Father Christmas by Tolkien together every night, as well as reading from the All Creation Waits Advent book. It is all so very peaceful in my soul, with this.

We decorated for Christmas the other day, and put our tree up. I have shared this before, but our tree is special to me. The year Wyatt was born was rough. He was born 6 weeks early, with health complications and spent 6 weeks in the NICU. When he came home, it was also a lot, with a little preemie who didn’t want to eat. He was just a tiny guy! Billy missed a lot of work and we will forever be grateful to his work who understood and allowed him to miss when he had to. It was a costly year, and when Christmas rolled around, we realized we didn’t have a tree. Then our guardian angel, a friend of our family named Faye, who I had known since I was a baby, sent us a card with a little extra in it, and told us to use it for Wyatt’s Christmas. We were able to buy some gifts for him, and a tree. She passed away soon after that, and the world lost a great light with her passing. But whenever I bring that tree out and put it up, I am reminded of Faye, and her kindness and compassion. And her laugh, her big laugh that could fill a room. She was a very special woman.

And I need to wipe these tears now.

I haven’t taken many photos yet, because I am not quite done decorating. I hope to finish up this weekend.

And, I think I am going to wrap this up for tonight, and start making dinner.

Stay safe everyone! And whatever you do tonight, do something that makes you smile.

Monday Morning Coffee Catch Up: Birthday Books

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized20 Comments

Hello everyone! It is absolutely freezing this morning here! Like seriously frosty. I am letting Wyatt sit in the bed and eat his breakfast while I drink my coffee there as well, all covered up, that kind of cold. And..I love it. I do.

It’s been a few fun weeks around here. I think I last left off with our Halloween and anniversary shenanigans. Since then we have had Scouts, my birthday, and just fun days with family sprinkled in here and there.

We had a fire with my brother and family, went to my dad’s, and my cousin and her daughter were there, as well as my stepsister and her boy (although he is 17 and like 6 foot 5). And we got fun happy snail mail from Deb at Readerbuzz! We were super excited to get her cheerful letter, telling Wyatt what life is like in her part of the world, and to look through the little zine she made as well!

Scouts this past week was really fun as well. We started with going through our Oregon nature box that the pack from Oregon put together for us (we had sent them one from our area as well). The kids and parents loved it. I think one of my favorite parts of Scouts is not only the excitement from the kids, but also seeing the parents involved and excited about the activities. When we did leaf rubbings last month, one of the dads made rubbing after rubbing all by himself at the table, he was just having such a good time. And I love that. It wasn’t an aspect that I had planned for or considered but it has been a cool little extra bonus. This week we all marveled at the neat things that were sent to us – a giant pinecone from a Ponderosa Pine with bits of the puzzle bark as well. The trees have bark that comes off in puzzle like pieces, and it is really cool! They also sent sunstone rocks, which are only found in their area in the condition they are in. Each kid got to take one home too, which was neat. They sent bits of flora from the area, including a rabbitbrush specimen, which they said is everywhere in their area and causes allergies in the fall.

After going through the box, we started on the big activity, which was making ceramics with my mother-in-law. She had made a smattering of little ornaments, penguins and cats and little houses and flames but not traditional “Christmas” type ornaments, as we have some scouts who observe different religious holidays and we wanted to make sure we respected that. Then she also brought in some air dry clay as well, to show the before and after of ceramics. She started with that, having them touch and feel it and push cookie cutters into it to experience that part, then explained that they then go into a big oven called a kiln where they are fired. When they come out, they are hard like the finished ornaments. The kids had so much fun – even though my MIL brought the thing most dreaded by parents everywhere. Glitter. Glitter! Thankfully only two kids left absolutely covered in it. And who were they? The ones related to me. Wyatt and Mermaid Girl. I mean, if you know me and my brother, that tracks.

Wyatt had so much fun, as did all of the kids. I also had my heart completely melt because my littlest niece, Hurricane, immediately wanted me to hold her and carry her around as soon as she spotted me. Then when the meeting really began, I handed her off to her mom and she apparently squirmed free to run after me in her little 18 month old teetering galloping stomp. She sat on my lap and painted two ornaments too. She took it very seriously.

Two days later, it was my birthday! Billy put together the very best, perfectly perfect Erin day. First we went shopping at this store that specializes in Japanese food and other Japanese items. We all had a lot of fun picking stuff out. Pocky in all different flavors, Sake for home sushi nights, and I picked out a bunch of little bowls and plates because I am obsessed with that sort of thing. Bowls with cats, and a bowl with little Shiba Inus, including a little fluffy butt. We also picked up a few things for stocking stuffers and for other kids in our lives for the holidays. Wyatt got little training chopsticks with an owl on them, and dang, if he didn’t learn how to use them in .5 seconds. We practiced with fruit snacks and he just took off with it right away.

Next stop – Barnes and Noble. I had birthday money from different family members, including Billy and Wyatt and my mom for books, and I had a good time picking them out. I was picking books up, considering, deciding if I wanted to buy books for now me, who is in a reading slump and needs something different, or for future me, who knows what she likes to read. I ended up going with a little of each, and then Billy and Wyatt picked out a book for me as well, that is described as being a cross between Princess Bride and Legends and Lattes which is right up my alley. Wyatt of course got a book as well. And then when I got home, I had book mail waiting from a giveaway I had won!

However, the fun wasn’t done for me. We went on a chilly, twilight hike through the woods, which is one of my very favorite things on earth. We saw deer and woodpeckers, spotted mushrooms, and had a little impromptu school lesson, since Wyatt has been learning about the fur trade, voyageurs, and the Anishinaabe, and the nature center sparked a discussion about all of that.

Finally, we finished up with my favorite tacos for dinner and headed home, where we all happily collapsed and were lazy after a very full day.

I hope you all had a nice weekend as well!

In Our Homeschool: September/October

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling10 Comments

Hello everyone!! Wyatt and I have been keeping busy the past two months! I am extremely excited about the year I have planned for him, and so far we have really enjoyed it.

We kicked off the school year with a field trip to the Henry Ford Museum to see their dinosaur exhibit that they had. It was all created with metal and steel and welding, and I loved the industrial feel of it. The dinosaurs were all interactive, with different ways to manipulate them into motion, whether by a pulley system or through controls on a computer system. It was a great way to start the school year and introduce our first science unit, which is all about prehistory.

We have slogged our way through all those single celled organisms that just keep evolving. They are not super interesting right away, are they? I did like learning that the first trees were giant mushroom trees! I didn’t learn that in school so that was a new thing for me too! We are starting with dinosaurs this very week, thank goodness! Wyatt is very excited. The Detroit Science Center just opened an exhibit with dinosaurs as well so we will be taking a field trip there soon too.

In history, but not prehistory, we have been studying the Anishinabe tribe of Michigan. We are focusing on Michigan history this year and the curriculum I bought is very open, with eras and prompts to guide me but the actual material is up to me. I decided we were going to read The Birchbark House and focus on the Anishinabe in particular. I tried to do this in as culturally sensitive a manner as I could. We spent time learning about what they ate, about their beliefs, what resources they used, what their homes were like, and so on. We spent about a week or so on each different aspect of their life. We built a wigwam, painted a winter cabin, and filled out a tissue box information cube, which Wyatt loved adding to every week. Every side covered a different topic, like a very short report in cube form. I also loved adding to the area of our table where we displayed his History materials. I added a pretend black crow that we named Andeg after the crow in Birchbark House, a bit of birchbark, his cabin and wigwam that he made. It started to take over! We are starting the fur trade next and we won’t linger long on that topic – and we aren’t going to keep trap or skin or keep pelts around either. Lol.

We both enjoyed The Birchbark House, but dang, I cried so much near the end! Poor Wyatt felt so bad that I was crying. It dealt with very real challenges and issues that Native Americans in that time would have faced, and Wyatt and I had some good discussions about these things, even though they made me cry.

In literature, we read Alice in Wonderland, which I have to tell you guys, I really didn’t enjoy it. I don’t think I am into absurdist lit very much! Wyatt however really enjoyed it, all the nonsensical of it, so maybe it is a hit with kids and that is why it is in the curriculum. I was happy when we were done. We started The Phantom Tollbooth next, which fits into that same sort of absurdist genre, but I am liking it so much better than Alice. Wyatt loves it too. We just started it this past week and had fun with the first project, which was creating a peg doll Milo and a clay Tock. I ended up making Tock since Wyatt had a challenging time manipulating the clay. He has limited use of his right hand and arm so sometimes things like that are a stretch. I usually make him try but it was so small that I ended up doing it. He painted Milo though, and I helped with the hair and face.

Wyatt is still working really hard on practicing and learning reading. We had two years where he was really heavily medicated, overmedicated actually, and it really slowed down his progress. Now that he is appropriately medicated for his seizures, things are so different and have returned to the way he was acting and learning before taking that particular medication. The past year it has been so great to see him really get back to the Wyatt he was, to be curious and energetic and lively again. He never really lost that but it was sort of cushioned by the sedative they gave him for his seizures. So we are going over basics again and he is on fire with it. We are using a program called Prenda Treasure Hunt Learning in addition to The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. We really spend a good chunk of our day working on these skills. He will get there in his own time – he loves reading and books and picks it up so quickly now, plus he is so motivated.

In art, we studied Charley Harper! We had so much fun. We studied him in September and then I let October be a more Halloween crafty month for art. Harper is a modernist who painted nature. He called his art minimal realism and I just love it. I am not usually into that style but I really like his version – perhaps because of the subjects of his work. Wyatt really enjoyed it as well, all the shapes and lines and colors. We did two projects, and had a third that never developed – which bothers me so we might have to revisit it so we can do it. I wanted us to construct an owl mobile inspired by his piece Hexit. I need Billy’s help though with construction as my brain couldn’t quite fashion the wings correctly for my design. The two we did complete turned out very nicely! We started out with Wyatt’s version of a woodpecker based on Harper’s Baffling Belly, and then I bought a unit study for Fall at the Pond from TPT and it was fantastic. Wyatt had so much fun with it!! It took a few days because there was a lot of time for painting and then waiting for it to dry, so that made it fun too, the waiting.

Next up we are learning about Canadian artist Emily Carr, and we will continue on with Michigan history, dinosaurs and math and reading! Wyatt has had a great two months and I am looking forward to the upcoming months and all of the various things we will be doing.

Hello November

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Hello16 Comments

Welcome, November.

I am looking forward to the relative quiet of November, after a very busy October. Every year our October is jam packed. I like to whirlwind our way through the month, soaking in the moments, then like magic, on November 1, seeking the quiet and solitude of my birth month.

This is when the fall gets slower for me. The days are now short, with night closing in early, and all the hijinks of Halloween are done. I look forward to our slower paced days. Days of school and our art projects, the wolf embroidery I am working on for Wyatt, a return to slow cooked meals, Billy’s sourdough. Quiet hikes in the woods. Books and reading, movies, comfy beds with soft cushy blankets and flannel sheets, backyard fires with family.

Wyatt has this picture book called Thanksgiving in the Woods, and I still read it with him every year, and Billy usually listens too. We all love it. It is about this family who has just what the title says, a big family Thanksgiving in the woods and it is based on the author’s real life Thanksgivings. Every year we read this, and every year, Billy and I talk about how cool that would be. Wouldn’t it? I would love to gather everyone I love together at a big table in the woods filled with food and laughter and music. With tents and lights and bunting, with a big bonfire and games. Wouldn’t that be amazing? I just need to find the woods. But on days like today, blustery and beautiful with bright leaves littering the ground, the crazy chaos of last nights trick or treating behind us, I can imagine it, that meal.

We do have some fun things planned, things like stargazing in our backyard under blankets, with hot chocolate and cookies, calling for owls, getting back to nature, to gratitude. I pulling out our sweaters and warm clothes today, in preparation for the cold weather that will soon be arriving. (even though it was 80 this week! Ugh)

I am excited about our November scouts meeting this month. Billy’s mom is a potter, and she is going to work with our kids on making ornaments, that she will take home to be fired in her kiln. We are also going to open the box that we received from another pack in Oregon, who lives in the high desert there. Our two packs each gathered nature items from our area to send to the other, and I am excited to share with the kids what the Oregon pack sent with them. I peeked at it already and I think they will all like seeing what is in there. In our box, we sent leaves that were labeled, a sprig of white pine, which is Michigan’s state tree, a cicada shell, acorns and sycamore seeds and chestnuts, seeds from a Michigan apple, an apple tree bud from my confused apple tree, local honey, and a few other fun things, like a bag of Petoskey stones. I am looking forward to what they think of our stuff as well! And if anyone lives in another region who is reading this, and would like to send nature representatives to our pack from your area, let me know, because this was fun!

And, I need to refill my coffee so I will end here. Have a wonderful day everyone, and whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile.

“In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures.” – Cynthia Rylant

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Coffee Catch UP24 Comments

Hello everyone!! I am so grateful for coffee this week. I am running on coffee and peanut butter toast this week – I have just been so busy! I am trying to prep for school and for Cub Scouts while also making sure Wyatt enjoys the last few weeks of summer.

One thing that happened – Wyatt got a hair cut!!

Our neighbor works at a barber shop and she did such a great job! I absolutely love it, and Wyatt does too. The barbershop is very swanky and Wyatt felt like a big shot in there among the adults.

He got it just in time for his cousin Mermaid Girl’s birthday party too. She had a cosmic bowling party and it was a blast. I had to laugh – it’s like no matter what, you can count on bowling shoes to always look exactly the same as they did decades ago.

I also got to bowl – and it was pretty sad. Lol. I came in last, tying with Chrissy’s mom. (Chrissy is my SIL) We were both not wonderful at bowling. I even took bowling in college as one of one PE credits! I remember Billy and I would have to practice bowling every week so that I could show improvement in class. We didn’t have to be good, just show that we got better. It was a stretch but I did it. Our practice sessions became just an excuse to get together with all of our friends every week, who also joined us at the bowling alley.

We also had our second Cub Scout committee meeting. The committee is made up of family and friends but it is still nerve wracking to me because I am the person who needs to run it and do like 90% of the talking. Right now we are still getting everything made all official, collecting applications and dues and signatures and learning the ropes of the big fundraiser that is starting, the popcorn sale, as well as planning the first meeting which is at the beginning of September, and the first outing, which is a few days after. It will be so fun once we get through all of this red tape, and can really get started.

We have our council meetings at the rowing club in our town, and it is such a great spot, right on the river and bonus, adult beverages that are very inexpensive.

I’m really cramming because of course all of this starts at the same time – school, Scouts, and then to throw a big wrench in there, Wyatt has a three day EEG at the hospital right in that same week. At least I guess we will get it all out of the way at once!

Of course we went to the library and got ice cream this week! Our favorite ice cream place closed for the season on Thursday so we had to make sure to get in before they shut down. So one day we went to the library, checked out a mass of books, and hung out on the giant porch reading for a bit before going to get ice cream. Then we went the very next day and got ice cream with my dad as well!

Wyatt and I both loved sitting on the big porch. It is so high up and set so far back from the road that it felt like we were just in our own bubble or our own little world. Wyatt really enjoyed people watching and wheeling around out there too. Can I just move into the library? Wyatt and I decided that would be a super cool place to live.

Looking forward to fall, which is right around the corner, I am busy making plans for field trips and little mini-vacations, for Halloween and scouts. I am also planning out my fall TBR (we will see how I do – I am not great at sticking to the plan), and all the comfy cozy bloggy stuff that Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I do together. This year we are even having a little giveaway in October and I am really excited about it!! And speaking of comfy cozy fall things, this is our fall movie line up and dates, if you want to watch or post along with us! The dates listed are the dates that our posts will go up! I think we have a fantastic list and I am really looking forward to just slowing down this fall.

And now just some randoms from the camera roll!

Have a great weekend everyone, and I hope you do something that makes you smile!

Wednesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On 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!