issac...

... so i guess we're waiting to see how bad this hurricane is.  i just checked the weather channel online and i could zoom in on the projected path. which is pretty cool.  based off where we are, we should receive wind of 39+ mph.  we have never been in a storm in this house.  it will be our first.  our first with animals too. (besides our dogs.)    my concerns are electricity.  the energy company out here is really poopy, they have gotten better but they still don't have the best record.  that's my thought- no electricity in south west louisiana with  a storm going on out side so you can't open the window in august with two growing farmer sons and 4 dogs. (i smile thinking about the possibility of this... mental note, make sure the video camera is charged to document the potential moments)  i also hope that our road doesn't flood out.  that would be poopy too.  so we shall see.  honestly though, i'm always up for a good adventure and there is nothing that i can do to change it.  so i shall embrace it. 

til next time,
farmer mom

the egg makers...

... have a great life.  they roam around eating bugs and adding valuable nutrients to the earth.   here are some pictures of their day- roaming free! 

they usually follow the current leader to the next spot

pondering where she should go next

looking for tasty bugs to eat

even though they can't really fly; they like to pretend that they do

waiting

all lined up and ready to go

beautiful black egg

granted i'm not a duck nor do i speak duck  but if i had to guess i'd say that our ducks are happy. 

til next time,
farmer mom

charts...

i am a fan of charts and we have been using them from a long time for the growing farmer sons.  i think our first one was the potty chart.  every time the farmer sons tee-teed in the potty they got one sticker and they got two for a poop. then it evolved to a few things, like listening to their body after they were potty trained, listening in general, and sharing.   at some point farmer dad and i  added things like signing and having a good attitude.  from there  i found some awesome FREE superhero charts with five slots. we have been using them for a few months now but i wanted to add too it.  i want something more permanent then one week.  i like the reward charts.  it makes sense to me.  it sets responsibilities and behavior goals. 

there is a mardel store in lafayette that we like to go too. (it's one of my favorite!) they have a lot of good sales on school stuff.  so we were there the other day when we noticed the nice wooden magnetic behavior charts on sale for 1/2 off.  

 so we got two and from there i revamped it to fit us.  here is the finished product...

farmer son 1

farmer son 2

farmer son 1

farmer son 2

magnets covered with stamps for chart

 i found the letters to the farmer sons first and middle names and put that with their blue hand print on the top section.  also i covered the magnets with old stamps and even created new magnets from stickers for the guys to use.  it has been something that they like and look forward to using. i can support that.  someitmes if we are having issues a good little reminder about the magnets usually is what it takes to change it. can't beat that. 

so there are our new charts.  ones that shall last a while.
til next time,
farmer mom

now..

i'm pumped, simply pumped!  you should see the smile on my face!  recently farmer dad and i contacted local restaurant so see if they were interested in trying a sample of our duck eggs.  today i  made that delivery to Chef Manny Augello at jolie's louisiana bistro. He was very enthusiastic about it and requested 3 dozen more this friday and 5 more next week.  o my! this was instant too.  not days or weeks later. it feels so good to be supported and received  so warmly from a  restaurant.  they are very local farmer friendly and  now supporting us, too. (see smile) you should go to their website (it's very impressive) and to their restaurant, where you will not only be supporting us but  your other local farmers too!

thank you for sharing in this joy with us.
til next time,
farmer mom

beautiful

this morning took my breath away.

til next time,
farmer mom

week off..

we took last week off of school.  it was a nice break, but i was missing our daily routine a little bit and i was excited about the changes that we were making.  not doing school opened up like 4-5 hours a day. which is a lot of time- time that i greatly needed. i totally maximized it and made more lesson plans. in math  i have material ready for the next 9 weeks.  minus this one activity that i need peanuts.  it's a lesson where the guys will use their senses and we will eventually make homemade peanut butter.   i have to figure something out to replace that item though because farmer son two is allergic. any ideas anyone? beside that i'm good in math.  which is exciting.

the other thing that i worked on was putting the sign for words that we are leaning to read.  that pile is huge to say the least and growing almost daily.

about 1/2 of the words

the friday before we took the week off, my interpreter friend who is helping me learn signs told me about a thing called visual phonics.  this was the first time that i've EVER heard about this.  visual phonics uses a hand signal for the sounds of letters.  so i began this search to figure out these signals.  we went to two bookstores and my favorite school store in lafayette.  nothing.   i ended up using YouTube.  which was extremely helpful.  if your at all interested i used this guy, who does the signal and the sound and this lady, who sings a song.  the farmer sons and i have been watching the lady in school.  that is a good catchy one.  if you like to sing songs and want to learn visual phonics it's perfect!  anyway, this has opened up a big door for us.  i was having a hard time with that very aspect- how do i separate the letter from the sound when all i know is the asl alphabet. now i can phonetically sound out the word with hand signals or i can show them the asl letter then the visual phonic letter sound signal.  how cool is that?  the lady, who sings the song,  said that a mom created this to teach her deaf children phonics.  that mom  is AWESOME!!!!  i am so grateful for that.  knowledge is power.  and simply knowing about this now has changed things.  on that note let me tell you have fast they guys are learning it.  we have watched the song two times now.  farmer son 1 has the words down and farmer son 2 has the hand signals.  i'm impressed.  it's interesting to see how they are different.  farmer son one can hear and words come very fast for him.  he gets it.  at the same time, farmer son two, who can't hear  picks up on signs as fast as a hearing child picks up on words.  that is scary- and i say that only because it something still relatively new to me, but it's incredible.  the brain/ mind is an incredible thing! and woohoo for visual phonics!

i'm trying to make school more interesting and exciting for the farmer sons.  so to change it up, we started jumping on the trampoline as part of school.  we jump and run around saying and signing out numbers to one hundred.  then we do our math facts and the day of the week song.  they seem to really like it. not to mention the number sign shadows are pretty cool!  we also made up a chant for the month date year information too.  it's a good use of the extra energy they seem to regularly have.  it's a change of pace and environment.  not to mention good exercise too.  for whatever reason i don't remember jumping on a trampoline to be such exercise.  anyway.

 in addition to the jumping, i decided to open up a school store.   they earn pennies (or lose them) and can go shopping once a week. this seems to be working.  granted this was the first week, but our store is stocked with good incentives.   it makes the constant drill work more exciting because they are getting something for it. it is also keeping them on task easier which is making the lessons go faster.  less time wasted.  that works for me.   i don't mind "bribing" them in school.  an adult goes out work and gets paid.  school is their job. i should pay them for their work.  house work and family responsibilities  are a different thing. 

yesterday was one of the best days of school ever!  it felt so wonderful.   they were very focused  and knocked out their work.  it felt nice and wasn't a struggle.  they were having fun with it.  that is what i want- them to have fun and learn at the same time.   i feel like  i'm seeing the pieces coming together.  i see what i have taught them being used- as they randomly yell out math fact.  i see the information sticking and  them filling in their answers correctly. i have to say that sometimes it can be a struggle and challenging, but the rewards of it  far, far outweighs that.

til next time,
farmer mom

carolina wolf spider...

til next time,
farmer mom

1 pair of jeans...

for the longest time now i've been wanting to make one of those school desk bag things.  do you know what i'm talking about?  it goes onto the school desk- you put your books etc in it.  today was the day that i made it.  i started with one and it came out good... not perfect but good enough.  i was happy.  so i decided to do another one but take pictures along the way.  i'm not a pattern person.  i wish that i was but it's very difficult for me for whatever reason.  so nothing is exact. my apologies.  anyway,  besides the obvious material of sewing machine/ needle and thread, scissors, and so on, you just need 1 pair of adult jeans.

i had this pair from high school and thought they needed a new life...

first you cut off the legs, probably about an inch away from the middle seam.  you only need one leg for this project, so you can save the other one for later

then you cut up the leg along the seam

open up the cut leg and iron smooth

\

after it's ironed, fold it in half and cut the sides even

cut the back pocket section off from the front section.  i cut along the seam.  this will be the big pocket section and the two smaller ones for pencils, crayons, etc.  you don't need the front part for this either.

cut the back section sides straight

.  i used the bottom of the pant for the shorter end, the one that faces inside the desk.  plus i didn't have to sew anything because it was already nicely done. 

this is where i did my accurate measuring, NOT.  i put the two ends where i though was good and pinned one side, but not together so you can sew in the back pocket piece.

i thought that the L hand shape was a good distance from the pocket starting to the ends meeting. (my thumb is on the green pin)

i placed the pocket piece on and pinned it, then i turned the whole thing inside out and sewed them together.

in hind sight i should have put the bottom back pocket piece and the bottom leg piece together first.  i was just so excited that i wasn't thinking clearly.  live and learn right

then i turned the pocket piece inside out and sewed the bottom together

and then it's ready to go

this is the one i did  while taking the pictures

this is the first one i made

well, i hope my wording wasn't confusing.  if you make it, please send pictures.  that would be so awesome!

til next time,
farmer mom

black widow...

some black widow spider facts:

• their average life span in the wild is 1-3 years
• they are considered the most venomous spiders n north america
• it's venom is reported to be 15 times stronger than a rattlesnakes

i'm not a big bug squisher and neither are the farmer sons, which i really like. they really appreciate the beauty of bugs and creatures. they respect them. unfortunately, i'm not the biggest poisonous spider advocate and i don't practice in the catch and release program when it comes to anything potentially dangerous. at the same time, i don't seek them out.  and if i were to see one in the middle of no where i'd leave it be. but when it comes to black widows on the front porch i draw my line.  i squish them.  too risky in my mind not too.   

til next time,

farmer mom

facts taken from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/

farmer son one...

...JUST CAUGHT HIS FIRST DUCK!  it was shirley.  the look on his face was priceless.  he didn't tell me that he was gong to catch her, he just did it.  it was a milestone in our lives.

til next time,
farmer mom

birds fly...

 

when a storm is coming the neatest thing happens, these big birds (i don't know there name) fly around. they fly low enough for you to feel their wing vibrations as they are above you.  it is truly amazing. sometimes they fly to the trees across the way or sometimes in large circles above.  it is amazing! it's moments like these that make me stop and smell the roses. know what i mean?

til next time,
farmer mom

i had a moment...

... with a dragonfly.  i first noticed it when i was watering asparagus.  it was holding on to it. 

i told myself to be brave because moments like these do not happen often- so i put my finger next to it.   it worked.  i had a beautiful dragonfly on it, for the first time EVER!

this was the coolest thing ever!  it felt interesting to feel it's little feet on my finger.  i was very, very excited that i had my camera and i was able to take pictures.  then it flew- to my shirt.  i was pumped that this special moment was not over yet. 

before the moment was over, i got the farmer sons to put it on their fingers.  then it flew away, but luckily not far.  so i was able to capture it's beautiful little face. 

isn't that the cutest little face ever?  and it's wings are so beautiful. i really enjoyed the moment that we shared.  i felt one with nature.  embracing the moment.

til next time,

 farmer mom