I Want to Save My Allowance For…

Posted on July 13, 2013July 14, 2013 by Amy

My older girls get a few dollars for an allowance each week.

They have never been too bad about asking me to buy them tons of toys or other things, but since implementing weekly allowance some time back, whenever they have asked I would say, “You’ll just have to save your allowance if you want to get that…”

This has worked out very well for the most part. We count their money every week. They understand the concept of saving. They no longer ask me to buy them anything.

But.

In the past month or so they have taken to saying, about a thousand times a day, “Mama, I want to save my allowance for…”

Any time they see something in which they are even slightly interested.

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy turtle.”

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy big Tiana.”

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy crappie.”

“A wildebeest.”

“A wart hog.”

“A cape buffalo and all the other kinds of buffalo.”

When we’re playing the “Cat in the Hat I Can Do That” game?

Miss: “I want to save my allowance for a toy fan” (one of the game pieces).

Me: “Honey, that is a toy fan!”

Miss: “No, I want to save my allowance for a real toy fan.”

Me: Blinking. Blank stare. “Okay.”

They now comment about wanting to save their allowances for things much, much more frequently than they ever used to ask me to buy them things.

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy fountain.”

This one came up multiple times yesterday at the splash pad.

And this morning?

“Mama, I want to save my allowance for a toy Baby Sis.”

It’s gotten a little out of hand.

I love that they think about wanting to save for things. And I love that they have actually saved for weeks and weeks for some things that they wanted very badly that were a bit more expensive. And I love that we have started a “Giving Jar” where they put $1 of their allowance each week to give to a charity of their choosing when the jar is full.

But man.

When we went to the fireworks last week both girls talked the whole time.

“Mama! I want to save my allowance for a toy firework like that one!”

“Oooo! Mama! Mama! I want to save my allowance for a toy firework like that one!”

“A blue one!” “A red one!” “A big one that twinkles and falls down like that!”

And on, and on, and on. The. whole. time.

I get a little freaked out about this sometimes and think, “Oh no!!! My children are falling victim to our overly commercialized society! They are becoming hyper materialistic! They want EVERYTHING! I have failed as a mother!!”

Then I take a deep breath and remember, they aren’t asking me for the fancy Barbie doll they just saw on a TV commercial. They don’t even watch TV commercials.

They don’t ask me for the latest and greatest toys that all the kids are getting. They don’t have the slightest idea what the latest and greatest toys are.

They don’t throw fits (usually) when we walk past, or even down, the toy aisles at Target or any other store. They just say they want to save their allowance for it if they see something they like. **

Most of the time they’re saying,

“I want to save my allowance for a toy butterfly” when they see one outside.

Or,

“I want to save my allowance for a toy chicken nugget” when I make them for dinner.

When we read books they constantly interrupt me to tell me they want to save for something (many things) in a book.

I have had to set a limit with this one.

As a general rule, I not fond of being interrupted when I’m reading stories to them, but I usually don’t mind too much when they are asking questions about a story or pointing out something interesting that is happening. I suppress my occasional urge to say something like, “Hey. I’m reading here. I’m in character and everything. Why are you talking?”

But the allowance thing is just too much. So I made a rule that they may not interrupt a story for allowance comments. They don’t follow it. I’m working on it.

Miss has been saying that she wants to save her allowance for a tiny baby doll like Sis’s.

They have these little dolls at Target for about $3, so I told Miss the next time we went to Target she could bring her allowance and get one if she wanted.

Today we went to Target to get some storage boxes for our new art shelf (oh my gosh, I love my new art shelf!). Both older girls brought their change purses. Lass said she wanted a pony. Miss said she wanted a baby doll with long brown hair.

Lass got a My Little Pony that she could decorate with stickers and markers.

Miss got…

a My Little Pony that she could decorate with stickers and markers. She just couldn’t resist it when she saw her sister getting one.

I walked her past all of the other things she had said she wanted. The baby dolls with brown hair. The tiny baby dolls like Sis’s. The big Tiana dolls.

She stuck to her guns and bought the My Little Pony. Both girls depleted their allowance stashes.

They have been saving for many weeks, saying they wanted to buy tons of things, but not actually buying anything and not really even pushing to buy anything.

I got to thinking about this.

Then this evening while I was cooking dinner and The Daddy had the girls outside, Miss came to the door repeatedly bearing various items and saying she wanted to save her allowance for something like them.

“A hydrangea.”

“A hydrangea leaf.”

“A leaf like this one too.”

Finally it clicked. They don’t really want to save their allowance money for any of these things. Or at least that’s not the main reason they’re telling me they do.

They’re just telling me how much they like these things or how interesting they are.

Duh.

So the next time Miss came to the door with, “Mama, I want to save my allowance for a purple flower like this one,” I said, “Wow, you really like that flower don’t you?”

She blinked at me and nodded and then said, “Why did you ask if I really like that flower?”

I said, “Because you said you wanted to save your allowance for it. Do you really like it?”

She smiled big and nodded with a shy, “Yes, I do.”

I guess I’ll have to revisit my rule about the allowance comments during stories.

** I have to add that even if my kids did beg for fancy Barbies or other toys or throw fits in the toy aisle, that would not in any way make me a failure as a mother (nor does it make anyone else one). I recall begging and begging for a Cabbage Patch doll, and Barbies, and all sorts of other stuff I imagine. All kids do it, and I’m sure mine will too when they get old enough to know what the “hot” toys are. But my thought process is what it is. Sometimes it just doesn’t take much for me to briefly freak out about having failed my kids in some way or another. Middle finger to you, “Mom Guilt.”

23 Picture Books About Horses

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Amy

We recently finished a unit on horses. My kids love horses, so this was a really fun one. If fact, we did this unit at their request.

As I always do, I got tons of picture books to read and talk about during our circle time. I found some really wonderful, beautiful horse books, and we had such a great time learning and imagining about these beautiful animals. As usual, I learned a lot while teaching it.

We read a total of 23 horse books, both fiction and nonfiction.

Here’s a list of what we read. The ones with links were our favorites.

Fiction:

Black Beauty retold by Sharon Lerner – This is such a classic story and this book has beautiful illustrations. My girls loved it. So did I.

The Wild Little Horse by Rita Gray – Sweet story of a little horse going off to explore.

Clip Clop by Nicola Smee – This was such a fun book to read with a really cute story about several animals taking a ride on a horse. My girls were laughing and asked to read it many times.

Are You a Horse? by Andy Rash – I LOVE this one. It’s a cute story about Roy, who gets a saddle for his birthday with the instructions: “1. Find a Horse, 2. Enjoy the Ride.” Roy doesn’t know what a horse is, so this is about his process of finding one. I love the twist at the end that had my girls (and me) surprised and laughing.

Where Horses Run Free: A Dream for the American Mustang by Joy Cowley – Gorgeous illustrations. My girls loved the main horse in this story.

The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble – Lovely story, beautiful illustrations. I loved this one, though my girls weren’t super impressed with it.

Hush, Little Horsie by Jane Yolen – A sweet book about mama horses watching over their babies.

The Story of Black Beauty retold by Susanna Davidson – Another great retelling of this classic. My girls just seemed to like the other one a little better.

Cowboy Ned and Andy by David Ezra Stein

A Blue Ribbom for Sugar by Elaine Clayton

Everything but the Horse by Holly Hobbie

Fiction and Nonfiction:

A Field full of Horses by Peter Hansard – I couldn’t categorize this as fiction or non. It has a little storytelling with lots of facts included.

Nonfiction:

Horses: Trotting! Prancing! Racing! by Patricia Hubbell – This book has catchy rhymes and good information about breeds of horses, caring for them, and different jobs horses do.

Horses (Naturebooks Farm Animals) by Mary Ann McDonald – This one had a bit more detailed information than (and wasn’t as fun to read as) “Trotting! Prancing! Racing!” but it wasn’t too wordy.

Horses by Sheri Doyle – Short and sweet.

I Love Horses and Ponies: Over 50 Breeds by Nicola Jane Swinney – This is a beautiful book that my mom just gave to the girls. It’s not one for sitting down and reading start to finish, at least not at their age, but they love to look at it and learn about all the different horse breeds.

Horses (Animals Animals) by Steven Otfinoski – This one was a little too wordy for my girls, though I skimmed over it and they still earned some cool new stuff. My favorite thing about this one is the photos. It goes beyond the standard photos of horses standing in a pasture or looking over a stable gate or carrying a rider… This book has photos of horses nibbling each other, making funny faces, showing their teeth and more.

Horses and Ponies by Anna Milbourne

Girls and Their Horses (American Girl Library) by Camela Decaire

Horses (Farm Animals) by Rachael Bell

Horses (Great Pets) by Gail Mack

Horses! by Gail Gibbons

Poetry:

Gallop O Gallop by Sandra Alonzo – I didn’t actually read this whole book for my girls. I just don’t enjoy reading them a book of poetry. A few poems is good, but not a whole book of this length.

What’s your favorite horse book?

The Rest of the Week

Posted on July 5, 2013August 2, 2013 by Amy

I’m linking up with Conversion Diary again today.

My seven quick takes are pretty much all about what we’ve been doing this week with Grandma and Grandpa, in addition to the horseback riding and scavenger hunt that I’ve already posted about this week. That’s because I’m in the middle of nowhere and I have nothing else to talk about. But I do have a fabulous recipe for you that I’ve been meaning to share. So I’ll start with that.

1. Cauliflower crust pizza. Dee. Lish. Us. It is a great way to eat pizza if you don’t eat gluten or grains. You start by making cauli-rice (which itself is a good substitute for rice):

Then add a few ingredients to make it into a crust (recipe here).

Before baking the crust:

After:

It’s surprisingly easy, and my kids LOVE it. Get the recipe here. It really is good. You can even pick up a slice and eat it like regular pizza.

One tip – Don’t skimp on the step that stresses that you must get as much water out of the cauli-rice as possible before mixing in the other ingredients. I wrap it in a towel and squeeze the heck out of that stuff and still end up pressing a paper towel on it after shaping it into a crust (but before baking) to get out as much moisture as possible.

Try it. You’ll like it.

2. Okay, here’s where I’ll get into telling you all about what else we’ve been doing with G&G.

Swimming:

This pool sits on a hill in my parents’ yard. One corner of it has no water. The opposite one, the “deep end,” has only about 8 inches. Still, you’d think it was the best thing ever.

3. Another visit to the local nature center. This time we got to see all the animals.

The snakes were still the favorite though.

My big girls both chose $2 rubber snakes as their souvenirs. They have been sleeping with them. Are my kids the only ones who like to sleep with fake rubbery snake toys?

Lass has even named a new snake species for hers – “Jumping, Flying, Camouflage Snake.”

4. The beach:

Chasing butterflies:

The beach was awesome until a work crew of half a dozen adolescent boys showed up on their lunch break and decided to go for a swim. In their underwear.

We got out of the water at that point, but we had already had a great morning.

5. I was just informing my husband that we are going out to dinner tonight with my parents and the girls. The conversation went like this:

Me: “We’re going out to dinner again tonight”

Him: “Okay.”

Me: “We’re going to try to get there at about 5, because it’s a sit down place where they bring food.”

Him: “You mean a restaurant?”

Ah motherhood, where every conversation is affected by thoughts of your kids and you feel the need to clarify that the eating establishment you will be attending has wait staff who will bring the food to you instead of a buffet or order-at-the-counter arrangement.

6. Because you know you were dying to see pics of our parade yesterday:

7. And the grand finale:

My parents have some friends who were kind enough to invite us to watch the fireworks at their great lakefront house, which just happens to be right across the bay from the spot where they launch the show.

No battling traffic. No porta potties. No crowds. Nice.

They even had some pre-show home fireworks in the yard.

We tried to catch some fireflies, but it was too windy. We could only see them in the woods, and it was too freaking dark for me to go very far into the woods, even for fireflies for my kids. Plus Lass heard a boom from some fireworks and she turned around and took off running willy nilly into the dark and toward the water, so we had to abandon Operation Firefly promptly.

But the girls forgot all about the fireflies when the big fireworks started.

Have a great holiday weekend.

4th of July Fun

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Amy

We’re having lots of 4th of July fun here. I love the 4th of July. It’s not my favorite holiday, but it’s up there. I like the patriotic songs and parades and the flag waving. I love the middle-of-summer-holiday barbecues or picnics, beach trips or family parties by the pool. And my favorite, of course is the fireworks. We are planning to take the big girls out to watch those tonight and hopefully catch some fireflies and make s’mores too.

They are already getting into the patriotic spirit.

I made these shirts with the girls yesterday:

I got the idea here. I think we’ll do them every year.

I didn’t think of it until after I totally failed in getting Sis’s handprint, but I should have used her footprint instead I think…

The girls were excited to wear the shirts that they made themselves.

And we’ve read several patriotic and 4th of July themed books today, like:

Hooray for the 4th of July! by Rick Brown

America the Beautiful (Love this one) by Katharine Lee Bates and Chris Gall

America the Beautiful: Together We Stand by Katharine Lee Bates, Brian Collier (et al.)

Happy 4th of July Jenny Sweeney! by Leslie Kimmelman

Red, White, and BOOM! by Lee Wardlaw and

Apple Pie 4th of July by Janet S. Wong

Last night I put together a red, white, and blue-themed scavenger hunt for them to do this morning.

I had several packs of small American flags from the Target dollar section, cut some craft foam into different shapes, and grabbed a few extra things from the dollar store this week (red, white, and blue batons, leis, and artificial flowers).

I was hoping that the girls would enjoy this activity, and they really did. Even more than I expected, I think.

Miss liked crossing off her items as we went.

Everyone got into finding cool stuff.

When we came in we got all decked out in our red,white, and blue stuff (picture leis, flowers in the hair, and lots of flags waving) and marched in a parade around the house, complete with Grandma singing “Yankee Doodle” at full volume.

Fireworks tonight. Hope you’re having a wonderful 4th too.

Check It Off

Posted on June 30, 2013June 30, 2013 by Amy

When I wrote about our Summer List a few weeks ago, I mentioned that one of our to-do items was to visit a horse farm and ride horses. We were able to do part of that when we went to a horse farm with my Mother-in-law.

The girls had a great time seeing these beautiful horses.

But, Percherons are so huge, they aren’t really for riding.

The closest we could come to riding these big guys was to get a wagon ride.

The girls really enjoyed that trip.

But I still really wanted them to have a chance to ride horses.

Today we went on an outing with that goal in mind.

Near my my parents’ house is a wrangler camp where there is a riding stable. They have “pony rides” for little ones, and when my mom called this morning she was told that they were doing rides “all day every day.”

So we hurried and got ready. Which of course didn’t occur very quickly when getting three kids and myself dressed and sun screened, but we managed to hit the road a little after 11am. We arrived to the stable at about 11:45, only to see a sign on the door saying “Sorry, we’re out. Back at 1pm.”

I called the place again and got a message saying they are closed for lunch from 12 to 1. Apparently “all day every day” didn’t mean to them what it meant to us.

My girls could see horses out the car windows and were whining about getting out and riding them.

I pulled the car around to the back of the riding place so they could get out and at least look at the horses that were tied up along the fence.

As we were checking out these pretties, I was rapidly trying to figure out what we should do next.

Option 1: Go home and call it a day, get lunch and be down for naps at a reasonable time. Hope that seeing the horses would be enough to tide them over and then come back another day, earlier in the day, to ride.

Option 2: Find somewhere to have lunch (nothing was closer than at least a 20 minute drive) and come back to ride after 1.

Naturally, we chose Option 2.

We had a fun buffet lunch at the lakeside lodge and went back for rides.

I am so glad we did.

The girls had so much fun. They were excited that they got to ride big horses, instead of ponies. They smiled and chattered happily.

Miss told the handlers about our trip to see the Percherons.

When we asked Lass what her favorite kind of horse is she said, “This one I’m on!”

I loved watching them.

We didn’t get back until about 3. Naps were short. Girls were a bit crabby this evening. But it didn’t even matter.

This was well worth it.

Check it off.

Wide Open Spaces

Posted on June 27, 2013June 27, 2013 by Amy

It’s been a long time coming.

We have been trying to purchase a property on which to build a new home and set up our “homestead” for a long time.

A really long time.

Yesterday, we finally closed the deal on this beautiful spot.

Our view:

It won’t be long (hopefully) before we have our home and garden and chickens and an amazing space for our girls to grow.

They’ll have even more space for all the things they love to do.

Running and rolling and climbing and exploring.

All we have to do now is plan our dream home from scratch. Easy peasy, right?

Art from Nature. With Glitter.

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Amy

Something that I have really wanted to do with the girls this summer is to get them outside to do a treasure hunt in our yard for natural items that they could use to do an art project. A “nature collage,” is I guess what I was thinking, though I didn’t have anything terribly specific in mind.

So a couple of days ago I rounded up their Halloween buckets so they could collect some treasures and off they went.

They found some great stuff. Leaves, sticks, flowers, rocks, acorn tops, etc.

Today we got out the buckets and some big pieces of cardboard that I cut from a box and got to work.

I had this image in my mind of some really earthy, organic-looking artwork with all the natural materials they would be using.

But then I saw the glitter glue.

Seriously? Glitter and nature go perfectly together.

Sis found some more treasures while her sisters worked.

I love what the girls created.

Love, love, love.

Miss’s:

Lass’s:

This was such a fun project. Easy and cheap too!

Found objects + Cardboard + Glue (Glitter optional) + Creative Kids = Art!

I am totally hanging these on the wall. I hope the enormous rocks don’t fall off…

A Little Adventure

Posted on June 23, 2013June 23, 2013 by Amy

We had a little adventure today.

I wanted to plan a little outing. Something to get us out of the house so my husband could sleep.

Nothing huge, but something different, and thus an adventure.

So, after church, I smeared sunscreen on three girls, threw a picnic lunch together, and we drove to a local strawberry patch.

Lass was really into picking.

She worked hard and picked more than either Miss or me.

It was hot and muddy, but we had fun.

I have to admit though, after getting home from church, I was really tempted to skip the outing. I hadn’t mentioned it to the girls. It was getting close to lunch time and I knew we would end up having lunch late and then taking naps late. I kind of wanted to just do what was easy.

Stay home. Play in the yard. Read some books. Lunch at noon, naps at 1.

Easy.

I had a moment of thinking, “Eh, forget it.”

Then I thought about our Summer List and how excited the girls were to cross off the things we’ve done so far. Okay, I also thought about how much I like to cross things off lists.

I thought about how this might be the only good chance we have to pick strawberries since Miss has camp this week and we are going to Kentucky the following week (where strawberry picking is already done) and I didn’t know if we’d still be able to pick after that…

I thought about how much fun they would have if we had a little adventure.

I though about how sometimes it’s better to not just do the easier thing.

So, I took away my option of saying, “Eh, forget it” by telling the girls exactly what I had planned for us to do. I just blurted it out so I couldn’t take it back and I would have to follow through.

The looks on their faces and the thrill in their voices when I said we were going to pick strawberries and then go to a park for a picnic lunch… Well, I no longer wanted to wuss out, but I wouldn’t have anyway at that point.

And I’m glad I didn’t.

I’m happy I decided to smear that sunscreen and pack that lunch and take the 30 minute drive that should have been 20 minutes but we got a little lost because my GPS didn’t recognize the address of the place.

We would have had a lovely day if we had stayed home and played in the yard and colored and read books.

But instead we had a little adventure.

It was a memorable day. I’m not sure if my girls will remember it, but I surely will.

It was so worth it.

Some Miscellany – 7 Quick Takes Friday

Posted on June 21, 2013June 21, 2013 by Amy

— 1 —

I am kind of obsessed with reading the blog Conversion Diary right now. Is it possible to be “kind of obsessed”? Probably not. I think that’s an oxymoron. Whatev. I’m calling it “kind of obsessed.” It’s a blog about the author’s conversion from Atheist to Catholic, among other things. Love it.

Every Friday the blog’s author Jennifer writes a post called “7 Quick Takes Friday.” Then lots of other people write “7 Quick Takes” posts and link them to her blog. Fun, yes? I enjoy random thoughts on a Friday. So this week, I’m going to throw my hat in the 7 Quick Takes ring and see how it works out.

— 2 —

During the seemingly endless winter that we had here this past year I was desperately wishing summer would come. I was so eager to be able to take my kids outside to play without spending 3 hours getting them stuffed into several layers of clothing, snow pants, boots, coats, etc. And the mittens! Oh geez. I loathe mittens. Can’t anyone make mittens for toddlers/preschoolers that actually go on easily and stay on and keep their hands warm and dry?

Anyway, I don’t love the process of getting three kids under five ready to go out and play in the winter. So I was excited when spring arrived.

Except I had forgotten about sunscreen.

*Insert audible sigh here*

I think it takes at least as long to get sunscreen on them as to put on mittens. But sunscreen is messier. And they squirm and scream more during the process.

— 3 —

We have two butterflies in our little butterfly cage. Of six caterpillars that came in the mail, two of them successfully formed chrysalides and emerged as butterflies. There is one more chrysalis that may still successfully birth a butterfly, but the rest didn’t work out.

The girls are so excited about the two they’ve got. They are sure one is a girl and one is a boy.

I, on the other hand, am worrying because they don’t seem to be eating. I mixed the sugar water as instructed and even put a piece of fresh watermelon in the little butterfly house. I keep looking in there, “Come on little Painted Lady. Unroll that proboscis. Doesn’t that sugar water taste yummy when you step on it?” But I don’t think it’s happening.

In case you’re thinking me cruel, don’t worry. They’ve only been “hatched” for 1-2 days. We’ll be letting them go soon and they can find their own flowers and drink all the nectar they want.

My girls have even been scoping some out for them.

— 4 —

Miss completed Safety City this week. Yesterday I went to watch her graduation and she got to show off some of the stuff she learned. They had a karate instructor to teach the kids about “stranger danger.” He called Miss up to demonstrate what they are supposed to do if a seemingly nice stranger speaks to them, such as a little old lady asking for help finding her dog. Karate Man knelt down, imitated a sweet old lady voice, complete with sad face and “Can you please help my find my little lost dog?” Miss turned and ran and yelled, “NO THANK YOU I’M GOING TO GET MY MOM AND DAD!!!!” I was so proud. I almost started to cry.

— 5 —

In the past few weeks I have read three Awesome-with-a-capital-A books. Two of them were on my Summer Reading List.

“The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom has just gone straight to the top of my list of all-time favorite books.

And “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis has made the favorites list as well.

The third one wasn’t on my summer list but I had to read it anyway. “My Sisters the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir” is an amazing book (and another favorite now).

From my summer list I’ve also read “On the Beach,” “The Sun Also Rises,” and “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.” All enjoyable reads as well if you’re looking for a good book.

— 6 —

My hubby starts working nights tonight. I don’t love the weeks that he works nights.

I’ve been trying to plan ways for us to be out of the house next week during the day, but Miss has Wee Camp at the YMCA in the mornings, so we can’t take any big day trips to some of the fun places I’m wanting to visit this summer (See our Summer Fun List).

So far I’ve got grocery shopping and two play dates with Super Friend (God bless Super Friend) to help us get through the week. And one day I’m just punting to our babysitter to take Lass and Sis in the basement to play while Daddy sleeps. Throw in Church one day and a possible closing on some property another (I’ll post more about this if it happens, because I don’t want to count my chickens…) and I think we’re pretty well covered.

— 7 —

Speaking of our list of stuff to do this summer, I would like to note that I officially changed the name of it from “Summer Bucket List” to “Summer Fun List.” I did this after reflecting on the origin of the phrase “Bucket List” and realizing that the name came from the movie characters’ lists of things to do before “kicking the bucket.” Seemed a bit extreme for a list of fun things to do with my little girls before summer ends.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

The Simple Things

Posted on June 14, 2013June 14, 2013 by Amy

Sometimes the littlest things make me the happiest.

Like watching my kids play with rocks.

Honestly, I can’t even describe how much I love to watch how creative their play is.

With rocks.

Miss informed me they were playing a game called “Get Rocks Clean.”

They were very intent on cleaning their rocks, though there was much more to it than that. This game was quite involved.

And I was so excited when Miss said, “Mom, I’ll put my clean rock up here now and the sun will evaporate the water and it will be dry.” Pause, “But there aren’t any clouds…”

She was thinking of our discussion of the water cycle and how evaporation leads to the formation of clouds.

Um, I get kind of giddy when she randomly talks about something that I taught her in our homeschool lessons.

The simple things…

Sis loves rocks too.

Rocks.

Simple.

I have been wanting a storage shelf for our art stuff for a long time. One like this:

I saw one like this at Miss’s preschool, and I loved it so much I looked for one of my own. I found several places to order one online, but I could never bring myself to actually spend the money.

Well. Miss’s old preschool teacher closed the school about two months after I took Miss out and started homeschooling. This past weekend she had a yard sale and was selling off a ton of the stuff from the school. I was so upset because we’re out of town, and I couldn’t go. But she let me put dibs on the stuff I wanted! She even showed me pics on Facebook.

I got a shelf just like the one above. Actually the shelf that inspired my love of The Shelf. I got it for a steal and it’s already put together and I don’t have to pay shipping or pay extra for the storage bins…

I am unreasonably excited about this shelf that I’m getting. Seriously.

I might have gotten up and done a little happy dance when I sealed the deal with Miss’s old teacher over FB chat.

And I might have spent the past 24-ish hours dreaming up ways to rearrange our homeschool room to accommodate the new things I got.

Because I didn’t just get that one wonderful shelf. I got another hinged/folding shelf, and a paper cutter, and a board game, and a box full of stuff for a Zoo unit that I just happened to see in a picture she sent me of the shelf. We are doing a Zoo unit next after Horses!

I’m giddy I tell you.

Simple things.

And here’s one more.

I have come to appreciate the beauty of a concrete patio this week.