All Things Fun

 

Well, it's been awhile. Can't say a lot has happened. But, I have lots of photos and memories to share. We are trying to make the best out of this year. We had a few cooler days in September that we had to share with love bugs, but we tried to stay outside as much as possible. 

Livi started First Grade in August. We knew that it was going to be an adjustment going from playtime to school time. One month in and I was having my doubts. Mostly because it just felt like TOO MUCH work for first grade, but after talking to her teacher and some other moms, It got better. We were printing every single worksheet throughout the lesson and working through them. It was taking HOURS to finish school work. Her teacher told me that if she understands the lessons and feels confident that she can take the quizzes and turn in the assignments, then to move forward. So, instead of printing 8 millions pages we will verbally do the worksheets throughout the lesson and then get to the assignments due. I also looked ahead and saw that we will eventually get to space and nature themed lessons in Science, which she loves. 

She's flown through Art and will have her last DBA (discussion based assessment) next week. I can't believe she'll be done so fast, but she loved every project and did so good on them. I love her love for art. 

Other than school, we've gone to the library. Still making weekly trips. When the pandemic started the library was closed and then they went to curbside pickup. But, we've loved being able to go back in (obviously with our masks on.) She's also had a few infusions since July. We are loving the short infusions. They take 2 hours compared to the 4-5 hour days. 

A few things have opened here that we want to TRY and do. I'm a little nervous, so I'm thinking we'll go when it's slower. Like the Pickin Patch in Dunnellon. It's been a few years since we've gone, but I know that Liv enjoyed it in previous years. We went to the market and picked out pumpkins a few weeks ago and Livi painted hers. She wanted to carve it, but we explained to her that it's too hot here and it'll just rot. Well, she painted it and I noticed today it's still rotting. I assume the paint sogged it out (Thanks, Florida heat!) 

I'm 99 % sure we won't be trick-or-treating this year. So, we decorated more this year inside and out. Livi picked out what we thought was going to be her costume, but after wearing it everyday for two weeks we noticed how uncomfortable it was, so she picked out a second one. Can't ever have too many costumes. At least she wears them for years after purchasing. She will get to dress up for her infusion at the end of the month, so we're leaving that costume a surprise. 

We've started watching ALL the spooky halloween shows and movies. I'm actually all crafted out. I think we got all the wooden things from Dollar Tree and a few dollar bin things from Target. So, I'm going to need a break between now and December 1st. Until then, we'll pick up a few things here and there to stock up for Christmas crafts. She had a crafting day with her cousin, it was a bit chaotic because I didn't realize it was going to be so windy, but they still managed to finish and had such a fun playdate after. <3

We're pretty excited for cool nights around our fire pit. I'm not sure how Thanksgiving or Christmas will look this year, so we are just trying to do the best we can. I'm pretty sad those holidays will be celebrated different this year, but I don't want Livi to see that I'm upset over that, so just trying to make it the best for her. Seeing all the Christmas stuff at stores gets me so excited though! I know it's too soon, but I can't wait and I love that our house will be decorated from now until the end of the year. 

Today is Amazon Prime Day along with lots of other sales at other stores. I've searched and searched for gifts, but wasn't able to find what we've been looking for. I'm wanting to do more homemade, small shop gifts this year though. If you have any ideas for a 7 year old or geeky husbands, send them my way. 

Here's a few extra photos from some of our adventures. <3

The Week With All The Butterflies

I took a small social media break this past week. It was much needed. I've been dreading those weekly notifications that tell me how much time I spent scrolling. I deleted some apps for a few days and it's been refreshing.

We had a week with NO doctor appointments and it was so nice. Obviously, we didn't go anywhere. But, it was nice to relax for a few days. I'm pretty sure on Monday and Tuesday Livi and I spent most of the day on the couch. After a headache from probably laying around too much, I knew I had to be productive on Wednesday. Thursday, I went to see my mama for a bit. Then, we came home and Livi worked on some crafts and I got some reading in. Friday, Livi and I grabbed breakfast, went through her room and got rid of some things she no longer plays with, and then watched some Gilmore Girls until Dannie got home. I think we fit a library trip in there one of those days.

We released LOTS of monarch's this week. I think we released 8. Sadly, one didn't make it due to an injured wing. But, I think we were releasing almost 2 a day. We still have one in it's chrysalis, but we have a few more days before it's ready to come out.

I've had quite a few people ask me where we are getting our butterflies from and what habitat we used for them. We started by finding a few caterpillars on my milkweed plants back in March. They were still pretty small then, but I ordered a butterfly cage from amazon. Once the cage arrived, I moved them inside the house in the cage. I just cut off a few stems from my milkweed plants for them to eat on. This is what monarchs eat and they eat a lot of it! After a few days I noticed the stems I was cutting weren't staying fresh for long, so I looked up how to keep it fresh. I saw lots of people were using stem tubes. They are just clear tubes with a hole in the top. But, you add water and then stick the stems down in. I found these on Amazon and they worked great.  I also placed a puppy pad at the bottom of the cage because we noticed when the butterflies emerge from their chrysalis, they release a gross fluid that you do not want to fall on your carpet.

Since the first 4 we started with, we were able to feed and release 8 more. It's been such a fun experience and we've learned so much about monarchs. Olivia has loved it. You can tell if the butterflies are male or female once they come out their chrysalis by checking for a black spot on their hind wings. If it has the spot, it's a male. If theres no spot, it's a female. This is her favorite part and she names them afterwards. Even though it's impossible to tell them apart if we have more than one and they are the same gender.  Whatever makes her happy. <3

Slow Saturday happening over here. Since it's one million degrees out we'll probably fill up Livi's pool in a little bit. Hope ya'll have a good weekend! :)

Our Year With Florida Virtual School

The past few months have been crazy as far as not knowing what to expect and just having so much anxiety when thinking about Covid. But, the one thing we held onto was knowing that Olivia would be returning to virtual school through FLVS. As most of you know, Olivia has a suppressed immune system. I won't go into all the details right now, but when she does get sick, her immune system kicks into overdrive. So, she takes meds and gets monthly infusions that suppress her immune system. She can catch things faster and much harder than other kids her age.

Last year was her first year with FLVS. There's two different paths you can choose when enrolling; Full-time or Flex. We chose flex because it was flexible for us and fit with what we needed. When we first spoke to her doctors about school they mentioned homebound, which was still through a local brick and mortar school. But, that didn't quite fit what we needed with doctor visits and days missed. Then, we looked into full-time FLVS. We thought we had made a decision because we knew she'd need a 504 plan in the event she had a hospital admission. But, then we spoke to one of her counselors and got all of the specifics of flex. That was it right there! There's a set pace as far as when assignments are due, but it's absolutely doable and most of the time they'll be working ahead. Olivia took Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Intro to Spanish. Twice a week she did live class-times with other students. We loved her Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Ally. She was the sweetest and always emailed or texted me back when I had the silliest of questions.

This year she's taking the same 4 core classes, but we are adding Spanish 1 and Art as her electives. She's super excited about art because that's basically all she does at home. She can draw and color all day. I've looked into a few other things to supplement with because she also loves nature and all things plant and animals. We also LOVE the library, so we'll continue our 1-2 week library trips.

If you're wondering how our first year went using FLVS and working from home. Some days were disasters and others flew by. You have to figure out what works best for your family. Some days I still don't know what works for us because everyday is different and littles don't always wake up feeling the same as the day before. My only advice would be to plan ahead and just know that it's not going to be perfect. Find out if mornings or afternoons work better. Obviously, you'll have to work around any appointments out of the house. We tried taking schoolwork to some of her infusions last year, but it was hard for her to stay focused while nurses were coming in and out. So, we now know to just skip those days and pick-up the day after.

When she started school I thought she would be doing school work all day because that's what I was used to when I went to a public school. But, that just doesn't work for them at home and it's hard to keep a 6 year old sitting down for 5-6 hours a day. So, also take that into account. Split up your days with school work, chores, outings, play, lunch, and lots of snack breaks. The beauty in it all is that you can pick all of this! I still struggle with this and feel like everything needs to be planned and followed through, but that rarely ever happens.

If anyone is interested in some must-have items, I would definitely say a good internet connection if your choosing FLVS. As long as you have good wifi, you can do school work anywhere. Some other things would be a printer, a planner, some binders to keep things organized with LOTS of dividers. Then, just lots of craft supplies. You don't have to have the most expensive school supplies. Most of the stuff we purchased were form the dollar tree because she goes through crayons and paper so fast it's just crazy expensive to buy those elsewhere.

We are extremely thankful for FLVS and the opportunity to have something to fall back on when we had no other options for Olivia. She loves the content and with me not knowing whether or not I would be able to actually teach her, it made it easy. Not only is she learning, but I'm relearning along side of her. <3

Monday Shmonday!

I thought I'd share our Monday. Our days aren't ever perfect and doing virtual school has always been a struggle. One day will be fine and there won't be any issues and the next day we'll have 8 million time-outs, yelling, and sometimes tears. I wish I could say its easy,  but it's not. But, Florida Virtual School fits what we need right now. It's been perfect for fitting in doctor visits and taking breaks when we need it. Olivia is also on the "flex" pace, so she's technically a homeschooled kiddo. We're just using the FLVS curriculum.  If we didn't want to fully use all of their curriculum, we could supplement with other stuff. If you have any question's about it, I'd be happy to answer them. <3

8:00- I got up, brushed my teeth, drank some water, got the school room ready, and started a load of laundry.

9:00 - I started breakfast, Livi woke up and played some. Which consisted of her checking on her stuffed animal and making him a bed in the living room. Oh, she said I couldn't forget that she gave him some "kibble", which is beans that she pretends is dog food.

9:30 - I made our breakfast and some coffee. I gave Livi her vitamin, probiotic, and one of her oral meds. Then, I set a timer on Alexa for one hour for the second oral med. Then, we ate.

10:00 - While she got dressed and brushed her teeth, I washed the breakfast dishes and switched the laundry.

I usually try to do dishes and straighten up a few things when I can or else it'll all build up and then it takes forever to clean it up.

10:30 - I sprayed down Livi's bathroom while she worked on the "Today" board in the school room. She has to fill in her mood, the date, the weather, month, and season. We don't always do this because she's got into the habit of looking at the calendar to see if something is happening. I also made a snack tray so that when she was hungry, she could help herself.

11:00 - She got a snack and started Language Arts.

11:45 - Took Language Arts quiz.

12:00 - She made a PB sandwich and finished first worksheet assignment.

12:20 - Finished second worksheet assignment and had some pringles.

12:30 - Wrote sight words for this lesson (7 words) 2 x's each and then we started some math in her Kindergarten workbook.

1:10 - Finished workbook. I think she did 8-9 pages. Some were adding and subtracting, there was one on telling time, ch sounds, and some filling in numbers up to 100.

1:15 - We started a Science activity on living and non-living things. This wasn't part of her FLVS curriculum. I found it on Pinterest last night and printed it this morning and set it out for her.

1:45 - She read to me for 15 minutes. It was was an "I can read" book.

2:00 - She worked in Squiggle Park for 30 minutes. We got outside for a bit and that was nice. I think that helps with our mood. That is an app that she has through FLVS. Once she finishes, I submit it as an "enrichment" assignment. She has to tell me her favorite part, something she learned, and something that she needs practice on. She can either choose to work in Squiggle Park or Prodigy.

2:30 - She finished everything and went to play. From there, I washed all of the lunch dishes and folded two loads of laundry. I didn't stop there though and probably did too much today, but I didn't want to do it tomorrow. So, I mopped the kitchen and bathrooms, cleaned the bathrooms, and cleaned the carpet in our room and near the front door.

I ended up finishing around 5 and then showered. I changed out of my day pj's and put on my night pj's. Haha is anyone else living that life right now? We're grilling out for dinner and I popped some fries into the oven. Nothing healthy, but super easy. Happy to spend our evening on the back porch now that it's a bit cooler.

Since today was pretty easy and everything just flowed together, tomorrow will probably be rough. Just gotta take it one day at a time, friends. Remember, we can always start over the next day. <3