BLOG HAS MOVED

Hi guys!!!

We moved to a (dot) com!!!

www.TheBristianLife.com

If you go there you will find His Life, Her Life, and our brand new Little Finger's School!

Go see! 

Share!!

<3

Pi Day Pie!

So last night I made some Mini Key Lime Pies for Pi Day! & Surprisingly enough it is super simple! 

You will need: either one pie crust, or one of these delicious mini packs of pie crusts, one can of sweetened condensed milk, and 2/3 cup of key lime juice (I buy it by the bottle, but you can by the fruit and juice them).

Measure out the key lime juice (remember: 2/3 of a cup) and then pour in the entire can of the sweetened condensed milk and mix until it is all smooth.

Then either pour it into your pie dish or put two big spoonfuls into each of your mini pie crusts.

After they cool and set in the fridge for about four hours, you can top with your own homemade whipped cream, or use some delicious RediWhip!  

Enjoy! 

Happy Pi Day!!!

<3

In Honor of Pi Day 2015

We over here at the Hampton's residence LOVE some pie! I'm sure many of you do as well, after all, that is probably why you are reading this post!!!

So in honor of Pi Day 2015 we decided to list our three favorite pies and share our favorite recipes for them!

Bug's favorite is a simple chocolate creme pie (after all, she is only 4). The best recipe so far that I have successfully made is the one from HERSHEY's Kitchens, and it can be found following the link. I think that we must make a pie today, or at least grab a slice out on our busy day!

My favorite is a complete toss up! I love key lime pie, but I also LOVE a good apple pie. So I am cheating a little and sharing *two* recipes.

Key lime pie is really simple, and my wonderful hubby makes it for me pretty often. It just takes a pie crust, key lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk. For a simple recipe I like the one at The Very Best Baking, it has a bit more to it like garnishes, but its still delicious with or without that touch. Follow the link for the recipe.

Now for an apple pie, I wish I still had my grandma's recipe, because I loved it when my mom made it and I am pretty sure as a kiddo I loved my grams. But I now "settle" for a mouth watering Betty Crocker recipe! The only difference is that I usually sprinkle brown sugar on top instead of the usual.

Is your mouth watering yet! Mine is, but that is what I get when I type a blog up about food, deserts in particular, before I even have breakfast!

Tris is a bit more complicated... He loves a good chocolate silk pie with Oreo crust and Oreo crumbles on top, but he also loves dutch "bloody" apple pie. Not to be confused with a regular apple pie as the top crusts are different. If you ask him what his favorite recipe is he will say Safeway... so I have found a delicious sounding (and easy) pie to try out HERE. Let me know if you try it and like it!

Also on the topics of pie- I don't quite think that Shepard's pie and hand pie's or any of the other variations on a pie (like apple pie moonshine, egg-rolls, or tacos) count on Pi Day... But I can almost guarantee you that we will be having Shepard's pie for dinner and I will be making my own version of key lime pie tonight! I promise, I will post pictures and tell you all how I did it.

MmmmPIE! 

<3

Book Review: Homeschooling Take a Deep Breath, You Can do This!

Hi wonderful blog readers! 

I hope you have had a great day and have enjoyed checking out our (very early stages) Pinterest and Twitter accounts that I started for you guys to get more connected with us today.

Anyways, getting back on topic! When Tris and I first started talking about homeschooling Bug, and the reasons and beginnings will be a separate blog post later, I did what I always do. I went and started pinning everything I could find, searching for blogs, joined some wonderful homeschool co-op groups (Which will likely be a blog topic too!), and went to the local library. I checked out somewhere in the ball park of fifty books and placed more on hold.

The first book I picked up, started to read, take notes from, and finish within a day (my usual speed) was a little gem by Terrie Lynn Bittner called Homeschooling Take a Deep Breath, You can do This! This little gem was so personable and broke it down in a way that I personally could really connect with.

The second chapter was one of the best I have read in a homeschooling book so far. It was not some amazing planning tip or anything like that, but it was an entire chapter devoted to overcoming some common reasons as to why you feel you *can't* homeschool you child/ren.

The next chapter has some really good tips and advice on how to not only bring up homeschooling to all relevant parties, but also how to "convince" them that it is a good idea, or at the very least convince them why you feel it is such a good idea. This is so pertinent to us as we have split custody of our precious Bug & the very first reason (okay, the second) for looking into homeschooling her comes from a very long standing disagreement about who should have primary custody and decision making skills when she starts school. She included a segment about how to bring this up with another parent with whom you have split custody with.

I feel like it was the first book that realized there were homeschoolers who are not married with a stay at home mom, which I am sure many of you can comment and link other books which are not so narrow minded, and I also am mid way through another book that has a much more 'contemporary' take on homeschooling as well.

I digress! So in chapter 5 Bittner goes into some details about how to get started organizing your life as a homeschooling parent. I especially liked the little subsections about what you need to buy and finding enough time. As a mom who also works outside of the home, as blogging ventures, as well as homeschools her child (with lots of help from Dad! *I LOVE YOU TRIS!*) I already have felt like I don't have enough time as it stands to exercise or to get meal planning under my belt. It's definitely nice to read somewhere that there are people who feel just like me!

Chapter 6 may well have been a life saver and the start of how I started to use my handy dandy year round curriculum planner (AKA my re-purposed three ring binder). So lays out some ideas of what you should keep in your binder, how to track attendance and even has some awesome examples of curriculum descriptions. Really this whole chapter makes me want to purchase the book just so I have a copy on hand when ever I want to reference it.

I can't (read shouldn't) go through chapter by chapter, so I am going to attempt to group like chapters together.

Chapters 7, 8, and 9 are all really good overviews of what the various types of the 'typical' homeschooling families and how it may look with one child vs many, when only one stays home, when you only homeschool part time or after-school, and even how it looks when you homeschool on the road!

Chapter 10 is really good if you are looking at how to do this on a budget, and I adore finding great deals. Chapter 11 is a good one to read when you are starting to think about your teaching style and your child/ren's learning style.

Some parents choose to homeschool their kid/s due to being behind their peers or a learning difficulty and thus this chapter is for them. I have been really lucky so far that Bug is advanced for her age and seems to pick up things pretty quick, so I skimmed those parts just in case I have a child who meets those criteria in the future. Alternatively this chapter also has bits about how to handle it if you have a gifted child, so I read those just in case my hopes for Bug come true (as are almost every parents wishes for their offspring!).

Chapters 30, 14, and 15 are centered around curriculum. Of course you can purchase your own or create it, and you also could create unit studies. I personally use free resources and create a semi unit study while still making sure to touch on topics that I have laid out to  touch on. I will start posting some in depth details about what we do in each week soon, and hopefully I will create a few pages myself!

Chapter 16 was so relevant to me because it is about how to teach your child math when you cant even do percentages. In other words when you are so unsure of your own math skills, how can you teach your child math, especially when they get to the higher (harder) math!? It has great advice like conquering your phobia (fear), and then goes on about different way to teach your child. I think that getting over my math fears were well worth it since Bug has started to grasp what 2+1 is already! What a lot of people may not know is that once your child gets older you can even enroll them into a community college to take lab sciences and math  courses you may want them to learn from some one who specializes in that. Alternatively you can teach yourself and learn with your child!

Chapter 17 covers reading, and 18 is all about history, chapter 19 which is about science, then those chapters are followed up by chapter 20 (of course) which is all about written reports and such. The next chapter is about electives like religion and such. I especially love how that chapter touches on the importance of your child/ren learning other perspectives.

Chapter 22 reads in such a positive light about how you've done it, decided to homeschool, research and convinced all relevant people and then to get down and homeschool! Followed up by chapter 23- So, Did They Learn Anything? This chapter talks about how testing is not necessarily the best way to find out if your kiddo has learned anything, but how talking and evaluating what your child learns is better.

Chapter 24 is about homeschooling through high school and to college, and I personally am so shocked that my baby is FOUR now that I cannot even imagine her being in high school or beyond yet. Perhaps I am just in denial! But I know not everyone starts with a preschooler and I feel that the chapter is very valuable.

The final chapters (25-28) are all about how to answer questions, the good stuff and the bad stuff, an then takes a look at how homeschooling can (and likely will) strengthen your family. I love that the book ends on such a positive note, and I also love how at the end of each chapter Terrie lists relevant resources to read more on.

Over all I am glad I chose this book as the first one to read since it is so positive and written in a language that feels like you are chatting with her in person. I highly recommend it. I hope this review was helpful!!

<3

Game plan!

So after the whirlwind of activity and changes last night I am afraid I won't be able to keep up that crazy of a pace! So with two blogs (This one & Her*Life) that I now manage, a Facebook page, (and I am thinking that soon there will be a Twitter and a dedicated Pinterst too!) I am going to start blog planning to keep up with it!

I'm sure that Tris will be doing some awesome things on his blog (His*Life) too, but I promised him that I would leave that to him, and today he is a bit sick!

So today's goal is to look up way to plan and manage blogs, a new post (likely in review of one of the homeschooling books I have read), and then to set up a twitter account - So Stay Tuned!!!

<3

Newness!

So today was very productive!

I created our Facebook page, Her*Life, and His*Life blog pages.

Those are going to be more personally focused but still tie in, I want to focus more on our TTC journey in mine as well as have a more separate place to talk about our split custody arrangement and court stuff. Tris will focus his blog on the daily life of a son, father, step-father, 30+ year old husband dealing with the world while still striving to keep his family the center of it.

I think that we will link up my Pinterest page, or perhaps soon a BristianLife Pinterest will be in the making!

Today is CD #12

So I took the Soy Isoflavones this cycle for 5 days at 100mg (so the rough equivalent of 50mg of Clomid). I have high hopes for this cycle to be the one. Taking my vitamins, took the Soy Iso, and so far have been baby dancing enough for me to feel bruised. Tomorrow starts the "fertile period", however, I have been taking OPK's and they all seem super faint, so I think it will be a couple more days before they start to get darker. I also am tracking my temps pretty good this cycle! I hope that this effort gets some positive results.

I know that we have not been steadily trying for two years yet, but it has been two years since we decided to try for baby #2. But with moves and hospital stays and then stress we have realistically only been trying for a year. Unfortunately neither of our insurances cover ANYTHING for fertility treatments. So we are on our own! I am trying to keep the positivity going, but it is so heartbreaking that I have not had a single positive pregnancy test this time when I am TRYING. Bug was not planned, and I was on BC pills so I honestly did not think it would be this hard.

My Planning Binder

So as I said, I am gonna upload some pictures and explain a bit about how I am organizing our homeschool binder. First of all, I LOVE the planning resources I found at The Handmade Home (thank you pinterest!!!)

I have this pretty cover on my three ring binder:

Then I have my years calendar and then I have certain planning items behind that like our 100 books to read before school list, and the quarterly subject planning and goals:

 On my yearly calendar I tend to map out a bit of what the next year is going to look like, I use hilighters to mark off each season, the days when we wont have her (no thanks to the custody split), the lighter days after we get her back or after a vacation or break, as well as marking the holidays and school breaks. I count up the weeks and projected days so that then when I move forward to monthly and weekly planning I roughly know what I need to be doing.

When it comes to my subjects/goals I am going to be doing it by each quarter/school session. Breaking down our goals into subject lets me really focus on what I am trying to get done and teach Bug in each area through the year without being too generalized or cramped.

Next I have my monthly views and the monthly book log (we try to do 20 a month and I happened to find an amazing one!):

Then there are my weekly planning pages, which as you will see can get kinda crazy. I hole punch them so they open like a normal planner and on the back I write notes on field trips and how Bug handles her schoolwork for the day and also what she didn't like, did like, or what needs tweaking. 

Anywho- I work tomorrow bright and early (before the sun!) so I am off to bed! 

So many things to print!

So when I cannot sleep, or when I am awake before others (when it is NOT for my nanny job) I tend to read about homeschooling, find new blogs, pin *way* too much, and then download and print free printables! I have a 1.5 inch binder to try and plan things out, and I am filling it up fast, so I am am thinking about how to better sort things... I want to keep track of all Bug's work (for court stuff, and to see how she is progressing), I also am keeping track of all the receipts for homeschooling purchases (I think it is tax deductible?), and I have to put the pages I print off some where....

So far I have the numbers 1-10 in a variety of ways, and then Do-A-Dots for 11-20 as well set aside, and I am working on printing an equal amount of varying alphabet printables. There are also some theme packs printed as well as cutting practice pages. Once I figure it all out I will take pictures and share my ideas with you all!

Hangovers, Blog & Homeschool planning!!!

I know this title is nuts, I mean why am I hungover writing a blog post & trying to plan both the blogs future as well as homeschool planning?! Well I am not currently hung over, and I have to fit in the time to plan these things when I get some free time- so you get multi-topic blog posts!

Saturday we dropped our Bug off with her Biological father and then had eight hours to kill before our friends big 3-0 birthday party (hence the hangover...). We had an impromptu date when we went hunting for this homeschool store on Roosevelt in Seattle, which had been closed and I highly suspect it was what is now the new-ish location of Wayward, which used to be on Greenwood Ave when I first found it. After a crazy, anxiety ridden parking experience we decided that all that work needed to be worth something, and so we had some amazing smelling Indian food! We decided to go find more homeschooling/educational stores and my favorite (I think) was one called Math n Stuff. We got a wipe off map of the USA, a cute Alligator erasor for her doing so well with her letter and numbers these last two weeks, and we got her 'My First' Brainquest, as well as some cool shape manipulatives. We also went to this learning toy store in the Country Villiage out in Bothell and got an adult palm sized magnet (the horseshoe kind) and some language books.

We still ended up with hours to kill before the party, so we went and got some libations and a gift for the birthday girl and then got gussied up. I felt SMOKIN hot, and judging form the amount of people hitting on me, I must have been! Now I am just going to make this very clear- this was an adult party, and even though we are TTC, I have not even ovulated this cycle, so this party was not wrong, and I don't want bashing. We arrived at 8pm and then did not leave until 4am, and did not get home until 5! I drank a fifth of Malibu on my own basically, but there was dancing, Black jack (not for money!), delicious grilled meats, and a wonderfully warm bonfire. It was awesome to celebrate a friends birthday, and I think it was one of maybe five times Tris and I have gone to a bar/party in two or more years! Unfortunately I suffered a two day hang over! So glad I did not work the next morning!

So now that I am not suffering form a crazy long hangover and Bug is due back in a couple of days, I wanted to take some time and look at the next few weeks homeschool plan, and put some effort into this blog! Hubby says we should have a his and a hers page and then he will write stuff too! So Expect some changes! I have been reading as many homeschool books from the library that I can get my hands on, and printing *more* then the needed printables (favorites so far below!), and now just need to organize that into a plan of some kind!

All while planning my next career move, which is looking like I will be taking ECE courses!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



Favorite Printables (So Far):

Planner Printables from the Handmade Home
Handwriting Printables from the Measured Mom

Tacoma Art Museum

This week we jammed it full of fun field trips to help make the stay in the hotel more 

pleasant and to also help the transition to homeschooling be more fun! 

The Tacoma Libraries has this pass program so that library patrons can check out a pass to

go visit several museums in the local area. 

Bug was not super thrilled, and I think the only reason we got to see the majority of the Tacoma Art Museum (and their Georgia O’Keeffe collection) was due to the fact that they have this art studio for patrons about halfway through, and we made some art! Unfortunately

we were not allowed to take photos of the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit! 

Drop off Days

So every week we have to drop Bug off with her Biological Father, either on a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon (alternating). Since we are doing year round homeschooling we have opted to teach her the majority of the days we have her, excluding season breaks, vacation, and a few holiday breaks. This means that even on the drop off days, which we leave at 11am to get her there on time, we do some sort of schooling. This week we have started to add in a Disney movie which starts with the letter of the week to both introduce her to more awesome movie, and to give a reward for doing well.

This week is the Aristocats! I love that movie and so far the Bug is enjoying it!  She has done so well and begs frequently for more schoolwork.. I hope that next week is as smooth!

First Homeschool Field Trip!

Wednesday we went to the zoo. Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium to be exact! We met up with a local homeschooling group and started off with some play time, then we saw the Red Wolf, Polar Bears, Otters, and then a friendly Walrus. We took a lunch break and separated from the group as Bug wanted to see the aquarium, and I sadly did not take photos of her loving on the aquarium with the Jelly Fish, but they were her favorite this time around! Finishing off with playing on the grass and seeing a free range peacock!

Crazy Morning...

So this morning was CRAZY. It is also CD#7 and my 5th day of taking Soy Isoflavones. I woke up at 4:30 (which means my temping was "off") and then at 5 am the alarm went off to wake Tris. At 5:30 we woke Bug. Why on earth were we getting up so early?! Of because we had court at 9 am in Seattle. Court went good, just in case you were wondering.

Over all I am not feeling any side effects, and that worries me a bit. I want to make sure its working you know? But I am glad to lower my morning pill consumption by one pill, and once I confirm ovulation I will lower it by one more. If this cycle goes as planned and I still don't get a positive pregnancy test, I think I will take *two* EPO and Soy Iso's (one in the morning and one in the afternoon). The SI seems to have dried me out a bit and one EPO is barely keeping me at normal levels of CM, so I hope that upping both to two will still balance that out. FX of course that I won't need to do that!

Sensory bins

So the very first thing I implemented when we decided to start homeschooling was to create sensory bins. We made one for color, number, and letter of the week. We started with A, 1, and white. She had so much fun with the color one (flour, and finding items hiding in it) that we were looking forward to going into the next ones, then of course the whole sewer thing happened. Now I wanted to upload some pictures for you guys to see how we do things, and since we are back home I am sure we will post more soon!

Basically we found that the DollarTree has these aluminum baking dishes with lids, so we got a pack of three and the first one was filled with flour (since it is white, and its the color box) and then I hid various items (like a white sock, a square of TP, a little Harold toy (From this set), a pumpkin seed, a puff ball, ETC) for her to find and then play with. It was a HIT. 

Getting caught up...

So as you may know by now, last Wednesday our apartments sewer line backed up into our bathroom. Fast forward to today and we are just getting back into a normal routine... But it will be all messed up again on Tuesday when they (construction/repair team) come into our home and start to tear walls apart and replace the toilet and such. We also have a very close family friend land herself in the hospital, so we changed up out Saturday to accommodate a much needed visit with her & then did some helpful errands for her and her wife after the (always) sad drop off of the Bug to spend time with her biological father.

With Bug being with her Biological father, it has opened up our ability to get the insurance papers done and in (YAY!), started to clean up the house after the chaos struck, and (BONUS) I have gotten a chance to start catching back up on the home school front!

Sadly AF struck a day late (yesterday) and so we are going to try some new things this cycle. We are both taking vitamins (He is taking a men's once a day, I am taking a women's Daily, Vitamin D, EPO until I O, Folic Acid, and in CD 3-7 I will be taking 100mg of Soy Iso), I will begin tracking my BBT once again starting tomorrow morning, and once AF is gone I will be taking OPK's twice a day. Once in the morning-ish and once in the evening. Hopefully we will start to BD every other day and on O day and the two days after starting tonight, but I can never guarantee anything!

I will post a summary of our week's homeschooling steps and such tomorrow, but for now I have to go to bed as I am up for work at 4am!

Go figure...

Life is crazy right? We all know that... But how often does one have their entire apartments building sewer line back up into their bathroom? Cause that is what happened two night ago. Our unit is on the bottom of three floors and all 12 units main drain line goes through us basically, the sewer line cover is off our back porch. So we called the emergency maintenance and my renters insurance (PRO TIP- always have it, even if it is not required! WE have so far tallied over 600$ in property damages and also our hotel stay and meals are going to be covered!!!).

Even through all of that our Bug was begging to do school work, after only one day. So we have done some writing exercises, some games, some fine motor skills, some cutting exercises, and two do a dots (with stickers, she loves it!).

On a TTC note, I am due for AF today... I am hoping SO hard she does not come...

More later!

Introduction!

HI! *waves*

My name is Brina, my hubby goes by Tris and our four year old little girl (whom we currently have a 50/50 custody split with her bio-father, whom I love to call sperm donor) goes by Bug. This blog is kind of a catch all for life, our TTC journey, and our BRAND NEW homeschooling journey.

We are TTC#2, though Bug says she wants two brothers and one sister, or the next day two sisters and one brother, we will definitely be excited for any healthy baby(ies).  We have been trying for over a year, nearly two at the end of this summer, and not even an indent line. So I plan on being more vigilant about temping and OPK and vitamins once AF starts in a few days, thought I would love it if she went on a 9 month hiatus!

Last Friday Tris and I went to court (again) to ask the judge for permission to modify the current parenting plan- an adequate cause hearing, which the judge says we have cause, so now there will likely be a lot of venting about that too. Why? Because the biological father is an asshole. I do not say that lightly.

On the home school front, it is kind of not your usual. With split custody I currently have Bug Wednesdays from 11am to Saturday at 1p, and then the next week Wednesday 11am to Sunday at 1pm. (Rinse, Repeat!) She is also currently in our local ECAP program. So this week (TODAY!) we are going to start her in our home school stuff. Starting off with a schedule we are going to stick to and a bunch of easy activities to get her into the groove. I am very excited and the choice to start doing this comes from many places.

Bug LoVeS school. She love to play with kids and to learn and do crafts. She only gets two days a week due to the custody plan, and she begs for more. So we, Tris and I, are going to do just that. I also feel it is a great way to start the process as we plan to fight for the right to home school her. I will post pics and crafts and tips when we finish a week so you know how things worked.

<3 I look forward to sharing our journey with you!