Happy 13th Birthday, Unicorn!

It is hard to believe that it has been 13 years since Unicorn made her "exciting" entrance into this world! I wish I remembered the day but, I was unconscious and having seizures due to eclampsia. She was born 7 weeks early via emergency C-section. I went to sleep Monday, February 28, 2000 and the next thing I know it is Thursday, March 2, 2000, I am in the hospital and no longer pregnant. Unicorn was born Tuesday, February 29, 2000 at 5:47 pm. She was 3 pounds 11 ounces and 16 inches long. We were both in pretty bad shape but, we pulled through!

Unicorn's Favorites
Color: Purple
Sport: Swimming
Game: Monopoly
Season: Summer
Meal: Stringy Mac
School Subject: Latin
Book: All Books
Sweet Snack: Candy Cane
Salty Snack: Saltines


Thoughts from Unicorn
I want to be remembered for being kind.
The most interesting thing about me is I was born on Leap Day.
What makes me special is my red hair.

Unicorn Today
I am 13.
I believe in Heavenly Father.
I wish mommy liked cats.
I have my own BLOG (click HERE to check it out)!
I know I want to be a fashion designer when I grow up.
I can sew.
I want a cat.
I will be helpful this year.
I remember when my mom would put a pillow under my head when I was throwing a fit so I wouldn't hurt myself on the tile.

Unicorn's Stats
At birth: 3 pounds 11 ounces and 16 inches 
At age 13: 73 pounds and 4 feet 7 inches

A New Venture...

As I sat looking at all the scarves that my daughters and I have been making, I realized we needed to do something with them besides just randomly post on Facebook. 

So, {insert drum roll here} we opened and Etsy Shop!

I am hoping it will be something that my girls and I can do together and that maybe they will learn some life skills along the way. Think about it. They are learning...

~to knit

~to crochet

~to take good photos

~how to price items

~how to label and ship items

~how to run an Etsy shop

~how to save, spend and give their profits

I am sure I am missing something but these are skills that will help them in their future and maybe I will even give them an elective credit (or two). {wink, wink}

We would love you to check out our little shop, Triple M Scarves!
(our names all start with "M")

Week in Review ~ the one with Snow

This has been a crazy week! Especially Wednesday! For those who don't know, we live just outside of Phoenix, Arizona and this is what it looked like here on Wednesday:

This is NOT normal! Click here for more photos of snow in Phoenix.

Also, on Wednesday, on Arizona State Route 89 this happened:

 This is a MAJOR route between Utah and Arizona about 25 miles South of Page, Arizona. Click here to read more about what happened!

On to the more normal occurrences. We are loving our new curriculum. We are loving the products we are reviewing (to see what is coming just peek at my sidebar). Unicorn (with help from Ladybug and me) is crocheting scarves to sell to raise money to go to girl's camp. She has sold 4 and needs to sell about 6 more (Email me if you are interested in purchasing one).

Playing a Latitude/Longitude game

Coloring by Sight Words

Writing a Thank You note to someone who purchased a scarf

Yarn to make scarves

White Knitted Scarf with Gold Trim ($20 plus $2 shipping)

Purple Knitted Scarf (it is a dark purple-$20 plus $2 shipping)

Burnt Orange, Burgundy, Deep Purple, Red Crocheted Scarf ($15 plus $2 shipping)

Chocolate, Ivory, Tan, Silver Crocheted Scarf ($15 plus $2 shipping)

Orange, Blue, Olive, Purple Crocheted Scarf ($15 plus $2 shipping)

Hot Pink, Pink and White Crocheted Scarf ($15 plus $2 shipping)

FREE Blog Planner ~ A Mosiac Review

As a member of the Mosaic Reviews Team, I will get the chance to review many products. To kick off our reviews, we will be reviewing some FREE blog planners! So, if you are a blogger (or thinking about blogging) you should check out our reviews!

I am reviewing the FREE Blog Planner from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Erica has two versions available and I chose the lined version.

In a Nutshell:
~FREE
~Two versions (lined and calendar)
~29 pages each (27 that you print)
~Includes a Front Cover, Back Calendar, Year-at-a-Glance Calendar, 12 (monthly) lined/calendar pages, and 12 review/giveaway/post idea pages (the calendar version includes a space for tracking stats)
~Erica can be contacted via her website's "Contact Me" link or by clicking HERE

My Thoughts:
I LOVE this planner, not only is it beautiful, it is very functional and doesn't use a ton of paper (if you do it right you only use 12 sheets of paper and 2 pieces of cardstock)! My only wish would be that the lined version have a place to record stats. BUT, since both versions are FREE you could easily mix and match to get EXACTLY what you want! I printed mine double-sided and bound it myself but you could just as easily have it printed and bound at Staples or Office Max or something. Will I keep using this planner? To be honest, I am not sure. It is a functional, simple, beautiful blog planner but I prefer an All-in-One type planner. I get lost when I have too many planners! However, if you like to have planners for each area of your life then this is a great planner!

Lined Version in use (February)

Lined Version in use (February)

Other Products Available:
~Curriculum (History, Geography, Literature, Preschool, K4, Art, Music, and Science)
~Digital Scrapbook
~Patterns
~Combo Packs

Click here to see what my teammates thought of this and other blog planners!

A New Hobby?

Background: I can NOT sew, knit or crochet (not for lack of trying). Somewhere between my brain and my left-handedness the directions get all flipped around and messed up and I end up frustrated and the project thrown out. My mom does any sewing that needs to be done and is teaching Unicorn to sew, knit, crochet, etc.

Yesterday, my mom came by to pick up Unicorn and take her to her dad's house. While she was here my mom started teaching Unicorn how to knit a scarf with this fancy new yarn so Unicorn can sell the scarves to earn money to go to Girl's Camp. It looked fairly easy so I took the needles from Unicorn and knit a few rows. Then set it aside for Unicorn to work on when she gets home Sunday evening. Well, hubby was gone last night (camping with the Scouts) and the little ones were in bed and I was watching some of my favorite shows (Charmed and NCIS) and I picked up that yarn and needles and...

THIS turned into...

a beautiful SCARF! (I love my ladybug model)!

A Favor for my Daughter, Unicorn

Unicorn will be 13 at the end of February and has a goal to apply to Mosaic Reviews at that time. She used to blog pretty regularly but took last year off. She is working on getting her blog back up and running. We have designed a new look for her blog and even made a button for her. 

The favor I am asking is for you to show her some love! 

Just click the button below and you will be magically transported to her cute little blog! 

Feel free to leave her a comment and/or to follow her while you are there! 

Thank you so much!

Doctors, School and a Broken Pipe...Oh My!

This month has been much busier than I am used to. I have had 5 (yes, FIVE) doctor appointments since January 2nd and I have 1 more on Monday and then out-patient surgery on Wednesday. I am hoping that after the surgery things will slow back down to a normal pace and we can get back into our school routine.

We have also started our new curriculum and I have managed to snap a few photos (Yay Me)! With this new curriculum we are doing a month of history, then a month of geography and then a month of science on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Friday we do Literature and either Art or Music. Monday are a free day (used for catch-up, field trips, or one-on-one time with my oldest). These subjects are done as a family in the afternoons. Math, Reading, Spelling and other subjects are done in the morning individually.

So far we have had 6 History lessons and 1 Literature and 1 Art Lesson (with all the doctor appointments we are 1 lesson behind in Lit and Art). We have learned about how history is His Story, studied Creation, started our timeline, and created our notebooks. In Literature we are studying Fairy Tales and the lessons they teach us. In Art we are focusing on the Creation and how God is the Ultimate Creator and that because we are made in him image we are also creative beings. Additionally, Monkey and Ladybug do reading and spelling each day and Unicorn is learning to cook and sew.

On another note, we had some UNUSUALLY COLD weather here. Normally, this time of year, we have Highs around 65 and Lows around 40. Last week we had Highs around 40 and Lows around 20! Now, in other parts of the country, this wouldn't be a problem but, here in the Phoenix, Arizona area this is not good! Our pipes are only buried 3-6 inches below ground...not good when you have extended periods of freezing temps. We were pretty lucky, we only had ONE pipe burst and it was an external, above-ground pipe. It was a pretty easy fix. Needless to say, I am grateful for the 75 degree high we had today!