Special Holiday Meals: Polar Express Party

Everyone looks forward to this party at our house every year! It does take a little work and planning, but it is so WORTH IT!

We try to make some homemade gifts to give out as Christmas gifts to our family and friends… usually food. We also have some fun games and lots of yummy treats to keep us busy until the Polar Express starts! Then our living room turns into an interactive Movie Theater… so much FUN!

Here are some of the posts that we have related to our past Polar Express Parties:

Polar Express Party (2016)

Polar Express 2022

Polar Express 2023, Sourdough Gifts & Recipes, and Other Life Updates

Polar Express Planning (2024)

Polar Express 2024

Polar Express 2025

DIY Advent Games: Engage Kids This Holiday Season

Advent Celebrations: DIY BINGO Game and Crafts

My Kids Surprised Me With Their Knife Skills!

I used to think letting my kids near sharp knives was a recipe for disaster. Turns out, it’s the exact opposite.

When kids learn real knife skills, they actually become safer in the kitchen. They gain confidence, take ownership of meals, and (bonus!) start helping with dinner instead of just asking when it’s ready.

That’s exactly what this free knife skills class for kids delivers: practical instruction, real safety techniques, and fun activities that make kids excited to cook. My kids surprised me and so will yours!

👉 Grab the free knife skills class here**

Continue reading “My Kids Surprised Me With Their Knife Skills!”

Special Holiday Meals: A Hobbit Inspired Menu w/printable menu

My family loves the Hobbit books and movies, so when I saw that there was an actual ‘Hobbit Day’ on September 22nd, I had to make a note of it on our Fall Perpetual Meal Plan. Last year, we were in the middle of wedding prep, followed by hurricane prep, so it kind of got forgotten about. This year, my kiddos have not let me forget!

We worked together to make a menu so that we can celebrate… we might even watch the movies, if we can! We might also enjoy our Elevenses outdoors under our garden arches… so many ideas. Our kids love reading and we love to encourage them so this is a cute way to keep that spark ALIVE!

Continue reading “Special Holiday Meals: A Hobbit Inspired Menu w/printable menu”

Our 2025-2026 Homeschool Curriculum, Schedule Plans, Resource Links, and Daily Routine – Tons of FREE resources!

It’s that time of year again for us… time to get the next school year planned out. We technically finished up our 2024-2025 school year before Easter but I’ve been busy with the garden and such so I am just now getting around to making our new schedule.

It is always SO TEMPTING to take a few months off to just focus on this house but I know from past experience that this doesn’t go well and that it takes FOREVER to get a couple of the kids back into the school routine. You can read more about last year’s curriculum and routines HERE.

Having a little extra wiggle room in our schedule means that we can take off more time around the holidays and I can take a week off for new grandbabies too! We also love taking the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas to just reflect on the reason for the season and it gives us time to do fun things with the family too.

Last year we switched to more of a Charlotte Mason-style approach and it was GREAT for the most part. We still have a couple of kids who just hate anything to do with math so that’s been a little challenging but we’re making progress. We’ve also really enjoyed using some of the FREE courses with Under the Home Homeschool.

A couple of the kiddos went with one of their big sisters and husband for the weekend so the house was surprisingly quiet… I used the time to sit down and get our new year planned out and organized. We will have an ‘official’ kindergartner this year too… sobbing quietly to myself… that means a little extra planning to include her but she already sits with us during school so it shouldn’t be too much of a transition.

Shyanne’s journey has been miraculous and to see her doing so many things that we were told she’d never do has been such a blessing in so many ways!

FREE Homeschool Planning Scratchpad

Continue reading “Our 2025-2026 Homeschool Curriculum, Schedule Plans, Resource Links, and Daily Routine – Tons of FREE resources!”

DIY Advent Games: Engage Kids This Holiday Season

Hey, it’s me again…

After I made the DIY Bingo cards I decided to go ahead and finish crossing off some more things on my To-Do List… some of them have been on that list forever as I only pull my Polar Express folder out once a year.

We have a pile of fun games that you can play at your next Christmas get-together or you can use them anytime during this Advent/Christmas Season. Many of these can be used even without printing out this packet, if you are unable to do so.

We will be using a lot of these during our next Polar Express party as well as some outside games like Corn Hole and Washer Toss, weather permitting. The kids are super excited and I’m so happy that they look so nice. I hope someone else might find these helpful.

God Bless!