Garden Thief

If you hang around our homestead for any amount of time and notice any produce from the garden missing, you need to look no further than the furry garden thief!  Our one year old Aussie (Australian Shepherd) Ruby just loves to steal from my garden pickings.  Especially when cucumbers are involved.  She has enjoyed many throughout our garden season this year.  I try to keep them from her but I always seem to get distracted and she is quick to grab them from my bag or bucket that I am harvesting from.

She's a little (big) stinker but we love her so much.  It's my first Aussie we have ever owned and I must say that I am hooked.  She has such an awesome personalitly and keeps us on our toes for sure.

What silly creatures do you have lurking on  your property/homestead?

My Boys

Percival, Kristoff, and Olaf

These are my boys.  They currently insist on being handfed a little bit every morning when I feed.  It's our routine.  I love my roosters.  I am so sad when I have to rehome or cull.  I can't NOT get attached to them, I just can't.  I've tried, LOL.  When you take the time to raise them, you just get so acquainted with them.  They have such cute and funny personalities.  Much like little boys and girls, cockerels and pullets have their own little quirkiness.

From left to right are Percival (Percy), Kristoff, and Olaf.  They were hatched by one of my hens about 3 months ago.  They are the offspring of my hens and my head rooster, Cedric.  I will miss them if I am not able to keep them. We have plans right now to try to make it work, but we just have too many roosters!

I am hoping to put Kristoff with Cedric in a separate pen we are working on. I also have at least one silkie rooster that I will try to put with Percival in another pen.  I have another rooster separated right now, Sweet Pea, who is also one of Cedric's offsprings from last year.  He was my buddy rooster that I now intend to put as head of my main flock. I am hoping to put him and Olaf together, but not sure if that will work.  The longer it takes to prepare these other pens and move the roosters around the less likely I will be able to match them up.  If the roosters are younger it is easier for them to be submissive to a head rooster.

To add to my dilemma, I have 3 more babies another hen is raising that are supposed to be olive eggers of which I think 2 might be roosters.  Now what?  Time will tell.  I will keep you updated.  What's going on in your barnyard and/or coop?

Phonics Museum App REVIEW

The Phonics Museum App by Veritas Press was just what we needed to begin our school year so when we had the opportunity to review it I was happy, happy, happy!  You can download the Phonics Museum App from iTunes.  The subscription (good for up to 3 kids) is available for $9.99 per month or yearly for $98.99.  The app is recommended for ages 3-7 (iTunes states 5 and under).  It teaches phonics, reading, and writing.  My four, almost five year old just loves this app.


Little Bug already knows quite a bit but doesn't read yet.  She has known her ABCs and letter sounds for a while now, but the app is engaging and fun and she has no problem reviewing what she knows.  There is so much going on in each lesson it keeps her busy enough to not be bored with it.

Tapping to enter into her lesson

Enjoying her engaging lesson

This app is for anyone wanting to learn to read early. We were asked to use it at least 3 times per week.  Little Bug has had no problem using it almost every day!  She LOVES this app, and she is learning more!  She does have difficulty hearing some of her sounds and this is giving her great practice. She has no problems moving through the menus and following the directions of what to do next.

Once you download the app and get signed in for the first time you meet Percival, the knight in shining armor.  You will see Percival throughout the program as you advance through the levels.  Percival along with Miss Biddle are your two main characters besides your avatar you create.  In the lobby of the museum you can go to the game room, the trophy room (to see all the levels you have completed and passed), or use the elevator to continue your lessons.

I really like that you cannot go to the next lesson until you complete the lesson you are on.  It does let you go back to previous lessons so that is a minor issue with my little.  If I don't watch her she goes back to old lessons instead of moving forward.  She doesn't do this on purpose (she is currently four years old), she just gets click happy.  Every now and then she does lock the program up because she gets too click happy but simply exiting the program and starting it again gets you back on track. There are SO MANY activities including letter sound matches, beginning letter sounds, upper and lower case recognition, and tracing letters with your finger.

In addition to the games and activities they also have wonderful catchy tunes to teach concepts.  Music is such a wonderful way to learn things.  Their take on the ABC song is lots of fun.  I also really like the "phonics" song.


There are 10 levels and she is still on level 2.  Level one has 15 activities and she learned 3 letters and phonic sounds (A, M, B).  Level two has 16 activities and the letter and phonic sounds for P, T, D, N, and G are introduced.  I'm pretty sure she is not any further because she got stuck and lost in level one and I didn't catch it!  Now that I am aware of that we are advancing well and I am so excited to see when she will start some reading.  Some say the levels are not challenging enough but I also heard that a call to customer service enabled them to advance to a higher level.  Little Bug already knows her ABCs really well and her letter sounds, but like I said, she is very engaged and not bored with this product.  I am going to just let her advance through the game and know that if there are any gaps they will be filled in by going through this program.


Since you cannot proceed ahead of your current level you are working on I cannot see the upper levels.  I am bummed that I didn't catch her error sooner.  I will be so excited to see how this will help her read.  She is definitely one who has to ability to be an early reader so I am confident this will get her there.

I can definitely say that we highly recommend this program.  The level that it keeps her engaged at is tremendous.  Why wouldn't you want to have and use a program that not only teaches your child well, but that they enjoy so much?  "School" remains a fun activity for her and I say that is a WIN!  I really wish this were also available for our Kindle Fire.  We will definitely use this program to completion this year.  It is part of her current curriculum.  I cannot thank Veritas Press enough for creating the Phonics Museum App and allowing us to review it.


You can connect with Veritas Press on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER
Please be sure to connect with the other reviewers on this wonderful app.  It will be well worth your time to check it out and consider it as part of your fall curriculum.