Pear Sauce

Joshua will be the envy of all babies when he gets his first taste of these sweet pears. I ran to Aldi's tonight for some eggs, $.49/dz, and milk, $2.39/gal, and found that they had pears at $.56/pound. The next best deal I had found was for $.98/lb so this was a great deal. I cooked the first half and will leave the other half for the family to eat whole. I cooked the peeled, sliced pears down until soft and then I removed them from the heat and went at them with my immersion hand mixer. I loaded up all the mini muffin and muffin silicone pans and froze them solid. I find it is easier to fathom making his baby food if I tackle the foods one at a time.

I imagine he will be ready to eat these new foods in the next month or so. He is 4 and half months old now and loving his rice cereal. He doesn't eat it every day yet, but does enjoy it when he gets it. I usually hold out on solid foods longer but he seemed to need something more to hold him out all night long.

A Family Favorite Snack.... Dill Tidbits

One of my family's favorite savory snacks is Dill Tidbits. I buy my oyster crackers at Aldi's for $.99/large bag and use the spices out of my pantry. Here's the recipe:

Dill Tidbits

• 1 package oyster crackers



• 3/4 salad oil



• 1 TBS powdered ranch dressing mix



• 1/2 tsp dill weed



• 1/2 tsp lemon pepper



• 1/2 tsp oregano
  

Mix all the spices and the oil in a bowl, then pour over the crackers in your storage container. Stir well, snack on a few as you make them and then let the rest set up overnight. the oil gets absorbed into the crackers and taste delicious! I usually make enough to fill a large ice cream bucket and it will last us a few days. They're yummy by themselves or toss them into a soup or salad.

Apple Puree, otherwise known as baby food

Out of my bounty of apples, I made a huge batch of smooth textured applesauce for Joshua. The peeled and cored apples spent the afternoon in my crock pot before I whizzed them with the immersion hand mixer, a clever little gadget that I use quite frequently. A few weeks ago, I bought 2 new ice cube trays for about a dollar each intending to use them exclusively for bulk baby food making. It didn't occur to me until I went under the cabinet to pull them out, that my red silicone mini muffin and regular muffin "pans" would work just as well if not better. I was right, I filled the mini muffin sections full and the regular muffin spaces about a 1/3 of the way full and after they were frozen they popped right out. The ice cube trays were easy but the silicone ones held more frozen food and popped out much easier.

My goal with baby feeding is to make as much as I can homemade, without making it my god. So, I make the foods that are simple, like pumpkin and squash puree, or apple and pear sauce, and buy some foods in jars for my convenience. I found a great deal at Bi-Lo last week on baby food, I combined coupons with the sales and then the store issued their own rebate of sorts. I ended up buying 20 jars and 4 boxes of baby cereal.

Next up on my list of baby puree is to buy some pears and make pear sauce and then tackle some pumpkins and squash. What else do you think is easy to make for a baby's consumption and wholesome, because I'm not pureeing chicken nuggets? :)

(I have enough space available in the deep freeze to use this rubbermaid tub, but it would be just as fine in a freezer ziploc bag.)

United States Unit Study

I was thinking the other day that it would probably be wise to teach my kids about their country, the USA, and make sure they could recognize it on a globe and find their home state. I sat down and mapped out what topics I wanted to go over with them and then organized those topics in groups. The only way this week is going to work, is if I write everything down, because I have no short term memory, and get my supplies set up before I need them.

• We began day 1 with an overview of the Genesis account of creation, specifically day 4. I pulled up a scaled model of the Solar System, by NASA, and we read the names of all the planets God made. Using software on my computer I printed out clip art of all 8 planets, their names and the sun. We trimmed aluminum foil into arcs and then glued the planets on each arc. I put out the letters to create the title, "Solar System", and had the kids unscramble and stick the foam letters to the bottom.




• Next up was simple experiment to show how the sun casts light onto only one side of the world at a time. It helps that we have family on the other side of the world making this concept easily grasped. We went into a dark closet with the globe and a bendable desk lamp. I aimed the light on one side and explained how that was day and the other side was experiencing night. That led to conversations about the equator and how any areas near the equator are warmer than those areas farther from the equator. We talked about how it is really an imaginary line, not a physical landmark.



• Once they could identify the planet Earth, we moved in a little closer and studied the names and locations of the oceans and continents. They completed a cut and paste style worksheet and then the big boys filled in a worksheet with the same information. We constantly referred to the globe and many library books to get the information we needed.





• After looking over the whole globe we narrowed our studies to the United States of America. We discussed how there are 50 states but 2 states are not part of the mainland. I found a resource that broke the US into 7 geographic regions. They created a color coded map of the US and the 7 regions. The boys created a key for their map too. We finished that activity by hot gluing a star to the capital of the USA, Washington D. C..







• Since everyone still had energy and excitement, we crafted our own US flag. The three big kids used strips of red card stock and adhered them to a large white piece of card stock. They had to really study the flag to see where the stripes lined up and how the stars were aligned. We used hot glue to adhere the foil style stars to the blue section. They had to really focus on details and they learned how to lay out a row before they glued it down. :) Lily, the 4 yo, colored in a flag activity in a color by number style. Then she sorted the stars by color and worked a US state puzzle.







• The next day they played several US states online games. They began using the Tutorial level and moved up to the Intermediate level. I should have polled them before we began this study to see how many states they could name, but if I guessed I would say they knew 10-15 states. Now they are able to name 2/3rds at least. Sam was able to correctly place the states on a map with 100% accuracy by the end of the the day.


• I had planned on doing a paper mache project with the big kids, but I just don't have the energy and they haven't shown the right amount of maturity this week. I can just tell when that kind of project will be a miserable experience for all of us. Maybe next time.


• Next up is a study about the major weather patterns in the US. We are going to do a tornado simulation using 2 2 liter bottles and some duct tape. Then we have several books on hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards for them peruse.


• What unit study is complete without a food section? :) I bought whipping cream for us to make butter with and I found a recipe for "fry bread", a Native American recipe and I have a pot roast in the crock pot for dinner. This will follow our short talk about the pioneers in the 1800s, the ones who helped settle the Western United States.



• We will also learn about native wildlife and their habitats. I checked several books out for us to read on this subject area. I want them to think pelican or manatee and automatically think, Florida, etc. Along those same lines I am going to introduce the major physical features of the US, like the Rockies and the Mississippi River. We'll probably label a map and color code it, but if I had the time, energy and fewer preschoolers, we'd make a salt relief map.
• Our finale of the week will be a sugar cookie globe activity. We'll make round sugar cookies, made from a mix I bought on sale and with a coupon :), and then add food coloring to vanilla frosting. Everyone is looking forward to this craft. :)
  

I'm back!!!!

We finally came to the conclusion that my health was being sacrificed for some late night nursing snacks by Joshua and put his crib in a room where I can't hear him. Yes, he did the "cry it out" all by himself. Interestingly enough, he survived and I slept like a baby should. :)
I am up to 3 nights of 8 hours on continuous sleep. I now wake up tired, like I should, and not in that heightened state of alertness I was in. It was so frustrating to be so tired I couldn't sleep. It was as though my body was choosing to not sleep deeply because Joshua was going to be awake soon anyway.
It has been a rough 4 months. My health has truly suffered, both physically and emotionally from the sleep deprivation. All I can say is that I am grateful that my first 5 kids slept great because if Joshua was first, he might also have been the last! ;)
After my first night's rest, I felt creative enough to plan a week's worth of studies on the United States. This is our "off" week where we drop the basics and play and learn in a different manner. It might be a little unschooling, a little unit studies, or some field trips. I chose this week to be a fabulous unit study. I planned out as many details as I could think of, picked up over 60 books, sorted through our craft supplies, and bought a few extra puzzles and fun items.

Some Ups and Downs

This past week was full of fun and lots of interrupted sleep. Here's my bullet list of interesting facts from this week.

• I bought 2 bushels of apples at the apple orchard, one of our field trips this week.
• I have processed one bushel so far and came out with both apple butter and apple sauce.
• I remembered that I love apple butter on hot biscuits.
• Joshua is officially 4 months old and manipulating me into feeding him several times at night. He prefers to snuggle up to me and nurse sweetly than be in his cold crib across the room.
• Tonight Joshua gets the boot from our room because I am going to lose my mind if I don't get more sleep. We're moving his crib upstairs to his little room and he will have to figure out how to sleep all by himself. Pray that he doesn't wake anyone else up and that he learns quickly how to sleep through the night and not nurse all night long.
• Lily, the 4 yo, loves carrying "her" baby around the house. Trying to argue with her is impossible, even though I have the stretch marks to prove I am the mother. :) She is the only one who doesn't shriek when he spits up on her. She will be a mother to many when she grows up.
• Austin is back on track with his meds. It is such a joy to see him enjoy life and not look like he is carrying the burden of life on his shoulders.
• Austin passed his standardized test with an above average score. I am so proud of him! He has to work the hardest of all of our kids and his diligence this year is paying off. He was excited to see his scores too.
• The boys finished Upwards football this weekend with their first win of the season. Both of our boys helped make that a reality. I'm happy to see our Saturday mornings become family mornings, not cold, wet mornings on a ball field.
• Rachel was moved out of her little room, from a toddler bed, into the big girls room last week. She is still in transition and needing lots of reminders to stay in her bed. She has been keeping Lily and Katie up until 10pm some nights, playing and talking. I am so ready to have some quiet evenings again.
• John and I just finished season 5 of House from Netflix and are anxiously awaiting season 6. We heart House. :)
• I haven't slept through the night, or more than 4 hours at a stretch in 4 months with most night averaging 2-3 hours. I still feel like I am in a fog most days and struggle with some mental deficits. I have given up many activities I love, couponing, recycling, composting, sewing, crafting, blogging, just so I can focus on the true basics, feeding my family and teaching wisely.

Christine

I have been dabbling in some digital scrapping again

I had a creative moment last week and designed a page for the kids' yearbook. I don't force myself to create so it was a welcome relief to want to design something. I still feel like I am living in a fog and can not wait for the fog to clear. The good news is that my prayer life is strong. ;) All night long I pray and beseech the Lord to let the chld sleep just a little longer.

Life is Flying By

I keep thinking about this blog and how crafty it was this Spring. Who would have thought a mere 8 pound baby could change so much. :) Joshua is 3 and half months old and still NOT sleeping through the night. It's not entirely his fault though. He picked up a mild cold a while ago and his stuffy nose has woken him up several times throughout the night. I know it could be worse but he is still a grump sometimes. The other factor is my off and on again chocolate, thereby caffeine, consumption. Joshua can not handle the caffeine. His sleep is disjointed at night, with him waking evey 2 hours and he spits up excessively. So until I can get some sleep around here I will try and update in the short bullet style. :)

• John won two awards for two of his projects at work.
• I began a calorie counting experiment to see what I have been eating and how many calories I have been consuming. I learned so far that I consume on average about 1000 calories more than I need to. They have been slipping in as snacks and extra dinner portions which is probably the number one reason I still weigh what I did 2 months ago. My goal is stay within 1800-2200 calories per day while I am nursing Joshua.
• The boys are mid season in Upwards flag football. They aren't too crazy about it so John is pushing for "real" football next year.
• Austin's depression reared it's ugly, hideous head and needed his medication increased. Our family has a strong family history of depression that he has unfortunately inherited. We are praising the Lord for help in getting his chemical imbalance back in check so he can continue to love life and not hate life.
• Austin is wrapping up his 4th grade school year with the standardized test, CAT. We take these tests for our own knowledge just to make sure we are getting the basics covered. It also helps the kids see some closure from one year to the next.
• Katie is flying through her math lifepacs. She began first grade 9 weeks ago and is already on the 6th lifepac out of 10. She is rapidly absorbing the information and able to retain all that she is learning. I keep waiting for her to slow down but she loves it and is successful. Her reading is another story, perfectly on target for a beginning first grader. I can't wait until her reading takes off, either this year or the next.
• Lily is our child that has always been kind of passive and easy going. That is until her mothering instincts came to light. She is the biggest, baddest mother bear with Joshua you have ever seen. She will fight and kick and scream to hold him and can't stand for anyone else to hold him. We have never seen such passion in her. She will stand her ground that Joshua is her baby and her baby alone. It will be funny one of these days. :)
• Rachel. What can I say about my little spitfire who was kicked out of her baby position 3 months ago. She was completely potty trained for 6 weeks before Joshua was born then a mere week after he was born she completely reverted and was back in diapers 100% of the time. It was extremely frustrating and still is. She understands completely but just doesn't feel like wearing her panties right now. She is still as precocious in all other areas. For the last few weeks, I sat down with her and showed her how to "build" a letter using the Handwriting Without Tears capital letter blocks. We have progressed to the point that, without review, I can hand her the pieces for the A and say build it and she does. We have worked up to E that way. She amazes me with her memory and cognitive skills. Lily can only do one more letter than that and she is 4 and a half. :) It has been easier on me to work with Lily and Rachel at the same time.
• My grandma is still disintegrating in front of our eyes. She has very few communication skills and her cognitive abilites are fading. Just this past Sunday, I went to pick her up from her Sunday School class only to find out she had slipped out without anyone knowing. It's a big deal for that to happen, because she is the equivalent of a 2 year old most days. She was missing for about 15 minutes. I was in absolute panic mode. I kept thinking that she was going to wander into the street or get even more lost. When we found her she had no concept of what had happened. She just took my hand and we walked on like nothing had happened.

This may be my best cooking day yet

I have been struggling with ideas for dinner meals these last few weeks. I have the energy to cook, just no inspiration on what to cook. I know we have a side of beef coming next week and wanted to prepare some beef alternatives. Next I'll research some beef recipes so we can find creative ways to consume 250lbs of beef. :) For today though, I enlisted the help of the big kids for meal ideas and convinced John to help me for half a day today. I did my grocery shopping the day before, including buying more disposbale pans at Sam's Club, and even started the pork roast in the crock pot to cook overnight. I didn't calculate the exact cost for making these meals, but I guess, based on my reciepts and what I used out of the pantry, that I spent around $200. I made 21 meals, about 10 of which will absolutely leave me with leftovers enough for another meal. So for 31 meals, that breaks down to a little more than $6 a meal or less than $1 per person per meal. I' m okay with those figures. ;) Some of the meals I will add rice or potatoes to the meal, and a veggie or maybe a salad. That will increase the cost per meal, but even if the meal ends up costing about $10 per meal including veggies and dessert or a bread that is well within my comfort range. My plan is to incorporate these meals, the side of beef, and leftover nights and stretch them into 2 months of meals.

Disposable Pans and Freezer Gallon Bags are a must.

Here's my list of meals:

1. Swiss Chicken x2


2. Poppyseed Chicken x3


3. Chicken Alfredo with Spiral Pasta x2


4. Tortellini and Chicken Alfredo x2


5. Chicken and Wild Rice x2


6. Honey Chicken x2


7. BBQ Chicken x2


8. Crispy Chicken x1


9. Chicken Parmesan x2


10. Kalua Pork x3
    

Total # of Meals: 21

My beloved <3

First thing this morning, John shredded the pork roast and then divided it into 3 meal sized portions. This then went into the marked freezer baggies. I put 3 pans of chicken breasts in the oven and then filled the crock pot and my dutch oven full of more chicken.

Baking Chicken

Using some of the raw chicken I made 4 bags full of dump recipes, two Honey Chicken and two of BBQ Chicken. Right off the bat we had 5 meals in the freezer.

All the ingrediants laid out for my dump recipes.

Chicken Paremsan before I covered it with foil.

For the Chicken Parmesan, I simply took the breaded chicken patties I bought and placed them in the pans, covered them with tomato sauce, doctored up with extra parsley and garlic powder, and lots of mozzarella cheese. Two more meals done.

I had 4 pasta and chicken meals so I cooked the pasta for a short amount of time so they were al dente. Then, I poured jarred alfredo sauce over the pasta and added a little milk and mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Once the chicken was cooked and tender we chopped it into bite sized pieces and added some to every pan.

I used my rice cooker to cook the 6 boxes of Zataran's Wild Rice Mix for the Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole. I had to do it in two batches but it was super easy to do and cleaned up easier than in a regualr pot. Speaking of pots, we washed out the bowls and serving spoons as we went along so we could keep using them. At the end of the afternoon we had very few items even needing to be washed.

The Crispy Chicken was the most labor intensive. I only had enough raw chicken to make one batch of this recipe but it is one of our new favorites. You have to dredge the chicken in melted butter and then toss in a bowl with crushed rice crispies, cheddar cheese and spices.

For the Swiss Chicken, I mixed cooking white wine and cream of chicken soup, poured that over raw chicken breasts and topped it all with slices of swiss cheese. When we bake it I'll add a layer of stove top stuffing and some melted butter. Yum!

Most of the recipes I have mentioned before and can be found somewhere on this page. :)

I told you we had rain

My cute flood shoes. :)

I wasn't kidding the other day when I mentioned I was a little tired of the rain. The "creek", it sounds little but don't let the word fool you, in our area reached levels of 28+ feet, 10 feet ABOVE flood level. It flooded everything everywhere. Thankfully, our home sits up high on a sometimes annoying, and yet comforting, hill. My mom's house and farm were not so lucky. They live in an area that is designated as a 100 year flood plain. This was their year apparently. John took off early from work Monday when he heard that the water was rising on my mom's property. They moved everything in the barn, think attic like storage area, and then began moving all the farm equipment. A friend of ours watched the three littlest ones while I took my three big kids and her big kid to help out. They had sporadic power outages so packed her deep freezer into coolers to put into our near empty freezer. ( Next week it will be full of our half of a grass fed cow!)

Thankfully the waters completely receded within 2 days. She was really blessed that the water never entered the house, but there is lots of clean up to take care of.


These pictures were taken at my mom's house the day before the creek crested at 28+ feet.


Take notice of the picnic table here, then scroll down for the last stage of the flood.


Notice the dock to the "pond", you can't even see the decking boards, only the top half of the railing. This dock usually goes from dry land out into the shallow pond.

Another shot of the pond and the dock.


The gate in front of the used to be garden.


The garden area.



Notice the tree under water?

We weren't the hardest working crew there that day though. John spotted a colony of red ants creating a floating bridge. There were several of these moundes on top of the water. What amazing creatures that God created. The Bible wasn't kidding when it reminded us "Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer;" Proverbs 30: 24-25














The last stage of the flood.



The same tire swing from earlier, now 6" under water.






The mailbox is a few inches from being under water. This also a view down the main road she lives on.

Something is Wrong Here

My oldest child, a son named Austin, made me a mother 10 years and 6 months ago. The problem lies in his feet. They are the same size as mine!

At his last weigh in at home and height measurement, he was 70 something pounds and 4' 10" tall. I think he is on the verge of exploding into his adult sized body. YIKES!! I don't know if I am ready for this. We haven't even had "the talk" with him yet. Neither he nor Sam, who are pretty open with us still, have had many more questions outside of how does the baby get out of mommy. John is working his nerve up to talk with the boys about how their bodies are going to change and what to expect.
I know when the time comes for Katie and the girls' talk I plan on having lots of smaller conversations and then we will celebrate with a weekend away together. I actually look forward to talks with my girls about the way they will change and how they might feel. I find that my body image and my confidence in myself is so much stronger than it was even 10 years ago. I hope to instill that confidence in the girls too. I already encourage modesty in the clothes they wear and to go to a private room to change clothes.
The boys though, I have no idea what to do with them. We are still training them to be obedient the first time and respond respectively. Child rearing is definitely a work in progress.
Any tips on helping a preteen boy emerge into the man God wants him to be?

Ringlets

Katie

On my last entry, can you tell I'm gettinng back into the swing of things around here :), I mentioned how I spent 45 minutes curling Katie's hair. That my friends is something I never thought I would have to do. It was something we actually denied doing for years. Katie had the silkiest, smoothest, curliest ringlets that rivaled Shirly Temple! They just bobbed up and down as she walked. All we had to do was dampen her hair, pick it out and then scrunch them up with our hands. And then she turned 5. Lily is looking she will follow the same path as well. She has had the same ringlets and now as she edges clower to 5 they are beginning to fade into waves.

Lily

Lily @ 4 and a 1/4 years old

A Sunday Afternoon Creative Outlet

The recent rains have forced us inside and made me do interesting things, such as declutter the attic, sort through all my winter clothes for the upcoming season, and tool around on Photoshop Elements. I love reading tutorials online on this program and trying new techniques out. I have primarily used PSE as a tool for creating my digital scrapbook pages but just recently began editing my pictures. I plan on updating my photo editing skills before we upgrade to a new camera.


Katie has been my most recent model. :) She is a beauty at 6 and a half, a side of her that usually hides under mosquito bites, dried up scabs and blue jean shorts. This weekend though, she and I had the pleasure of taking in our very first musical together, Cinderella. She sat awestruck the whole time, not chattering one tiny bit.



I was so grateful that the weather wasn't dark and dreary that evening and I was able to take some pictures of my own princess. She does have a tad of eye makeup on, a first for her and something we will reserve for very special events. :)

Can you tell that this picture is a black and white copy of the one above but with blue eyes?

Ps I think this qualifies for the Best Mommy Reward, you know, the one I give to myself, for going above and beyond the call of motherhood. Katie was treated to 45 minutes of hair curling, mommy talking time and then a princess musical without any brothers or sisters. She was all alone!

End of our first 5 weeks of homeschooling

Today marks the end of our first rotation schedule. Week 6 will be a play and plan week with some home organization thrown in for my sanity.

Overall, our schedule has been working. Austin, 4th/5th grade, has matured so much this year that I sit back in amazement. He looks over his excel schedule, that I printed out and put in his binder, every morning and dives right in. If I dare remind him to do his morning chores first he complains that he needs to work on his school work first, at 8am mind you. :) I never thought I would hear those self disciplined words come out of his mouth. His confidence in his reading has gotten so much better. He doesn't automatically assume he can't read a book based on the cover, he tries and will now read for pleasure. It's non fiction mostly, but his habits are not unlike my own. :)

Sam, 4th grade, has entered the age that I now dislike as much as the 2 year old stage. He is constantly trying to assert himself into a place of authority and hates coming out of our conversation as the kid. He constantly checks the boundaries and keeps me on my toes. Sam had the hardest time accepting the change from summer fun into fall learning. He had about 2 weeks of defiance that kept me on my knees. Thankfully he is doing much better now with only a few flare ups. I did change his main chore a little to accommodate his needs. He used to be in charge of sweeping floors every day, but now I changed that to clutter clean up on the floors every day and mom's right hand man. He has great delegation and leadership skills. He now helps in areas that I would/could do but can't get to right away. That includes everything from cooking pancakes while I nurse Joshua, getting something out of the attic, or helping the littles with something. Sam is a people person who has a servant's heart, a great combination.

Katie,1st grade, transitioned so smoothly, it's like she was always doing her learning, oh wait, she insisted on starting her handwriting book and her math this summer. She is the epitome of eager in our home. She is so motivated that in 5 weeks she has finished the first 4 Lifepacs for Math! That's supposed to be about 4 months worth of work. I have been spending more time with her on reading and phonics work so she can bring her reading level up to her math level. As always, she is a good helper around the house, the under appreciated helper. As a special treat for being just herself, she and I are going to see a musical called Cinderella. She has been tip toe dancing around the house all week long. Also, Katie accomplished a long awaited rite of passage, she rode her bike without training wheels. Here she is so proud of herself!

Lily, pre-k 4, is learning so fast too. We worked on letters, colors, shapes, days of the week, and cooking. She is the mother of all mothers to Joshua and she is the one I fuss at the most to leave him be. The one area she is having issues with is finding her place in our kid lineup. She isn't a big kid, would like to be one, and she isn't part of the baby group either.

Rachel, pre-k 2, is a pistol! I wish I could bottle her energy and tap into her brain power. Her cognitive thinking is so advanced she scares me. I wonder if I am teaching her what she needs to know and in the right order. Developmentally she is on the same level with Lily. She has been studying her letters, writing her letters, identifying shapes, memorizing nursery rhymes, and drawing people. Her latest fiasco was drawing the capital letter B on our hallway wall. So clever is she! She has amazing large motor skills and extremely good fine motor skills. She is able to draw a circle, smaller than a quarter, and then draw 2 smaller perfect circles inside the first one. Not scribbles I call circles, real, open circles. She will be a treat to teach and a pain when it comes to me remembering that God designed these children and not me. ;) I forget sometimes that I can't take credit for their genius nor blame myself for their struggles.

I love the complexity of God's creations in my home!