The Swimming Hole

One of the children's absolute favorite things to do is drive out of camp and to a special place along the river they call the Swimming Hole. It used to have a great rope to jump from but the rope has been taken down and the limbs cut off. It is a sad thing, but they can still jump out of the tree. The water is very deep except for a shallow place on the other side so Dad has to take the littlest ones over there to play. Here you see Dad trying to coax W into getting into the water. It is very cold and he was too scared to chance it. He did eventually get over there and they had a grand time skipping rocks.

Here is a picture of dsB in mid-dive. Even little R was brave enough to jump in from the tree. As you can see, this a shady part of the river and is a refreshing way to pass the heat of the day.

This is a picture of J with our Kerrfriend and camping neighbor Bill Oliver. He is a musician and an environmentalist who writes fun kids songs about the environment. We have loved listening to him for years and have enjoyed camping next to him this year. He happened to stop by for a few minutes while we were enjoying the river.

One of the great things about Kerrville is that many of the artists camp in the campgrounds and are just "regular people" with all of us at the festival. There are some pretty big names in the world of songwriting who hang out at the same campfires we like to visit late at night.

All pictures deleted to make room for more later.

On the weekend days, they have a concert just for the children for two hours. The artists always sing and involve the children. This is Billy Jonas, one of our favorites. He uses almost entirely recycled items to make his intruments. His philosophy is that we can all make music with whatever we have so he encourages the children to make their own music, which is exactly what happened that evening after his performance at our tent. Here are W and R with their own "banging and sanging" concert.

Fun and Games at Kerrville

Over the years, the Festival has upgraded everything, including their offerings for children. There is a sandbox at the main stage but for many years, there was nothing for children to do in the campground during the day. A few years ago, they built Kidsville, a nice shaded area with tables and a sandbox. They offer crafts, activities, and a break for kids who are hot and bored during the daytime. Above, W is playing in the sandbox. Below, dsB is playing chess with some other teens. He spends hours playing chess while there.
Back at the campsite, W was getting bored one morning. He had taken a fe of his small cars but he didn't have his car mats to roll them on. So, he and B used an extra small tarp and a Sharpie to create his very own custom car mat. This came in handy several times over the weekend.

Living at Kerrville

Here you can see the rest of our site. We have two 10 X 20 foot shelters. One is over the tent for extra shade and the other is our "living area" during the day. We have 5 cots in the tent and the guys have these way cool TentCots they picked up through scouting. They serve as both tent and cot at night and convert to lounge chair during the day, as you can see from dsB's in the back.

During a 3-yr period of unemployment we experienced from 2001-2004, I took comfort in the fact that if we lost our home, at least we had a place to live for 3 weeks of the year. Many years ago, the festival came upon hard times and they offered lifetime tickets as a way to raise quick cash. We bought two of those so we haven't had to worry about admission to the festival for about 10 yrs. Unfortunately, as the kids get older, they require tickets. 12 is the age cutoff so now we have two children who also need tickets. Last year we didn't all go at the same time due to a busy schedule but this year it was going to cost a pretty penny to take the whole family. When we got there, the guys were able to get on staff. This was such a blessing. They are on the maintenance crew and their main task this time was building benches and doing electrical wiring on the smaller theatre. They put in about 4 hours each day and then are free the rest of the time. I was a bit concerned about dsB being on staff and being exposed to kids and situations we might not approve of. But God took care of that. They work side by side, dsB learning many new skills and spending valuable time with his Dad. He is taking great pride in this responsibility since he is the only youth on the crew. Most of the teens work in the Smoothie booth or Kidsville, or on menial errands. He is earning quite a reputation around camp. And we are saving around $600 in tickets! God is good! Filed in homekeeping.

Welcome to Camp Stetsonville

Welcome to our camp. We are home for a couple of days for J to work and me to do laundry and get more food. We had a great time and I wanted to share many of the great pictures I got while there. This is the first year I've had a digital camera. I've always wanted to share our Kerrville experience with friends and family and now I can. We have been going to this our whole marriage, J a few years even before that. I want to share our campsite first. Remember this is a 16 year work in progress...so far. When we first started, J and I slept in the back of the pickup. Each year, we tried to add one piece of equipment. When the kids were babies, shade was the #1 priority, thus the shelters. A bigger tent, kitchen equipment, and the cots came along later, a bit at a time.

This is our kitchen area. The camp kitchen is a wonderful place to be able to prepare our meals and store our equipment. It has lots of hooks and shelves. We are able to keep paper towels, the lantern, a trash bag, etc. all at easy reach. The table is really two folding picnic tables placed end to end with a tablecloth over it all. That is lots of room for us all to eat and prep space as well. The black shelf was a scavenged item this year and I loved the extrat space it gave us. I don't know if we'll bring it home or not but I love having it to get stuff off the ground. The ants are a problem so we have to keep all food up off the ground.

I have lots to share but it's lunch time and also time to move the laundry. I'll share the rest of our site after lunch. My time away seems to have rectified my problems with Blogger's typing delay but it still doesn't like me to load lots of pictures in the same post. I'll share the living area next time :)

Going away for a while...

Today's the day we leave for camping. I have been running around all week like a chicken with my head cut off getting ready. J drove off about 30 minutes ago with the truck full to overflowing with camping gear. I'll take the kids to their last gymnastics class today and then head out with the personal gear and the last of the food. I am amazed at the amount of stuff it takes to have 7 people camp for this long a period of time. Water, food, towels, tables, food, tents, shelters, sunscreen, more food. I was asked to share our menu for camping so I'll do that when we return but right now I wanted to say goodbye for a while...to you...and to my air conditioning. It is so miserably hot out there, much of what we take is in an effort to stay cool. J has to work two days next week so we'll some back for a couple of days to refuel and wash clothes. I may check in then if I have time. Otherwise it will be June 12 th.c
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Orange Julius

Have you ever had one of those creamy orange treats in the mall? Are there still any of those stores left in malls? I remember them from my childhood and I recently found a recipe for creating them at home. I'll share it with you today. It's getting really hot here in Texas now and during the hot weather, we have almost daily smoothies. Our favorites are the classic strawberry- banana, pina colada, mock frappucino (I like mine almost better than Starbucks, and this Orange julius.

Orange Julius
6 oz. frozen OJ concentrate
1 cup water
1 cup milk
2-4T sugar ( I use one packet of Stevia instead)
1/4 tsp EACH vanilla and coconut extract

Blend in your blender until smooth. Add crushed ice to about the 6 cup line. Blend 1-2 minutes until very smooth. Serve with a straw! Filed in cooking.

Old Fashioned Correspondence

With the advent of email and cell phones with speed dial, an old fashioned art is dying out. It's that of letter-writing. Thanks to my friend Esther over at TitusTwo, I am reminded of the importance of this. How many times as a kid did you wonder if there was any mail for you that day? Were you hoping for a credit card statement, or maybe a flyer for carpet cleaning? I don't think so. You wanted a letter just for you, to let you know that someone was thinking of you. When I was at camp, I loved mail call. My mother would have to mail the letter on the weekend before I even went to make sure I got it while I was there, but there was something important about receiving word from home that you were missed.

I love to read old letters from famous (or not so famous) people to their loved ones. Those from the 19th century are beautiful. Letters from a soldier to his sweetheart, a president to his wife, a mother to her daughter. All are pieces of history. I don't think that anyone will consider anything in my email box to be a piece of history 50 or 100 years from now. I'm hoping that this blog will be that for me and my children, but I also know that technology changes, websites crash, and all of this could be vaporized 5 years from now. A letter lasts a very long time. In cleaning out my mother's posessions after her death, I found a bundle of letters that had been my grandmother's. Many of them were from her own mother, a woman I never had the pleasure of knowing. The insight I gained into my grandmother as a young woman was precious to me.

I have at times enjoyed writing long letters to family and friends to let them know what is going on in the family life here. I have noticed that my stationary of choice the last few years has been short note cards. That allows me to write less and be done quickly with the task. This does not allow me to savor the time and make it a labor of love. I have been convicted this week that I need to make this a priority, with a few specially chosen people, namely my grandmother in a nursing home. I always wrote her letters when I was a kid since we lived in another state and I loved writing. I need to do that more than ever now.

If you haven't written anything more than a shopping list lately, maybe there is someone in your life that would appreciate an encouraging letter. Find some pretty paper and a nice pen. Tell about your life, your hopes and dreams, some memories with that person. Use your best handwriting and take your time. This is a perfect project for a mom waiting at a kid's activity. When you get home, include a pretty sticker, some stamps, a couple of tea bags, or a bookmark. Then put a pretty stamp on the envelope and send your love missal out into the world.

Get the kids in on the act. I always try to get mine to write thank you notes after gifts but not much else. R's language curriculum this year scheduled times for her to write letters. Recently she decided she would like a penpal. We put out the request and she now has not one, but 3 penpals. She draws pictures, adds stickers, puts in a picture of her. She is really enjoying this. I need to encourage this with all of the children. We practice handwriting as a subject in our school when they are young. This is a perfect way to put that to use.

Letter writing is a dying art. Let's make it one that lives in our hearts and homes.

Early morning

It's early morning now and I am enjoying a few minutes of quiet before the children awake. J has gone for the day to a Scout training event. The day feels full of promise. I have the hum of the laundry room softly in the background. I have my homemade "venti mocha latte-decaf" here with me. I love the early morning. I usually exercise at this time but this morning I just wanted to be still and enjoy it. I'll walk later in the day while the kids are at a party at the park. And we'll probably swim for the first time this season this afternoon.

Yesterday I was able to cross a few more things off the to-do list I got to Walmart for supplies and the Dollar Store for canned food and a birthday present for the party this afternoon. We got him some water guns, 5 all told. That way he will have enough to share when my kids are over there :) This is the little boy across the street and they play several days a week together. I also found some pretty cool things at Walmart. The main reason I went was to get some 5 gallon water jugs to get in the freezer NOW> They are great to take frozen in the coolers and they thaw, keep the food cold, and provide drinking water all at the same time.

But I also found an umbrella for the camp chairs (important for the sun and my little ones who need maximum protection). I got a camp toaster and egg holder. I always get frustrated with the flimsy egg cartons in the cooler. I picked up a couple of plastic tablecloths and the clamps to keep them on, a new griddle for the camp stove, and some plates and bowls. We have a cook set but it only is service for 4 and we always either take turns eating or fill in with plastic or paper plates. Now we have plenty of real plates for everyone. And at the Dollar store I bought new flatware in a metal holder, perfect for camping. We usually take plastic and wash it over and over until the pieces break.

Then at 3:30 yesterday, the orthodontist's office called and wanted to reschedule that appointment I had just moved up earlier in the week. I let them know we could not do that so she asked when B got out of school and could she come this afternoon. We hopped in the car 10 minutes later and got that crossed off the list. Even better, it is right across the street from the park we meet at every Friday with our homeschool friends. Two birds--one stone. I love it. That frees up Monday morning.

And late last night I finished grading the last of the final exams. Today I need to average the grades and get those mailed out. I am anxious to get the science stuff done with so I can move on to planning our menus and gathering camping supplies.

Here is the after picture. Isn't that a sweet grin? She loves her new hairstyle and is still swinging it all over the place. I know that light and free feeling from a significant haircut. She also had the experience of a fancy salon cut. They treat her like a princess. She loves the shampoo the best. I was amazed at how many people were in getting highlights, I guess. And not one of them had hair as beautiful as hers. (Is it okay for a proud mommy to say such things? )

Locks of Love

I am trying to share some pictures of H's hair when she donated to Locks of Love yesterday. She did it last summer and it has grown back that fast! This is the before picture. We noticed after it was all done that her ends had gotten pretty sparse but since she wears it braided every day, we hadn't really been aware of it. Now it looks so beautiful and will be much better for camping and swimming this summer. Keeping her thick hair tangle-free is a full time job!

Five days and counting...

I decided to edit this list as the days go by to show how much I am getting done. Also because Blogger and I are not getting along and posts are taking forever to get done.Why reinvent the wheel?
-done-Arrange for someone to care for the dog
-done-take H to get her hair cut to donate to Locks of Love before the summer swim season begins
-done-change B’s orthodontist appt. which had been scheduled for the first part of our camping trip (oops!)
-done- Now I have to get her to the appt on Monday am
--gather all library materials and return
--find missing library tape in the boys’ room
-done-sign up for swim lessons in July
--order curriculum
-done-grade finals
--calculate averages for about 55 students
--email grades to families and umbrella organization
--enter new registrations for next year, new ones every day!
--sign up for times at the homeschool book fair, I’ll be presenting fun science demos
-done-mail check for Biology book I’m buying since 2 of my own will be in my class this fall
-done-pay credit card bill
-done-send graduation card to friend’s daughter and former student
-done-get gift for 6 yo Bday party this weekend
-done-card to couple at church in dire straits, sending a grocery gift card
-done-resend Mother’s Day card to stepmom since I put my own zip code on it---DUH!
-done-Dollar Store for cheap canned food for camping
--plan menus for 7 day camping
--shop and pack
-done-vacuum
--mop --get all laundry prepped and ready

Also, some new additions today at J's request--All done today 5/18
- deposit expense check at the bank
--drop off dead batteries to be tested and fixed/replaced
--drop off broken shoes to be repaired
--meet J for lunch at the Black Eyed Pea-yum and a nice time with J before we are crazy busy with camp preparations


Well, as you can see, I only accomplished a small portion of this list today. I’ll keep chipping away at it through the week. I’m overwhelmed just looking at it!

The Two Best Jobs

I have the two best jobs in the world. First of course, is being a Mom. Everyone who is one knows it has privileges and joys no other job can hold a candle to. But my next job is almost as great. I love being a teacher. And now I get to teach in the best settings, at home with my own children, and in my classes with other people's children who want to be there and really want to learn. Today was our last day of classes and I am feeling relief about the break but also enjoying the reward of all the wonderful goodbyes that are said over the summer. The sweetest note I got was from a 9 year old student in my elementary class. He wrote, "Mrs. S, Thanks soooooo much for teaching. This was the most funnest class I have ever been in." Wow! That is the most sweetest letter I have ever gotten from a student.

At the end of the day I drove away excited about the summer and the fun times we have planned as a family. We love long lazy days at the pool, long hours at the library and reading all afternoon.We camp for most of June at the Kerville Folk Festival. And this year, we go to DisneyWorld!! But I'm also full of ideas about how I want to do things in my classes next year, make things come alive for the students and yet be challenging enough that they really Learn! I am adding an Advanced Chemistry course next year so that will take time to develop. And the others could use some beefing up in the grading structure department. I need to make sure that if a student doesn't understand the math, he doesn't get an A in Chemistry. That isn't right.

Tonight I started my list of things I'll need to order for our own little school. If I order now, it will all be here by the time our camping is over and I am ready to dive into next year's planning. We only have a few more days to finish up this year before heading out next Wednesday to camp. And I have a mountain of final exams to grade. But this is an exciting time of change. We all need a change of pace once in a while. I don't think I could stand the daily grind of a regular office job. I love the ebb and flow of the school year. We get breaks when we need them, and are motivated to go again in a few months.

I also had a nice time in my Mommy role tonight. We played a very loud and exciting game of Apples to Apples. This is a fun party game for all ages that I took to my classes who finished testing early. I love to play games with my children but as they get older, they are just getting louder. I have trouble with that much auditory input and need a break once in a while but the fun is worth it.

What's for dinner: Tuna casserole- new recipe, yummy!, peas and carrots

What I'm hearing: The hermit crab crawling all over his tank and hitting the wall, children whispering when they are supposed to be going to sleep and it's after 10 o'clock!

What I'm reading: Oceans Apart by Karen Kingsbury, a new author I have just found.

Mother's Day

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~~Elizabeth Stone

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommys, young and older. After the afternoon nap, we had a lovely time. This afternoon, I told my teens that we would not be going to the youth activities and we would be spending the evening together. We made homemade pizzas, and watched Sky High. If you're looking for a cute family movie and liked the Incredibles, this might be for you. Dad surprised me with a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream cake with luscious strawberries and chocolate. It was so pretty, I hated to eat it.My thoughtful children gave me gifts according to their own abilities. B made a beautiful poncho for me. H who is the touchy feely one, gave me a massage...gorgeous! And my princess, R, gave me pale pink fingernail polish. I hear pale pink is the color of the season :) Like I keep up with that stuff! And the boys, well, they aren't into gifts so much. They are boys, you know.

I don't really have much preparation for classes tomorrow since I am only giving finals. I do have some grading to do but I'll go do that with dh. he is working with his mom tonight to get the webcam softaware running with her so we can have video conferencing with Grandma. We did that with him while he was out of the country last week and it was wonderful. Anyway, I am looking forward to finishing up classes for the summer and just be a mommy. I love what I do and it is so part time and fits our family well, but I do love the summer break. Lazy days at the pool with our friends...it doesn't get much better than that!

Bittersweet Tears

Beware; this is a long and emotional post. Today has been a most draining day. I knew it would be difficult but I thought I could get through it without crying. I have cried tears of pride, joy, sorrow, and regret. You see, not only is it Mother’s Day, but my oldest child was confirmed into the church today as well. There is something sweet about that. My oldest son was baptized on my 25th birthday and I have always loved that connection.

You see, in our church, we practice infant baptism as a symbol that the child is being brought into the love and protection of the church. Our church impresses on the congregation the fact that it is really a commitment on the part of the body of believers to help the family bring this child up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. We fully recognize that the child is not old enough to make that decision to follow Christ at that point. That’s where confirmation comes in. For an entire academic year, the church prepares these young people by helping them explore their own faith, as a separate entity from that of their parents. Hopefully, they will choose to follow Christ based on their own personal faith. They learn about the doctrines of the church, the history and authenticity of the Bible, the sacraments of baptism and communion. They have mission and service projects, which they work with alongside a mentor from within the church. They have interviews with the pastor. This is an 8 month long process which culminates in the youth professing their faith in front of the congregation and becoming a full fledged member of Christ’s holy church and this congregation of believers.

So, there I stood this morning with my dh and B’s mentor, all of us with our hands on B. The pastors also had their hands laid on as the senior pastor prayed over her. I was so glad I had taken my Kleenex up with me. I knew I’d need it. It has hit me hard this weekend that not only is she growing up so fast in front of my very eyes, but I still have so much I want to do with her, and only 4 short years to do it before she may very well be on her own. My girls are certainly welcome to live in our home until marriage, which I hope won’t be on her 18th birthday, but you never know. We have such a short time with our children. For so long, I have felt like the mother of many little ones and that I would be “mothering” forever. I rationalized that there would be time to do those special things with her when the littlest ones weren’t so demanding. While I still have many years of active in-house mothering, I only have 4 short years with this, my first-born. I want to send her out into the world strong in her faith, knowledgeable in the Word and the world, and prepared to bring up her own young family. That’s a huge undertaking! I’d better step up the pace.

The bittersweet part of this is that it was done on Mother’s Day when my thoughts naturally turned to my own mother, who died 2 years ago. I believe had she been alive still, she would have wanted to be at the service this morning watching her granddaughter being welcomed into the faith. She never missed a baptism, even the one held out of state. There were so many grandparents there. I know she is rejoicing from Heaven, but it’s not the same. I wanted my MOM! You would think it would get easier with time, but the pain I felt this morning was as sharp as the first Mother’s Day without her. I have many women in the church who offer to be surrogate mothers and grandmothers to us. That is a gift in and of itself. I love those women, but they are not my mom. They were not the ones I called when the children had their “firsts” because I knew she was the one person who cared as much as I did about their cute moments. The last conversation I had with my mom was during the saddest time in my life on a very sad day when I was feeling down and defeated. Not surprisingly, I felt better after our conversation. That’s what moms do. They love us, no matter what. They are our soft place to fall, even when we have a wonderful dh with broad, strong shoulders. Moms are there.

So, while I was so proud of B and her special day, I felt the emptiness of knowing that my mother should have been there with us. Next year, we will go through this process with dsB and I hope they won’t schedule them together like this. It took a 2-hour nap for me to recover from this morning.

Twofer Thursday...

You get a bonus today with two posts. That's because I got so much done, I just want to share. I love the freedom of Thursdays and always get so much done.

I started about 5:45 this morning helping J find his running shorts. Then I took off for my own run. I have been trying to incorporate some running in with my walks to build my endurance. Today I made it 1.1 miles! This is huge since when I started, I could only make it to the end of my street. Each time I run a bit longer until I think my lungs are going to burst, then I walk a bit, run some more, etc. My goal is the whole route, about 2.5 miles, in a steady run.

Then I came home for strength training, a quick bath and my Quiet Time. I made up a new batch of homemade laundry soap and began the first of 5 loads of laundry for the day. I started to hear kids banging around upstairs so I headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I tried a new recipe for a Buttermilk Spice Coffeecake since I needed to use up some buttermilk and just didn't want to mess with pancakes. They aren't difficult, just time consuming.

After breakfast we settled in to read Bible and Leon Garfield's Shakespeare Stories- Twelfth Night. I think this is our favorite Shakespeare to date. All of the kids laughed so hard as the plot thickened. We read extra long today since it was so good. Then W read to me from his Pathway reader, a sweet series published by the Amish. Today they were all excited because the horse, Bess, had a new colt. W reads those stories very well and enjoys them. We worked a little in his workbooks, doing a little sequencing, a bit of visual memory, and then he was done. I sent him off to watch Reading Between the Lions and worked on R's First Language Lessons. She is on lesson 195 of 200 so she is excited to be almost finished. Today we reviewed the many poems she has memorized over the last two years.

After that I moved on to H's math and her new language lesson book I picked up Tuesday night. She is memorizing a new poem and practicing the rules of capitalization. In her math, she is dividing decimals with long division. It is quite challenging. By now it is time to start lunch and check dsB's Algebra. He is graphing some pretty complicated equations and being lazy about plotting a sufficient number of points. I meet more resistance with this kid and his math!!

For lunch I made veggie shell pasta served over leftover couscous and called it "Shells in the Sand" thanks to Jennifer over at the Vegan Lunchbox. The kids loved it. I then headed out to check out the second church possibility for our academy next year. It was much smaller than the other one, but also about half the price....sigh...decisions can be so difficult.

I headed home to take the kids to the library. Sometimes I feel like I live at that library. Then home to clean up and do laundry. I've been piling it on my bed throughout the day to fold during rest time. Once that is all done, I rest a few minutes with a magazine from the library. I stay motivated in my eating and exercise habits by getting Fitness, Prevention, or Health magazine at the library.

Now it was time to start dinner and check email. J is doing a Scout training tonight so he won't be home for dinner. I made some quick fish, salad, and mac and cheese we got from Whole Foods Tuesday. It was pretty good. I fielded three business calls after dinner while I was trying to sweep and mop the floor. I used a homemade floor cleaner (really just vinegar and water with a few drops of lavender essential oil for a fresh scent.) The house smells fresh and clean now. I am ready to read to the kiddos and put them to bed. I may try to darn a sock J just bought that has a hole in the ankle already. It's a new skill for me, but it is just a tiny whole. I think I can do it. And since the kitchen floor is clean, I should vacuum. I find it very difficult to keep the floors clean around here. People talk about the laundry a large family generates, but no one ever mentions the floor mess. I really should sweep after every meal, but I don't :(

I love going and doing...but even more I love being at home. There is so much to keep me busy here I could be content to go out only once a week. Someday maybe I'll try that.

Roasted Garlic, Butternut Squash, and Crab soup

I have a recipe for you tonight. This is what John and I had for supper last night while the kids had salad. This is too refined for their tastes, I guess. This is my new favorite soup of the year...

Roasted Garlic and Butternut squash soup with crab

large butternut squash
head of garlic
onions
chicken broth, about 3 cups
cream or half and half
crab meat, any kind, small pieces, (don't use imitation crab...yuck! I tried it)


Cut the top (pointy parts) off of a whole head of garlic. That is all the little cloves together, don't peel, just cut off the tops (about 1/4 inch). Drizzle olive oil over the cut edges and wrap in foil. Also cut a large butternut squash in half and scrape out the seeds. i peel the squash with a vegetable peeler before cooking. Roast the squash and the wrapped garlic in a 350 oven for 45 minutes.

When the roasted veges are done, heat a tiny bit of olive oil in a stockpot and slowly cook about 1/4 onions until soft and well done. Add cut up squash and squeeze out cloves of garlic from the peel. Add about 3 cups chicken broth . Add tiny bit (1/4-1/2 tsp )salt and heat through. Use an immersion blender to puree thoroughly or put in small batches into the blender. You want a smooth dark yellow puree here. Then add crab meat ( I use an 8 oz. tub of claw meat from the fish section of the store.) Heat through again. Add 1-1/2 cups cream or half and half. heat just until hot. Don't boil. Your soup is ready! Enjoy with hot bread and a spinach salad for a powerful vitamin punch.

I love book sales!

I had such a good time last night at the book sale. I took B with me and we spent an hour going from table to table looking at what other homeschool families were ready to part with. Here is a partial list of the treasures we came home with:

--Grammar and diagramming curriculum for H at about 1/3 the price of new, all in perfect condition.
--new Betsy Tacy books, a sweet series we have loved for years.
--a hardback reader I had been looking for for W called Ready, Set, Read
--a full audio collection of the Chronicles of books! for $10! This is a real find.

But my favorite is....
---the first five episodes of the original Little House on the Prairie videos -our family loves Little House!!! We often refer to "Laura" around here as if she was an old friend.One of my goals is to get to her homestead in MO.

This thing between Blogger and my computer is driving me crazy. I type paragraphs and paragraphs and then...wait.....until....about 30 seconds later......it all appears at once. So, I'll go back to work writing finals. Only one more week of Science classes!

Forgiveness revisited...and other mish mash

It occurred to me last night that I was once again asking forgivenss, this time of the county clerk. But I called at 8 am this morning and explained what had happened. She just said to mail the form and I would be fine! I feel so relieved.

So, today I need to stop by a new church that is a possibility for our new venture. One place where i teach is closing down so the math teacher and I are starting a new group. This one is literally 5 minutes from my house and doesn't even require me to drive on a highway to get there. I hope this one works out.

Then tonight after teaching, there is the local used book sale so I will trade kids with Dad at a designated meeting place a go on the the sale while the family goes to soccer practice. Last Saturday was to be the final game but it got rained out so it will be this week.

Lastly, for those of you who are homeschoolers and love G.A. Henty, there is a terrific deal over at the Homeschoolestore. They are offering free download of his With Lee in Virginia, a tale of the Civil War. Here is the link: http://www.homeschoolestore.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=781 This is a $25 value. We listened to In Freedom's Cause (about William Wallace) this year and it was fabulous, if a bit wordy.

My bklogging is having about a 30 second delay from my typing to it showing up so please forgive errors and I will cut this short. It is most frustrating. Have a pleasant Tusday!

Oops!

You know that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach you get when you know you have really messed up? Well, I've got it tonight. About two weeks ago I got a jury summons. I planned to file for the exemption based on small children that need me during the day. Well, I put it in my pile on the counter and...well, I think you know the rest. The summons date was for today! I can't believe I forgot it. I'll have to call in the morning and see when they want to haul me off to jail. I hate that feeling of being in trouble. It is too reminiscent of having to take a bad report card home to Mom and Dad. Hopefully they will take mercy on a frazzled mom of many. If not, I'm in trobule now!

My Mailbox Runneth Over

It's that time of year again. At Christmas time, we all get loads of gift catalogs. But this time of the year is the time for...curriculum catalogs. Every homeschooler knows the drill. Starting about April 1, there are at least 6-8 catalogs in my mailbox each week, each one glossier and full of more educational treasures than the one before. Sonlight, Timberdoodle, Home Science Tools, and some new friend, the Queens have all graced my mailbox recently.

I am trying to decide on so many things. I need Grammar for the younger girls, math for W, Logic for at least the older ones, and a few things for ....HIGH SCHOOL for B. Yes, my oldest child will be entering high school this fall. I remember thinking we would take it one year at a time in the early years and eventually thought I'd carry it all the way through, but this is reality. I need to make a plan!

This is even more fun than Christmas. Each time a new catalog comes, I pore over all the new offerings, and old friends. I remember things that have worked for us...and things that haven't. Mostly I daydream about all the wonderful things I want to teach my children. It is not uncommon to hear a teacher say that the fun part is the dreaming and the planning. Even if we don't get it all done...(and who ever does?) it is worth it to make the plan, however detailed your plan is.

So as I wrap up this year, finishing one subject per week right now, I am also looking forward to starting the whole process over again. The local used book fair is this Tuesday night so that is where I'll start. I need a concrete wish list ready by then so I know what I need and can avoid too many impulse purchases.

A Pleasing Aroma

My youngest child walked in the door yesterday morning from playing outside. He yelled, "Mom, we have to bake bread! I've found wheat." Now, I knew pretty well that there was no wheat growing in our back yard but I decided to humor him. I listened as he told me what we needed to bake bread, according to his next oldest sister. We needed corn starch, eggs, and butter, plus the "wheat" he had found. It would be just like the Little Red Hen.

I realized that it had been a very long time since I had made homemade bread, perhaps the last time being a year ago when my Dad and his new bride asked me to bake a communion loaf for their wedding. My older children remember when I baked bread at least once a week, if not more to fill our hungry bellies at lunch time. But times are different and my younger two didn't even have a clue how this was done or what ingredients went in it. Since it was Thursday and I did not plan to leave the house, I decided to bake bread with W. So after lunch we pulled out Daddy's giant popcorn bowl which doubles as my bread bowl. I found my battered and stained recipe which makes 3 loaves of bread, and we started to have some fun.

What I really love about this recipe is that it doesn't need to be kneaded; a simple minute of pounding with the wooden spoon is supposed to do the trick. I do knead a little bit just to smooth it out when shaping, but not much. And the kids always love to beat it with the spoon.
We shaped the loaves and set them to rise in the oven which was still warm from lunchtime.


I must have gotten distracted by the read aloud time while they were rising, since they rose a little too long.



Nothing fills the house with a better aroma than fresh bread baking.


By 3 PM, we were all ready for a snack. A fresh slab of homemade bread with butter hit the spot. This is all that was left of loaf number one:


It's a good thing it makes 3 loaves. The tops sunk and the crumb is a little too light since it over-rose. I like a very dense homemade bread, like my grandmothers used to make. But even so, homemade bread gone wrong almost always tastes better than the freshest storebought bread. It makes the best French toast. Filed in cooking.

Forgiveness

14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matt. 6:14,15


I think God is speaking to me this week. I have had to ask for forgiveness three times this week. I had a misunderstanding in my billing and asked for payment from a family who had paid in full a while ago. Then I stuck my foot in my mouth when a friend wanted to give a gift to my child that I didn't want her to have. Unfortunately, the gift I was thinking of wasn't the intended gift. And just this morning, I overreacted to something my dh said, simply because I was in a different frame of mind. I should have kept my opinion to myself.

So, three times in one week I found myself issuing the words, "Please forgive me". Then this morning as the children and I were reading our Bible lesson, we read the Sermon on the Mount. As I read the words of Jesus about forgiving your enemies, I wondered if there was a connection. Forgiveness is a two way operation. There will be many times in our lives when we need to both give and ask for forgiveness. It can be difficult either way. Often, pride and selfishness get in the way. I heard a quote last week that spoke to this: Harboring bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. It is so true. There have been times in my life when I have had to turn something over the the Lord numerous times, each time asking Him to help me forgive the same old offense. Then, in my human state of frailty, I foolishly take that offense up anew.

I wonder if the experience of asking forgiveness so often is God's way of reminding me how it feels to be on that side of the equation. The next time someone has hurt me and needs to ask my forgiveness, I hope I can be gracious enough to grant it willingly.

Where's My Teddy????

This is one of my favorite children's books. I first saw it read aloud on Sesame Street years ago and I thought, "I have to have that book!" We found it at our local library and eventually, I bought a copy for our home library. It is the cutest story about a little boy and a bear who both lose their teddy bears in the forest and when they find them...well, you really should read it for yourself, and your children too!

I share it with you now because yesterday as we were ready to leave the house, W decided to read it to me. He was so sweet as he followed me all around the house reading each word so carefully. There are some tough words in that book. But he persevered until the very last page. As we were driving down the highway, I asked him to summarize the story he had read (narration for you homeschoolers). I'm not sure how recently I had read this to him so I know he may have remembered but he told it perfectly. I was amazed that his mind had followed the whole story as he was definitely distracted by needing to follow me all over the place.

Today he started Sailor Dog, a little Golden Book, which appears to be much easier vocabulary to read. I'm wondering if all of the Golden Books have that easy reader quality. I'll have to check our collection. That might be a nice change from Dr. Seuss over the next year.

A Perfect Use for Twinkies

We all know that Twinkies are the ultimate junk food. Is there any real food in those logs of sugar and preservatives? But I found the best use for them today. They make a terrific Chemistry demonstration. We tried to set a Twinkie on fire and of course it is too moist to ignite. But if you dowse it with alcohol...kabam! And as the alcohol burns (evidenced by the blue flame), the Twinkie dries out enough that it will burn as well. Makes for a very dramatic picture, don't you think?

And in the Biology class, we are in the middle of our bird unit. One of the students serendipitously found an abandoned nest on her property. She brought it in to share. Notice how many tiny eggs are in the nest.