Our First Guest!!

We had a guest at the pool this week. See him? I was the hero, saving him from the untimely death other frogs had met (that we tend to find in the pool filters).

Where'd he go?

Found him!

Love this photo...such wonder and amazement in it.

Oh, Yes We're Men...er, uh...Kids in Tights...

On our heads. See, we are not as traditional as you'd think. We wear our tights on the wrong end of the body, and have a very difficult time keeping our shirts up. Is that a washcloth on her head, you ask? Why, yes, yes it is.

He said he was going for the "rabbit" look. I was thinking more gangsta who didn't know how to tie a scarf. Either way, he's cute.
She's laughing...really. Stephen keeps asking if I was sure she wasn't crying. But really, she couldn't control her laughter that morning.


Hey! Is this how I do it guys?!? Guys?


Ahhh, we are all related. We love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all we love each other...especially with tights on our heads!

See? She's cheezing it. Completely happy about the whole tights situation.

Conversations are Getting Harder...

So, I promised in my last post that I'd explain what I meant. Well, here goes:
We are studying the time frame when St. Augustine went to Britain to teach the Angle-Saxons about Christianity. Sadly, the way St. Augustine found out that the Angles didn't know about Christ was via the Pope, who found out via a slave trader who had just been to Britain kidnapping their 8 year old boys to bring back as slaves. This slave-trader's point of view was that he could do so because these people were barbaric and didn't accept or know anything about Christ. Ug. The Pope of course believed this to be evil, used some of the church's money to buy the boys from this slave trader, and sent them home to Britain with St. Augustine as an escort, where Augustine was to stay and teach the people.

The hard part here is explaining that slavery took place among Christians. Zac knew about slave trade, we've read Follow The Drinking Gourd and had some great discussions on how all people are equal and should be treated as children of God. He just didn't know that those who practiced in the slave trade considered themselves Christian. He always imagined them as these evil devil-worshipers. And who knows, just because you proclaim to love Christ doesn't mean you're not evil. Anyhow, as he reads more and more and studies, the black and white is fading into gray.

I thought it would take longer to get to this point, but part of me is glad we are talking now, so we can brainstorm ways to make the world a better place together as he gets older.

T'was the Third Day of School...

So, today was officially our third day of getting all of our school work done before noon (eleven, actually, but I didn't want to brag). Zach is moving forward quickly with Singapore math, continuing on to year two in The Story of the World (oh, how our conversations have gotten harder, I'll explain later), starting up Prima Latina (which I'm LOVING as well), and writing whatever copywork I give him, and anything else he feels like writing. Did I mention he's writing? This is big for me because last year Chayce conquered writing and Zac did. not. want. to. He would read and read but I'd have to jump up and down saying things like, "You'd do it for a grade! Do it for your mother!!" But this year...he just writes. I tell him to write his Latin vocabulary words and their definitions for practice, and he does it while I load the dishwasher (I have a dishwasher! A novel experience, and I love it.) Oh, and English, we study grammar just as much as Latin. I promise.

But that's not the part I wanted to write about most. No, I was really in the mood to share some yumminess.

First off, I have to share the caramel corn recipe I found while searching for a way to make it without corn syrup. This one doesn't even call for white or brown sugar!! And the whole family inhaled it. It will be made again.

20 cups popped popcorn
3/4 cup honey OR maple syrup
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Remove unpopped kernels from popped corn and put in a very large mixing bowl. Combine honey or maple syrup and butter in a 1 1/2-quart saucepan. Cook and stir over moderate heat until butter melts and mixture boils. Boil, without stirring, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla, baking soda and salt. Pour over popcorn and gently stir to coat popcorn. Spread popcorn mixture on two baking sheets. Sprinkle with peanuts and/or seeds, if desired. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes; stirring every 6 to 8 minutes. Remove corn to a large bowl; cool.


OR do like we did, skip the baking part and eat it chewy. Yum! Brownie points for making your own vanilla!

Also, we had this huge stack of key limes (and a few lemons) because, well, they are available here at the farmer's market and so that's what comes in the co-op baskets. ha ha. Anyhow, after much squeezing by hand (and wishing I'd bought that citrus juicer attachment for my Bosch I saw at a thrift shop in Logan, UT...) I had this:
Then, I decided that I needed to make the neighbors downstairs something because our children had spilled the sand between the slats in the porch AND dropped a spoon down there, and the neighbors, who have no children, were still awesome and knocked on our door with spoon in hand. Great people. So, I started a batch of key-lime / lemon bars. Hey, I just noticed that lemon...if you drop the 'l' and add a 'd' is demon...hmmm. Okay, back on topic.
Ewww, whole wheat short bread dough looks nasty! ha ha. But it tastes sooo good.
1/2 C sugar
2 C whole wheat flour (grind your own! You know my thoughts on this.)
2 sticks of butter (please use real butter...please. I have thoughts here, too, you know it!)
dash of salt
Mix. Press into pan. Bake for 15 minutes. While baking mix together....

4 eggs
2 C sugar
1/4 white flour (I know, but the whole wheat doesn't work in making lemon juice look gelled, ya know?)
1 tsp vanilla
8 Tbsp of that yummy citrus juice up there
whisk, whisk, whisk!

Pour over baked crust and bake for another 20-25 minutes. If you are using MY oven be careful because it has ruined every recipe I've made in the past three weeks. I'm thinking it gets too hot, but have yet to buy a thermometer. I only did 20 minutes and had crusty dark edges...but only on one side. Weird.
Share with those you love. :)

THEN, I took the rest of that lemon /lime juice and made some killer lemon-lime aide. Mmmm-hmmmm, that's what I'm talking about. Did I mention we also hung out by the pool for an hour and a half? hee hee.

All in a day's work.

Brite

If you haven't discovered the wonder of Brite music, I strongly encourage you to do so soon...they are discontinuing all of their print material, and making everything digital. While that isn't a bad thing, I love having a good book in my hand and a CD to pop into the car (though I realize I could just burn my own).

Some of our Brite favorites are (click on the links, and listen to the song previews!)

The Standin' Tall Series
The Safety Kids ( I love ALL THREE volumes, Personal Safety, Say No To Drugs, and Don't Pollute Your Mind)

My Body Machine

Take Your Hat Off When The Flag Goes By

Both Stephen and I grew up listening to these--yes, same versions as they have now (funny, how we lived so far apart and had so much in common--God's always planning, isn't he?) and now our kids have a copy of each of them. Anyhow, I just wanted to share this while there were still some hard copies left, though I'm sure the digital version will be just as great.

What to do...

If you don't know, all three of our kiddos have had tonsillitis. It started out as just sniffles and sneezes from experiencing new bugs from moving, but then those bugs ganged up on us! Their tonsils were huge, which limited eating. Sad. Then, the doctor told us not to have interaction with other kids for a few days because the antibiotic he was putting them on would not kill the whole infection, but would let their bodies catch up and do the work it needed to. So, given that our outside time is usually with other children, this momma needed to have a plan.

I wanted them to get fresh air, but we don't have a yard of our own to quarantine them to. Then, while I was having an evening to myself at a local craft store, I saw that the moon sand (well, the generic one) was half off! A flash of genius, and a turkey roaster later, and my kids were in business...on the patio. Sorry to the neighbors below--I did put a towel and a plastic piece under them, but still, some fell onto your patio furniture.

Tender Mercies

Sometimes, as a home-school mom, I worry. Of course, I'm sure ALL mothers worry, but often I worry that my teaching isn't sinking in, or that they children won't be prepared for adulthood. We do a lot of things, we read a lot, we get out a lot, and we talk A LOT. But that doesn't mean I don't worry. When I get into this worrisome state, I pray for some sort of reassurance that my children are learning and that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Often, my mind is settled by what my children do quite soon after my prayer. Yesterday was one of those days.

In the car on the way to pick up my sunglasses (here's hoping this pair doesn't give me headaches, too!), Zachary informed me that when he has his future home, it will be surrounded by lush, green vegetation. Well, I thought, the literature is doing something for his language.

The real clincher for me, though, that we're doing the right thing, for this time (you know, things DO change) was at our church's stuff swap*. Zachary and Chayce were just in love with this brass oil cruet with engraving on it, they kept just holding and staring at it. Finally Zac comes up to me and says, "You know Mom, we like this because it looks like the Egyptian stuff you've shown us. Maybe it came from there! I bet it did, we should find out where and..." I cut him off, pretty sure it was a thrift store find that someone was discarding that had just been gathering dust at their house. "Oh, sweetie, I said, it might not be." Just then, a woman I hadn't met yet (Hey! I'm new here!) turned and said,

"Actually, I brought that. I purchased it in Saudi Arabia but my husband and I are clearing many things out due to needing to downsize since we both previously were married to other people and the court fees are killing us. So, he's close, and I'm impressed."

Dumbfounded, I looked at my son. I changed my mind, and the brass piece is sitting here on the table. I'm pretty sure that at this point, it means more to me than it ever will to him--to him, it's a cool art piece to stare at. To me, it's a reminder that I'm doing OK at fulfilling the work that I felt so prompted to do.

*Stuff Swap, or here called Sharewear, is where folks bring their things that they are going to donate to charity (like Goodwill) but before hand everyone looks through everyone else's stuff to see if there is something they need. It's a free exchange, and everything left over goes to the thrift store. Usually, there is a lot left because people just cleaned out their homes to do this, and don't want a bunch of stuff, but it is nice to get some kids clothes and games for free, or even a few school items! When we did this in Indiana, it was so neat to see this new, single mom come in and get a highchair, baby clothes and a crib for free--not even having to pay the thrift store price really saved her that year.