Happy Sweet 16 MaKenna!

16 years ago today, Mark and I welcomed little MaKenna into the family.  She made Holly a big sister and since then, I have watched them over the years squabble, argue, laugh, giggle, play, and become the best friends they are today.

MaKenna - you are an amazing part of our family!!!  Our lives are better because of your kindness, your Godliness, your dedication, your laughter, your silliness, your passion, your uniqueness, your craftiness, your messiness, your CDO-ness, your awesomeness!!!!  You have always had the ability to bring a smile to my face.  I am so thankful that of all the people in the world, Jesus picked daddy and I to be your parents.

I love you sweet girl and hope that you had the best birthday ever with many more to come.

{Birthday party info and pictures to come, but here's a teaser...}

See You At the Pole 2011

{Somehow, I wrote this post and then forgot to publish it!  So, it is late, but better late than never, right?}

See You at the Pole is an annual event that I even remember from when I was in high school.  I remember the Christian kids at my high school inviting me to come to the flag pole on a particular morning to 'pray' - which I had never done and, had I admitted it, would have said that I thought it was weird.  One time though, I went out of curiosity and felt oddly drawn yet strangely out of place at the same time.  Sadly, I didn't go back...

This year, the youth pastor at our church organized an after event on See you at the Pole day for our youth service and it inspired me to get our homeschool group (or as many as possible!) together at our church flagpole - to join together and pray.  We had a nice sized group meet at our pole on 441for prayer and were joined by our youth pastor - we prayed for our nation, our state, our city, our community, our schools, our church and each other.  Here are some pictures from the day, minus the 2 photographers!

This time, I was able to participate without feeling odd or out of place and it was a welcome change.  The After Event was a great success, with lots of visitors from schools around town, including some of our homeschool friends!  God is doing great things and greater things are yet to come!  Did you participate in See You at the Pole?

Unusual...

Do you notice anything unusual in the picture below??

How long did it take you to notice the tp in the fridge?  Well, in my family, it takes 2 days to notice it!  Someone accidentally put in here when they were unloading the groceries.  I noticed it the first time I opened the door, but decided to leave it and just see what happened.   And no one noticed for 2 days!  Two days!  HeHe!!

Anyway, just thought I would share the latest little mishap from our home with you.  Hope it made you smile!

Caleb's Hunting Party

For Caleb's 12th birthday, he asked if we could have a Hunting themed party for a few of his friends.  This was a fun party to put together, and now, all the boys want to have one for themselves!  Here's what we did:

As the boys arrived, they gathered around the "campfire" in the backyard with their Hunting Instructor, aka, Mark:

Mark and I gave them some instructions and guidance for the first activity, a scavenger hunt:

We had a slip of paper for each of them with a combination of numbers:

Their job was to run around the yard and find targets like the one below.  Once they found it, they were to look on the back.  Each of their names was listed there with some letters beside it.  These letters went on their slip of paper under the correct number:

Gathering letters:

Kenna got in on the fun and helped Max, the youngest of the group!

As hot as it was, the boys had a blast running around and finding the targets that Mark had hidden - very well, I may say!

Hmmmm, did Caleb find any in that tree???

Mark hid them near and far...

Max, filling in his letters:

Once they collected all of their letters, they were able to read a hunting word and earn their prize (to be told below!)  Next up was target practice.  Mark gave them a safety talk, set up a target and let the boys chose the airsoft gun they wanted to practice with.  The boys were pretty serious about their aim!

Caleb used a handgun

Jack went for the shotgun...

Max liked the pistol...

Andrew used his handgun...

Dawson used a machine gun type...

Dylan went for the handgun... (seems to be the favorite)

Once everyone had a round of practice, we gave them their prizes, Marshmallow blowers that Mark and Caleb made for the boys, ammo attached!

Max had a little bit of fun with his!

They all took their guns into the yard and had a 'blast' (teehee) blowing them at each other, trees, squirrels, the air, etc.

Marshmallow guns are pretty cool!  They work really well and you can take them apart and recreate them any way you like, kind of like legos!  But the next big hit was the smores on a stick, below:

I took marshmallows, dipped them in melted chocolate, then in crushed graham crackers.  The kids loved these!  And no smores mess!  They each got a hot dog and roasted it over the 'campfire' - hunting does create a hearty appetite!

More free shooting followed, then it was time for the cake.  We had a few 'issues' with the cake, but in the end, it was not too bad...  Notice the sleeping bad in the tent, the marshmallows ready to roast, and the campfire, with the candle inside to light it!  OK, so it's not the best cake ever, but the kids all ooohhed and aaaahhhhed over it, Caleb loved it, and it tasted amazing, so that's what counts!

Here's a shot with the fire lit:

I meant to get a picture with all of us, dressed in our camo, but the girls got in the shower and changed before I remembered.  Argg!  Well, here are Caleb, Mark and I anyway...

Just trust me that the girls had on camo, too!  Ummm, any one but me realize how tall my 12 year old is???  Can we slow this down a bit?  I don't think we can keep up with the clothes anymore!  Help!!!!

So, Caleb loved his party, the kids played hard and a good time was had by all - Success! 

September is Here, so bring on the Fall!

I just love the first day of September!  Even though our temperature was somewhere near 90* again today, September seems to say 'I am here with the comfort of fall, regardless of the temperature!'  September brings back memories of growing up in the north when the beginning of September meant going back to school (always the day after Labor Day), it meant apples - lots and lots of apples - and harvest of all kinds, it meant jackets and breezes and long walks outside collecting brilliantly colored leaves.  I feel homey and cozy and warm inside thinking of September and all the good things that it brings!  

Now that I am a grown up, fall means so many of those things and more.  In addition to the above, it means pumpkins, warm colors - oranges, reds, browns, yellows - spices, pumpkins, pies, baking, playing outside with my kids until the sun goes down, pumpkins, cooler temperatures (we should only have highs in the 80's all weekend!), and, did I already mention, pumpkins??  I LOVE pumpkin - for decor, but especially in all sorts of recipes - yummy!  Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin dip, pumpkin butter... I could go on and on with all of the yummy things I will be baking sooner than later!  

After saying all of that, then, it should come as no surprise that I started today on my pumpkin baking!  I was making a chicken pot pie for dinner and happened to make too much crust (hate when that happens!), so I followed a recipe from the American Girls Josephina Cookbook and made Pumpkin Empanaditas.  These. Are. Amazing.  You must try them and I will make it easy on you by posting the recipe so you can!

Pumpkin Empanaditas

Filling:

1 Tbsp. butter

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon (or more!)

1/4 tsp. cloves (or more!)

1 cup canned pumpkin

Use a crust of your choice - storebought or homemade

Directions:   

1.  Make your pastry dough, if making it homemade, according to your directions.  I love my crust recipe:

1 tsp salt

2-2 1/2 c. flour (fresh milled soft white, if possible)

2/3 c. butter

7 tbsp. ice water

Add the salt and flour to a food processor and mix it up.  Slice the butter into thin slices and add to the flour mix.  Pulse just until combined.  Add the ice water and mix just until blended and a ball forms.  Over mixing takes away the flakiness, in my opinion.  

2.  OK, so you have your crust ready and waiting.  It's time to make the filling.  Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat.  Add the sugar, spices and pumpkin, stirring til smooth.  It should look something like this:

 

3.  Continue to stir this over low heat for 10-15 minutes, until the mixture thickens.  Then, allow it to cool to room temperature and put in the fridge until it is cold. (We didn't do this last part, just let it get to room temp - FYI!)  Go ahead and turn your oven on now to 375*.

4.  Now, sprinkle some flour onto the counter, your table or a plastic cutting board and roll your rolling pin through it to keep the dough from sticking.  Take a ball of your dough and roll it out, being sure to turn it often and that you have enough flour - no sticking!  Roll to about 1/4 inch thick.  

5.  Use a cookie cutter, glass or (like us) a metal mason jar lid ring to cut as many circles as you can from your dough.  

6.  Here, the cookbook recommends making an egg wash of 1 egg and 1 tbsp water, beat well together.  You would then brush this onto the edge of each circle, to keep it closed.  I did not do this and had no problem with it at all!

7.  Now, place about 1 tbsp. of the filling into the center of each circle:

8.  Fold the circle in half and press the edges together, then seal with the tip of a fork:

9.  Place these about 1" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Repeat the above with the rest of your dough and filling.  You can use your egg wash to brush on the top as well, if you are using this.

10.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until they are lightly browned, remove from the oven and sprinkle with a little bit of sugar.  Let them cool slightly, then add a dollop or two of cool whip and Enjoy!

I am now officially ready for fall!

 

Making Hand Soap

We were finally able to collect all of the ingredients needed to make a couple of batches of homemade hand soap this week and I am so glad that we did! It is super easy, cheap, fun and satisfying. Here's what we did:

We have been collecting bars of nice soap (Yardley's, for example) anytime they have been on a good sale at CVS and Walgreens for the past couple of months. I was able to finally find glycerin in the pharmacy area of Walmart - for $2.98 for a 6 oz. bottle. Here's what you can do to make some for yourself! (For our first batch, we used English Lavender from Yardley's and then made a smaller batch of an herbal soap for the sensitive hands in our family.)

Grate one bar of soap using a regular cheese grater:

Next, add the soap flakes (you should have about 1 and a 1/2 cups) to 15 cups of water in a large pot with 1.5 tbsp of glycerin.  At first, this is how it will look:

Stir regularly over medium heat until the flakes are completely dissolved.  Transfer to a large container and let sit overnight.  At first, we thought we did something wrong since it was kind of runny.  But, after sitting overnight, it thickened right up. 

We refilled our empty bottles around the house right away and it worked perfectly!  They smell so good and only cost .38 worth of glycerin and .48 for a bar of soap - for the whole thing!  85 CENTS to make 15+ cups of hand soap!!  We have already filled 2 bottles and have so much left over it will last for a very long time!

My next project is to make these to fill with our homemade soap:

Source:Canning Jar Soap Dispenser

If you try it out, let me know how it goes!

Celebrating the Sabbath

In my back to school post, I alluded to more details about using 'My Father's World' with Caleb.  So, here you go!

I used My Father's World for both the girls and am so excited to be learning from it with Caleb.  We are starting with Creation to the Greeks and will spend the next 3 years traveling through world history from Creation to the present day.  This year, in addition to studying Bible history (I learn so much with him as we go!), ancient history, dinosaurs and the science of Creation, we are learning about the Feasts that the Jews celebrated in the Old Testament.  Not just learn about them, but actually partake of them ourselves!  Here's what I mean.

Last week, we learned about the celebration of the Sabbath or Shabbat as the Jews call it.  So, in addition to reading about it in our lessons and Caleb reading about it in books on his own, we actually celebrated it, as much as possible, as they would have originally over the weekend - It was so wonderful!  One of the great parts is that, leading up to the sun going down, everyone pitched in to clean the house so that even the mom (AKA, me) can rest on Sabbath!  We all cleaned, cooked and prepared so that we would have no work to do the next day.  Since it is more conducive to our lives, we started Saturday and ended Sunday, and since He is Lord of the Sabbath - we kept our eyes on Him as we celebrated.


Saturday night, as the day ended, we prepared to gather around the table.  There are lots of prayers said, blessings given and received, etc.  If you have never celebrated an authentic Sabbath, you really should.  It is beautiful.  So, we lit candles and had a pretty centerpiece, picked and prepared by Holly:

After all of the preparation, and now that everyone was truly 'starving', we began to eat. You don't know how I regret forgetting to take pictures in the midst of everything. I mean, I made a mighty fine meal! We had baked salmon with completely homemade tarter sauce (including grating the pickles for relish!), brown rice, cooked and candied baby carrots and challah - the traditional Jewish bread. It was delicious, if I do say so myself.

So, from then until the next day at sundown, you are on Sabbath rest time. Our family truly tries to keep Sunday as a day of rest anyway, so this was not too hard for us to do! Sunday morning, we woke up celebrating the Lord's presence and prepared for church. We had a great service, then came home to a lunch that we had been preparing since the day before, to avoid cooking on the Sabbath! Boy, did the house smell wonderful!

We found this recipe in a book called "Cooking the Israeli Way" and it is called Sabbath Stew. This will be a regular in our home, it was that good! I will now tempt you with a picture and the recipe, so that you can try it on your own and fill your house and tummy with amazing smells and flavors!

Here's what you need:

1 1/4 cups dry chick peas (I used 2 cans)
1 1/4 cups dry navy beans (I used dry beans for this since I had it and then cooked them til soft)
4 tbsp veggie oil
2 large onions, chopped to your liking
6 small new potatoes (I didn't have these, so I used about 6-8 idahos and quartered them)
2 lbs beef cut into 2ish inch cubes (I used stew meat)
4 cloves of garlic, minced or finely chopped
1 tsp ground coriander (did not have so did not use...)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
(Note: the recipe calls for 8 uncooked eggs in their shells.  I used 2, but next time will use none.  You can decide for yourself!)

If using dry beans, soak overnight the night before.  Saute onions until golden brown, adding garlic at the end.  In a large crockpot, place potatoes, onions, meat and eggs, if using.  (Be careful not to break the eggs!)  Add beans to the pot, discarding the liquid first if they were soaked.  Add spices and mix well.  (I waited to add my eggs until everything else was in the pot and mixed, then I gently tucked them in.)  Add enough water to the pot to barely cover the contents.  If your lid does not fit tightly, add a layer of foil under the lid.  I turned the crockpot on at about 11 PM or so on high for about 30 minutes, then down to low and let it cook until 5 AM.  I turned it off at that time, but turned it back on at 7 AM on low and let it cook til we got home from church.  Alternately, you could add everything as above to a casserole dish, bake for 1 hour on 375*, then reduce heat to the lowest setting and cook for 5-8 hours.  Before serving, if you used the eggs, remove them from the pot, take the shells off and cut into quarters.  Serve the stew hot, garnished with the egg if desired, and have some of the challah with it.  Oh so good, filling, nutritious and just plain yummy!

So, after that, we rested, spent time together reading, playing outside, etc.  We had a light dinner of cheese and crackers, then waited for the sun to go down.  There are more prayers prayed at that time and more symbolic celebrations as well.  It was a wonderful day - so good that we are considering doing it again.  Soon!  I wish I had taken more pictures, but we were just so caught up in the time, that it slipped right by...  Maybe next time!

This weekend was just a testimony of one of the many reasons that I love to homeschool.  Getting to bring things to life and make them real and meaningful for my children - not just facts to memorize for a test, but a true love for learning and wisdom and truth.  I am blessed!