Almost healthy, doesn't it count?

Out there on the web is a recipe for brownies made with black beans instead of flour. Most people think it sounds gross, but you really don't taste the beans at all. While its not a real fudgy brownie, it is a pretty good version.
I have another brownie recipe bookmarked that I wanted to try. This one uses pureed raspberries in place of the oil. Raspberry and chocolate is such a good combination! I didn't have the amount of raspberries that recipe called for so I decided I would take the berries I did have and put them in the black bean recipe instead.
Because the brownies only called for a 1/3c oil and I used a container of fresh raspberries instead they ended up not solidifying like they should. Instead I came away with an awesome tasting raspberry chocolate black bean mousse.

Trying again

I am going to try this blog thing again and see how I do. I need a place to keep things recorded so I figured why not make this it? I wont have a ton of beautiful pictures- even if I was to take them I am terrible at getting them downloaded and posted.
I need someplace to record my recipe attempts. I am lactose intolerant and I think I am gluten sensitive as well. It has caused me to become creative with my food and I don't want to forget what I am doing.
Charlotte is starting high school this year. Our friend's daughter has inspired her to take her four years of high school in a three year time frame. She is rearing to go, the question is, am I?
We will see how this goes, I spend time at the computer nursing the babe but usually don't type cause I hate to type one handed. We'll play it by ear.

Little Update

I have been meaning to update people on our lives for the last month or so but I think it is going to have to wait just a few more days (or the way I do it a few more weeks). This little baby was due yesterday and is talking his/her time so I figured I would wait till the arrival and update on everything. Of course I have been known to be as much as 17 days late when it comes to baby arrivals, so don't hold your breath!

Christmas baking made easier and more fun

The past five or so years, my sister and I have found a neat way to enjoy our Christmas baking even more. Every year we have gotten together and made some of the cookies. We usually only do four different kinds and we only bake enough to make about four dozen (which is usually just one batch of dough). It is easier however, when you are making it together and sharing time with each other as you do it.
Today the three girls and I went over my sisters house to do the annual baking. We figured it might be easier to spend a girls day baking then to do it here with the boys running around and wanting to help. We made peanut blossoms, thumbprints, butternut balls (similar to what some people call Russian tea cakes) and snickerdoodles. We baked the snickerdoodles and butternut balls but froze the other two kinds in cookie sized balls to bake later. We each went away with 8 dozen cookies to share and lots of good conversation.

Celebrating through the Advent season

So many times, with the busy-ness of the holiday season, it becomes a real struggle to keep the focus off of commercialism and onto Christ and family. I thought I would share what we are doing in our family celebrations to combat Christ getting lost in all the hustle and bustle.

For the past few years in a row, we have been doing a Jesse Tree reading. This reading starts the first day of Advent and goes every day through Christmas. The reading follows through the old testament showing the reason why Christ had to come and the different promises God gave leading up to Christ's fulfillment of those promises. The reading we do is found here.

The first year we did this reading we printed a copy of the symbols off in color and every day we glued that reading's symbol onto a small poster. I know people who make ornaments with each symbol on them and I have ideas for some in my head, but just haven't made them yet.

This year, we are also doing some sort of special activity each day of advent. These are all free or very cheap (read: money for materials needed only) ideas and most all of them are done as a family. This is to encourage togetherness and get the mindset off of one day of presents and onto three weeks of sharing. Plus, some of the ideas are service projects that help prompt our family to give to others during the holiday season. Here is our list of activities for this year:

Nov. 30- decorate the tree
1st play board games as a family
2nd make edible gifts for the birds
3rd make paper snowflakes (we hung these on the front door and windows)
4th write a letter to a US soldier
5th buy and deliver gifts for the military over seas (we may not be able to do this if I don't find somewhere to take the stuff!)
6th take treats to the local fire or police department
7th celebrate Daniel's birthday
8th play video games together as a family
9th make Christmas cards for people in a nursing home
10th sleep in living room by the Christmas tree (this will be only the kids as I will be 8 1/2 months along and Dan's back wont let him sleep on a couch all night!)
11th share with each other what you appreciate about each person in the family
12th have breakfast for dinner
13th make gift tags
14th deliver Christmas cards to the nursing home
15th take canned goods to the food center
16th take cookies to the neighbors
17th drink eggnog and eat cookies
18th drive around looking at Christmas lights
19th read Christmas stories together as a family
20th play in the snow as a family (hopefully it will snow by then!)
21st go Christmas caroling (our church does this each year)
22nd make Christmas ornaments
23rd watch a Christmas movie and eat popcorn
24th go to the Christmas Eve service at church
25th go visit relatives

Obviously some people cannot do a few of these (not everyone has a Dec. birthday in their family!) but hopefully this list may give someone else some ideas for something they can do together.

Merry Christmas!

Homeschool Memoirs #16 Candy Candy Candy

Life has been rather busy the last few weeks and I have not been posting my assignments- or anything else for that matter. I am hoping to catch up on the assignments and maybe even post a little about life here in the next week while we have a little down time.

This week it’s seriously going to be just fun. This week share your favourite candies. Have fun with this… and you’re welcome to post a photo of YOU eating your favourite candy. Haha!

God’s Word is also like sweetness to our souls. His sweet love, forgiveness, comfort, peace, and more is what makes our lives seem a little more bearable when things get rough. Whenever you eat your sweet piece of goodness remember that God loves you and will always be there when life seems sour.

Share a scripture for this week as well. One that lifts you up when you’re feeling discouraged.

I would have to say that my favorite candies are:
Jelly belly jelly beans, candy corn and dark chocolate. I just started eating chocolate again after not eating it for almost 3 years (long personal story why) and have found that I have become rather picky in my chocolate. Stuff like the typical Butterfinger or M&M's wont do it for me. I like it nice and dark. Trader Joe's has a dark chocolate bar that I use to buy that was really good and I can't wait to go there soon and get myself one.

The past couple of years, with Dan's worker's comp situation and being unable to work, I have relied a *lot* on the scriptures that talk about God's provision and promises to take care of us. One in particular that I studied for a short time is:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Joyous Home giveaways

I don't know how many have heard of Joyous Home Magazine, but it is a great magazine with really cool ideas. They have recipes, gardening tips, decorating tips, etc.
For twelve days they are having a giveaway each day. Today is the second day and they are offering an apron pattern for your daughters (good Christmas idea) and holiday recipe cards. All you have to do is visit their front page each day and download your gift!

Homeschool memoirs #10 10 Timely Facts

Theme for the week:
"The time will be changing again. I think on Sunday but not sure. Anyhow this is our 10th Homeschool Memoirs so this week it’s going to be about 10 timely facts about you! Write 10 interesting, crazy, weird, fun facts about you! Include facts about you as a woman, a wife, a mommy, a homeschooler, a homekeeper, a taxi-driver, a cook, etc . I only put 10 facts because I didn’t want to overwhelm you, but you’re welcome to do more! I just posted 101 Facts about myself on my blog, which you can take a look at if you should like."

Since this is suppose to be TIMELY facts, I guess I can start with this:
1) Today is my birthday
2) Even with all my responsibilities, I still every once in awhile get so caught up in a book I will be up till 4am reading.
3) In high school my friends would faint if I showed up at school in a skirt, now my friends would faint to see me in pants.
4) I don't like to watch movies (unless they are really good ones) without doing something else at the same time- knitting, looking at books, etc. I often follow a movie as I surf the web on the computer which drives my husband crazy.
5) I drink lots of herbal tea but no regular black tea, I can't handle the tannic acid in the tea.
6) I don't mind a room warm or cold as long as the heat or cool air isn't blowing directly on me.
7) I'm not very good at grammar, but hate to send any emails or post a blog with bad grammar or misspelled words.
8) I am not a talker.
9) I love everything to do with pregnancy and birth and after my children are older may train to be a doula or midwife.
10) I browse the nonfiction books at the library like most people browse at a clothing store.

Homeschool Memoirs #9 The ___ Family

This week we were to take the Homeschool Family song (done to the the tune The Addams Family) and rewrite it for our own family. I had this written two nights ago, but have been too busy to post it.

The Dad he likes to bake
A cheesecake he does make
Though his back's about to break
The Christian family

The mom she cooks and cleans
And often she does scream
But she's really not that mean
The Christian family

Every time you look
The girls are reading books
Chores and homework they'll foresook
The Christian family

The boys they run and play
Twenty-four hours a day
Often getting into a fray
The Christian family

I tried to have my husband come up with a good stanza about me. I had the first line and nothing else. I am not so sure I like what he came up with! LOL!

These Are a Few of My Favorite (Fall) Things

Jacque over at Walking Therein tagged whoever wanted to do this and since I love so much about fall I thought I would jump right in. If you want to do it, visit Jocelyn at A pondering Heart for the picture and let me know so I can visit you and see your answers!

Here are my favorite fall-

1. Favorite Smell? There are so many smells of fall I like its hard to decide on one alone. I like- cinnamon, pumpkin, bonfires, fall leaves, apples

2. Favorite Food? I like being able to start making comforting warm stuff again like chili. I also like my hubby's pumpkin pie cheesecake

3. Favorite Color? the deep fiery red of the maple tree when it changes

4. Favorite Drink? apple cider

5. Favorite Treat? I don't eat them often, but apples with caramel

6. Favorite Place to go? For a walk in the woods

7. Favorite Candy? I haven't had any chocolate in awhile, but dark chocolate peanut M&M's are one of my favorites. If I had to pick from what I eat now, it would have to be caramels or Paydays

8. Favorite Movie to watch? I can't think of a fall movie that I like, but I do like the old black and white classics. A real good one is The Little Minister with Katherine Hepburn.

9. Favorite Clothing to wear? As I am not getting out my fall clothes, having to go to the maternity clothes instead, its hard to tell you what fall clothes I have that I like the most as I haven't seen them since last year. I do like being able to put on a sweater though.

10. Favorite Outdoor Activity? A bonfire with the kids in the backyard

11. Favorite Football Team? Don't ask me why as I am not a real big football fan and don't live anywhere near there, but the Carolina Panthers

12. Favorite Fall Holiday? My birthday of course! (Oct 22) followed very closely by my mom's birthday, which is today (the 13th)!

13. Favorite Haunted place? Let's change that around to Favorite Place to Haunt (visit frequently)

14. Favorite Food at Thanksgiving Dinner? My dad's stuffing

15. Favorite Pie? Apple

16. Favorite Fall Hobby? Preparing for Christmas- we make our gifts and have to start early, so fall is when we start making our lists and doing our crafting/baking, etc. Also knitting tends to lend itself more to fall then most seasons.

17. Favorite Fall Memory? When I was a kid (around 9) my mom, sisters and I took part in a Fall Fest that taught people about the crafts and traditions of the 18th century. They had apple butter making (over an open fire), butter making, Johnny cakes made in a fire with a dutch oven, corn husk doll making, etc. We were the demonstrators for the candle dipping. We had a big kettle with wax and water in it sitting over an open fire and we dipped candlewick in it and helped people try their hand at it as well. My mom also had a treadle machine and quilting stuff on display and she allowed people to try their hand at hand quilting two 4" squares together or using the treadle machine to sew them.

18. Favorite Fall Sight? The colors of the trees

19. Overall Favorite thing about Fall? Lots of family events start up in the fall- birthdays, Thanksgiving, etc. and there are fun activities like fall fests and walks etc. to do. Lots of time to spend outside in some really nice weather.

20. Overall Favorite Season? It would have to be fall

Homeschool Memoirs #8 Study Spot

This week we need to post about our favorite spot to study with our children.

Our book learning takes place mostly in the living room, but since we also believe in learning from life, we tend to use wherever we are to learn. If its a project like a lapbook then we would require the use of the dining room table. Then there is the learning we do while cooking in the kitchen. I love when we have discussions about stuff in the car and field trips are always fun.

Now for my personal study time, its usually in bed after the kids are asleep. I read or plan, etc. while dh watches a movie.

I would include pictures of all the different places we study, but we recently got out the winter clothes to sort and put away and the house is a mess. It has made substantial progress today, but there are still totes of clothes everywhere. When you have six kids to sort for and five of them are moving up in a size, that is a lot of clothes!

Peanut Butter Play Dough

Since several people expressed interest in the peanut butter playdough I mentioned in my snack post, I figured I should just post it here. I can't find the one I used, but either of these are good variations on the whole thing.

1 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. honey
1/2 c. powdered milk

OR

1c peanut butter
1c rolled oats
1c powdered milk
1/3c honey

Mix together to make a playdough.

Optional: Wheat germ, coconut, raisins, nuts, etc.

There is one recipe that I have used that omits the milk and ups the oats. I think this one, while it is good for us lactose intolerant sorts, stays too sticky. I think the powdered milk helps make it easier to handle.

Homeschool Memoirs #7 Snack Foods

Edited to include link to requested recipe.

Our assignment this week is: what snack foods to buy for homeschooling families, on the go or at home. I would like to invite you to share what snack foods your family usually snacks on throughout the week. You’re welcome to make season lists too.

Cut up veggies- my older girls actually prefer big carrots to baby carrots. Then there are celery sticks, broccoli and cauliflower. A few of them like grape tomatoes, one daughter likes cucumbers but not too many of the kids will eat peppers. Serve with dip or hummus.
Any fruit in season
Tortilla chips with cheddar cheese sprinkled on top then warm up in the toaster oven or microwave enough to melt the cheese
banana bread with peanut butter on it
muffins
granola bars
fruit snacks
popcorn
pretzels crackers with peanut butter and raisins
ants on a log
apple with peanut butter
cheese
nuts or trail mix
crackers and cheese
dried fruit
peanut butter playdough (peanut butter, honey, oats, etc. mixed together)

I am looking forward to reading everyone's suggestions. If you want to see other ideas, see this post with all the links.

Homeschool Memoirs #6 Summer Photo Essay

This week's assignment is to post a photo essay of our summer. Unfortunately, when our computer crashed last month it took all of our photos with it. Yes, that's right, four years of photos stored on a computer with no backup, crazy isn't it? Anyway, the jury is still out on if we will be able to save any of that or not. I do however have our oldest daughter's birthday party and some pictures the girls took of a grasshopper in our backyard, so here they are:

This is Charlotte's birthday. I am in blue cutting the cake. My second oldest, Devorah is in yellow next to me (she wears yellow all the time so we have nicknamed her Chiquita like the bananas). My third oldest, Abby is in the blue at the table.


This picture is of my niece Sam, my oldest son Daniel and my second oldest son Tim.



In this picture our oldest Charlotte is blowing out her candles.






I wont show you all the many pictures the children took of the grasshopper, but I will show you the best two-



I will leave you with something to make your mouth water. Dan has perfected a wonderful new cheesecake recipe for the fall- Apple Pie Cheesecake

Homeschool Memoirs -Favorite Things

This week I want to invite you to share a few of your favourite things - er - sites. I know the list of favorite things could be never-ending, but I’ve made a list for you to do regarding your favorite homeschool things. BUT by all means you’re welcome to add your other favorite things on the post as well!

I look forward to seeing everyone else's lists. I lost all my bookmarks in a computer crash a few weeks back and am lost without them! Here is the little bit I have of sites I knew by memory and no computer crashing can take away from me!

• Magazines/Carnivals - in print or online: Charlotte Mason homeschooling carnival, The Old Schoolhouse
  
• Freebie sites - any sites that offer freebies or often have giveaways:Currclick, Homeschool Freebie of the Day
  
• Mom site - a sites just for moms: The Homeschool Lounge, Cindy Rushton's sites
  
• Youth/kid - sites geared towards youth/kids or owned by them: Poison Rouge (red fish in English) is a great site for preschool age
  
• Organizing/crafts - sites that you look to for organizing tips or crafts: Craftsters
  
• Homemaking/Homesteading: Tammy's Recipes
  
• Homeschool Method - sites that offer a lot of info on a certain method: Old Fashioned Education
  

Can you tell I've been wiped clean of all my websites?

Homeschool Agendas

This week we are discussing our homeschooling plans for the year and a verse that has helped us as we have planned.

While I don't have the year completely laid out, I do have a rough idea on main areas I am covering. I will be teaching my 11yo daughter (6th), 9yo daughter (4th) and 7yo daughter (2nd) as well as giving my 5yo son (kindergarten) stuff to keep busy with. I am usually pretty relaxed with kindergarten, but he really wants to do schoolwork so why fight it?

A lot of the stuff I use I get from the site Old Fashioned Education. Miss Maggie (the site's owner) has put together a free online curriculum using mainly out of copyright free books that you can find online through her links. I don't go completely according to her layouts, but use the ideas as a jumping off point.

I personally try to keep all of the children learning the same history, art, music and gym and some of the same science and just give each one age appropriate work within the subject. This year we will be studying ancient history- Greece, Rome and Egypt, using books from the library, lapbooks etc.

Art and music we tend to just explore as we go. Sometimes we listen to some classical music or I will print off a coloring page of a famous piece of artwork and then discuss the artist.

I would link to the free homeschool physical education program I found, but my bookmarked sites are all on my crashed computer. It basically has the children do stretches everyday and then either has them learn about a sport or do a physical challenge, etc.

Science has always been a mix of reading books, nature study, experiments, videos, etc. I am going to have the two older children read some more reading. A few books I plan on having them read are: A Fairyland of Science and The Storybook of Science. I also want to start giving them a more solid biblical worldview of science and firm up their beliefs.

For math I have been using a program out of England by CIMT called the Mathematics Enhancement Program. This year the 2nd gr. will finish up year 1 and start year 2 while the older two will be doing year 3 and 4.

Writing skills see a lot of use and strengthening through journal writing, letter writing, stories, etc. The older two children will be doing more grammar work, possibly going through the Scott Foresman workbooks that are available for free online. They also write on their own blogs occassionally.

The older two girls inhale books as if they were air. I use their love of books to further their education by making sure they read historical fiction, biographies, classics and other worthy books. I don't mind them sitting there for a couple hours reading if I know they are learning about World War II or whatever the subject is. Oftentimes one of the girls will be talking with me about something and will remember something they read in a book that goes along with the subject we were discussing.

Last year the older two started going through a book titles Home Geography for Primary Grades, notebooking what they learned as they went. I will be having them finish that as well as having them do country studies and the like to go with it. I found a basic country lapbook that you can use for any country of your choice and will have them do a few different countries with that.

Well, that is all I can think of for now. There is of course all the home ec they will learn as they all help out around the house, in the kitchen and with the new baby (arriving after the new year). They will have devotions to do, character training and other stuff going on. I will print out some of the free lapbooks I have picked up so they can do those. If you can't tell, I try to do all I can to make our homeschooling happen with as little cost as possible. I even print all our books, etc. out at the library so as to save on printing costs (they have no limit on how much you can print for free).

One verse that has not only helped with this year's planning, but also with other life issues in the past few months has been Prov. 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

Homeschool Memoirs- All about me

Alright, here is the first assignment for the Homeschool Memoirs (it was suppose to be Blogger Class Mates but name has been changed). We are suppose to tell about ourselves so that everyone can get to know us a bit.

My name is Kate and I am 32 (for two more months at least! I have been married to my husband Dan for 11 years next month. We have six children (11g, 9g. 7g, 5b, 3b, 1.5b) and one on the way due sometime after the new year.

I have been homeschooling my clan ever since day one. We kindof came to the decision to homeschool about the same time we also gave up our family planning to God. I was on a wonderful list that discussing the biblical reasons for homeschooling, quiverful, courtship, etc. and it helped us to really cement what we believe on the issues (nothing is mandated in the Bible, but we have our personal believes we have been led to through scripture).

The last three years my family has been through a trial that is continuing to stretch us. In Nov. of 05 my husband fell at work and herniated one of the discs in his lower back. After a year of paying him partial wages and trying to find him affective treatment, his company declared he had reached maximum improvement and they cut off his pay.

For the past two years we have been living without any income. The first year we survived on whatever came through for us, this last year we have been using the little bit of money Dan had in his 401K. Monday we cashed out the last of his 401K and are now on empty.

My mom has been telling me how much faith it takes to live like we have been and I kept telling her that I didn't consider it a test of faith because we still had the 401K to fall back on. Now God is stretching us past my comfort zone. Through it all so far he has continued to provide and I don't doubt he will continue to do so- no matter how at ease I am with the situation.

Currently Dan is trying to start a cheesecake business as a way of bringing in some money. I am trying to take care of six children and a house and all that goes with it.

Does it make a difference?

I went to church today, I think. Its a little hard to tell sometimes when I've been there. The routine is something like this- go to church for Sunday School and sit in the nursery the whole time with Ben (1.5) because there is nothing else to do with him and he wont sit still for class. Then church starts and I go in for praise and worship. As soon as the singing is over- if I am lucky I might make it through the offering -Ben starts fussing and needs to leave the room. Then I go to the nursery and sit as he wont go in there without me most of the time. Do they still do sermons at church? I can't remember the last time I sat through one! I am going to have to start listening to them online more often so that I can at least get a little bit of something for the week. Danny got something out of the sermon today, so at least I know it was a good one.

Let's try this again

I have not posted anything here since April and have only posted 20 times total in all of 2008. I just haven't felt like talking or taking the time out to do any typing. I am however going to try this again. I am also signing up for another blogging assignment group as a way of helping push me to write more regularly. Maybe I can do a little better.

So, if you want to join in the fun, come over to the Homeschool Blog Awards website and sign up to join the class.

What is it with vacation?

We are leaving for a little vacation in a few days. My step sister is getting married in SC and we are going to go there to attend. My mom was generous enough to give us a stay at her time share so that all we have to do is pay for food and gas. I am packing as much food as I can to take with us and will buy the rest down there.

The last time we went on vacation I spent the last few days prior to leaving cleaning out my cupboards and going through food as we had some kind of weavels infesting our food.

This time, its the ants. Every year when the weather turns warmer the many ant nests around our house start sending out little guys to investigate our house for food sources. I have them coming in the front doorway and the kitchen window frame. Last year they were coming in the dining room through the heat vent so I am waiting for that one.

Today I have already vacuumed the living room really well and will be doing the dining room after we eat lunch. I am also going to have to do a really good cleaning of the kitchen. Then before we leave I will put down something to take care of them while we are gone. I use to have diatomaceous earth that I would put around the openings (windows and doors) and even put it in the carpet of the dining room. I really liked it because it was all natural and safe around the kids. Now I have some sort of product from Sevin. The place I had bought my diatomaceous earth from years ago didn't carry it last time I went there. They assured me that the Sevin stuff was good to use. I don't really care for it, but if I put it down while we are gone then I can clean it up when we get home.

I don't know why we are always attacked by bugs right before we leave. For now its back to work. I have to clean, pack food, make lunch, etc. Time waits for no man!