Coupla More Pics; Small Accomplishments

Here's our Cuban pork dinner from last night. I used the serving suggestions from a Cuban lady in the comment box on the blog. It was soooo good! The whole fam was pleased. We especially enjoyed the new accompaniment of fried plantains. 

I was never an artistic girl. I avoided art in high school because I was afraid of what it might do to my GPA. Lame, huh?
So anytime I attempt to channel my artistic side and am even remotely successful, I'm a happy camper.

This alphabet of saints has been a labor of love. It's taken some time but it has been satisfying. I only wish I had it done earlier when the other kids were younger. But hey, c'est la vie. 

So let me introduce to our "crowd of witnesses."

Starting from top left, in alphabetical order:

Angel
Benedict 
Cecelia
Dominic
Elizabeth Ann Seton
Francis of Assisi
Guardian Angel
Helen (mother of Constantine)
Ignatius of Loyola
Joseph 
Kateri Tekakwitha
Lucia
Maximilian Koble
Nicholas
Odilia
Peter ("the Rock")
Mary, Queen of Saints
Rose of Lima
Sebastian
Teresa of Calcutta
Ursula
Valentine
Wenceslas
Francis Xavier
Joseph Yuen
Zita

Life Lately

Hey there!!

I've got a few pictures from life lately. I've been spending most of my waking hours prepping for our upcoming school year. (and maybe when I'm sleeping too!)  It seems unusually crazy this year. I didn't really expect that.  Not exactly sure why, though I do have a hunch. Unpredictable craziness with caring for family and a number of unexpected medical situations within our own family. Plus, it's my first year with three grade levels. (pre-K, 3rd, 7th) I see this year as a big step up for the older boys.  In classically-educating circles they are solidly in the logic stage. So I'm doing what I can to bring them to the next level. So it has been pretty consuming for me, I'd say. 

Excuse me if this gets to be a nutty post. It's late and I've been lesson planning for 7 hours. hahah. I'm going a little loopy. But hopefully it provides you with some entertainment tonight. I'll to type a few explanations out for you quickly so that I can finish off tonight's planning (history is on the docket tonight).  

Anywho . . . I've been busy.  I haven't been bringing the kids to do all sorts of fun summer activities.  Usually that also brings on the "I'm bored!!" phrase. Can't say my kids use that often; they know my answer to that. All that to explain the picture below: Chutes and Ladders. Lots and LOTS of Chutes and Ladders. Mace has been obsessed with the game. I even hear him counting the squares by himself sometimes. I don't even try to put the game away. That's how often he plays its. Dozens of times a day maybe?  Anyhow, everyone plays it with him. Tournaments, you name it. It's been done here.  :)

We've got zucchini!!  Lots!  I've been trying to make batches of zucchini muffins to store in the freezer for busy school mornings. Yum!  Healthy too. Only thing better would be if they were gluten-free.  I use this stellar recipe (except that I usually use half honey, half maple syrup).

More . . .

These are a few of my favorite things . . .

Finally got the garlic down from drying!!

Took a couple pictures of the garden for my mom. Overall we did well. What we didn't do so well on was due to time constraints, mostly. The bunnies ate all my bush beans (we didn't mend the hole in the fence) and then ate the other half with the bean trellis fell over (also didn't fix). The weeds are kinda crazy in places.  The only other thing is that the potatoes production was somewhat lame. Doug said he heard because it was too hot this year. Also, I have a lot to learn about growing onions. Note to self for next year: read up on onions. BUT . . . no bug problems!!!  Awesome!!  All those precautions for the squash beetle worked. Happy dance!!  Oh and the black plastic around the tomatoes and peppers.  Dynamite!!

My awesome crafty girl. I love her!!!

Lunch almost straight from the garden. AAaah, I will miss this.

What I need to get back to . . . (below)

Doug (bless him!!!), took the kids to Chicago. While the mice are away, the cat will . . . . WORK! 

Alright . . time to finish up for tonight!!  Love you!!!

Day in the Life . . .

of a homeschooling family . . . 

(or "days" I should say)

Please excuse the unorganized order. I just threw them up here.  Always short on time around here!  ;)

A little PE and Outdoor Education at the end of a school day.  

Snow was sparce this year but we got a couple of skies in. Next year!

Valentine's Day
Breakfast!

Homeschool lunches. Quick black bean soup. 

I fit in a little project too. Valentine for the hubby!

This girl! She's always creating something!

The independent activities we've had for Mace for forever are finally coming in handy!

Mace tried out a pre-school class at our homeschool group last week and did great! I might just enroll
him in the class next year. Here's he's "signing" his Valentine's (using stickers) with Sage as his helper. 

Nutmeg and I playing store.  Counting money and making change for our money unit.  Basil working on a writing assignment. 

Painting his Valentines. 

Homeschool Lunch.   Not every day is like this. Maybe once or twice a week. 

Mace's Valentines. 

The kids are turning into avid bird watchers. Sometimes it get so bad that I threaten to close the blinds during Math lessons. Basil has been
using my camera to capture pics lately. 

Homeschool Lunch.  It tastes better than it looks. Promise!

Ms. Creativity trying out something she saw in a store and decided she could try the
same thing at home without buying the kit.

I printed out this prayer for a friend who is having brain surgery on Monday (8 hour surgery).  Please
pray hard for Kathy. I think this is a beautiful prayer applicable for all of us. 

Homeschool Lunch in the Middle of Winter

Here's a nice light refreshing lunch that comes together fairly quickly. It's a nice pick-me-up on a mid winter's day.  The kids did pretty well with it.  Even Mace gave it a try.

I found it here.   This lady always shares creative, nourishing vegan recipes. Some of the ingredients are not readily available for some of us. I often just use something similar but less exotic (sounding anyhow).  For example she calls for "arugula micro greens."  I just bought the arugula/spinach mix at Aldi and chopped it up a bit.  She often also calls for Maldon salt. I've never heard of this salt before reading her blog.  I may look it up sometime but in the meantime, I just grind some Himalayan Pink Salt from Aldi. 

My hurried presentation leaves something to be desired. You'll have to check out her blog if you are interested. 

Finishing Up November

It's the end of November. Halloween, All Saint's Day, Nutmeg's birthday, Thanksgiving . . . all recent memories made. . . Now were are quickly heading into Advent. Thankfully Advent is a little later this year.  I need every single one of those extra days. I'm in the midst of some preparations for what I hope will be a simple, thoughtful, preparatory Advent season.  

Here are a few pictures (and explanations) from our last few weeks here on the home front  . . . 

We had talked about doing some special activity for Nutmeg's birthday but she just wanted to have friends over, so we did. Sunday brunch with some friends. Along with this same group of core friends we've started up a bi-monthly family gathering and Bible study on Sundays. It has been so great! The separate men's and women's studies are great but it has been super refreshing to join in on  the collaborative discussions with both sexes AND to have the kids in the mix too. Community-building is such a blessing! Doug and I always are so grateful that we are surrounded by so many fantastic people in this town. 

Nutmeg's minty icebox cake. Huge hit! 

Thrilled with her drone. This a girl with all brothers. What girl wants a drone for her birthday?  Some do, I guess. 

Thanksgiving table. Part of the gang humored me by driving out Thanksgiving morning to look for some greenery. One of my favorite traditions. 

Private table for Mace. 

Doug and I were both pleased by our Thanksgiving spread. A couple improvements for sure were needed (many of the green beans from the garden were too big and tough; gotta get those picked earlier next year and I also need to work on getting my crusts lighter/flakier) but overall we were happy with how things went.  It was a much, much less guilt-free holiday meal. I have been avoiding dairy for almost two years now and I didn't want to throw that out the window for Thanksgiving. I wanted to enjoy the meal along with everyone else. Success!  The green bean casserole is vegan, the mashed potatoes are vegan, and the stuffing actually had very little butter. The kids and I agree that the cranberry sauce was the best yet! Doug likes the canned version; so we oblige him that.  Here are the recipes I definitely think are worth sharing:  cranberry sauce, healthier stuffing, vegan green bean casserole, and make-ahead turkey gravy.  

We were so lucky to have Grandpa S join us again this year!  It's always a treat to spend together. I'm not sure we were the best host family (some of us were under the weather) but at least we were together. I'll say this . . . many board games were played. I even played three myself! Yes!!

We've been getting some stellar sunsets just about every evening lately. Nutmeg keeps grabbing the camera and snatching pics for us. 

My two sillyheads. 

Oooh, I love them!

Nutmeg, Mace, and I have been loving this author lately. Check him out!