here's my new homeschool blog:

www.3desertprincesses.blogspot.com

It's Sunday. Not a big school time day, but I read some books with the two oldest.

Listening books

Cat in the Bag

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Bears

Rolie Polie Olie

Mole and the Baby Bird

It's Sunday. Not a big school time day, but I read some books with the two oldest.

Listening books

Cat in the Bag

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Bears

Rolie Polie Olie

Mole and the Baby Bird

Almighty Father,

You sent Your Son to give His life for me

It is my desire and my privilege to live my life for You

A life of worship

A life occupied with You

Lord, give me a passion for the tasks You assign me

I desire

an ever-growing love for my husband and my children

a daily commitment to homeschooling

an enthusiasm for homemaking

self-control in my spending

consistent healthy habits in diet and exercise

regular practice in the ministry of writing

passion for the spread of Your Word to the lost

I rely on You – my Rock my Strength –

for the tasks are too great for me.

I borrowed two cookbooks for kids (Pretend Soup and Salad People). My kids aren't old enough to cook all the recipes, but Ruth is having so much fun looking at the books. She is not very adventurous when it comes to trying new food. We made a deal a while back that if she ate her dinner and her breakfast (of Mom or Dad's choice), she could choose her own lunch (from ingredients we have on hand). For months now she has wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. The only variation I've been able to talk her into is a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich on a tortilla. However, these books have a unique layout; one page has the recipe in regular adult directions; the next page has each ingredient and each step of the process illustrated. She's been looking at the book and choosing new things for lunch! It's amazing!

Today we adapted a recipe for Counting Soup. We didn't have all the vegetables mentioned in the book, so we ended up with this:

(1 serving)

Place the following ingredients in your bowl:

1 handful shredded cheese

2 TBS cooked rice

3 TBS black beans

4 tsp broccoli (cooked and diced)

5 tsp peas (cooked)

6 small carrots (cooked to be a little soft but not mushy)

Mom: pour warm chicken broth over those ingredients.

Add another handful of shredded cheese, and a few shakes of salt and pepper.

Both Ruth and Rosaleen devoured their soup very quickly. I appreciated being able to give Rosaleen just a little broth; she makes such a mess with liquids.And now that I have everything prepared, we can repeat this tomorrow.

My oldest daughter loves starfall.com! And I am discovering that she can read a lot more than she admits. She was playing a memory game with words and pictures  -- and easily matching them.

Yesterday I tried another combination of flours. They had a really crunchy texture and we all liked them. Instead of trying to get rid of the gritty texture, I wanted to play it up.

1/3 cup oat flour

2/3 cup buckwheat flour

1 cup barley flour

1 tsp soda

6 TBS buttermilk pwd

2 tsp baking pwd

1/2 tsp salt

1/6 cup flaxseed, freshly ground

1/6 cup pumpkin seeds, partially ground

1 1/2 cup water

1/3 cup apple juice

(cooking directions in previous post)

I'm trying to make wheat-free sugar-free aebelskiver.

(What are aebelskiver? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/UrthMama/175714/)

Today I tried this:

Mix:

1 egg

2 tsp agave nectar

Sift together:

1/2 cup barley flour

1/2 cup spelt flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

3 TBS buttermilk pwd

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cardamom

Add dry ingredients to egg mixture. Add 3/4 cup water. Mix thoroughly.

Heat the aebelskiver pan. Melt a 1/4 tsp butter (or a little more) in each hole of the aebelskiver pan. Fill each hole 3/4 with batter and cook. Turn each with a chopstick or skewer as they cook.

Made 15 aebelskiver.

I'd like to play with different flours. This was a tiny bit gritty. 

I was at walmart today, two kids in the cart, one in the sling, and I got so tired. Maybe I didn't eat enough protein this morning, maybe I didn't sleep enough, I don't know, but I was more exhausted than usual by the time we approached the checkout. A pitiful voice in my heart said "Lord, if only I didn't have to unload the cart" and suddenly the cashier volunteered to unload the cart! Astonished and grateful, I unloaded a few things while she efficiently did the rest. A whiny voice in my heart said "Lord, if only someone would load the groceries into the car" and as the cashier finished ringing me up ($208) she said "Would you like help out?" Wow. No one has ever asked me that at Walmart! Ever!

A nice young man helped us out to our van, where I found that the back of the minivan was full of our double stroller. He put it in the front seat for me, admired my dd's JoJo the clown doll (he must have kids; he asked where JoJo's lion was), loaded all my groceries into the car, and showed me where he had carefully placed the bag containing eggs.

For once in my life I had a couple dollars in my purse and I tried to tip him, but he wouldn't take it.

When I was a courtesy clerk many long years ago, ladies used to call me "an angel". I understand now.

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/RaisingFaith/157204/

http://www.rbc.org/bible_study/answers_to_tough_questions/answers/30841.aspx

I modified a recipe from here:

http://www.lydias-legacy.com/cleaning%20recipes.htm

It isn't really homemade shampoo, it uses baby shampoo and adds a few ingredients to dilute it and make it go further.

Here's what I tried today (I type this out so I can find it again, not because I think anyone else will be interested!):

2 tbs dried comfrey

fresh herbs from the garden (lavender, bergamot mint, lemon verbena, marjoram, rosemary, sage, and one about-to-wither rose)

2 1/2 cups boiling water

Steep above ingredients for half an hour. Strain.

Add 10 drops lavender essential oil

5 drops grapefruit seed extract

and a little over 1/2 cup lavender baby shampoo. Whisk well.

Pour into bottles.

I put one in the bathroom, and two in the fridge until I see how the one in the bathroom keeps. I used the shampoo and I think it worked. Hard to tell because we went swimming yesterday and my hair is all fluffy today.

I think this would make a gentle body wash.

I used it on Reba today and it was a great baby shampoo because it didn't foam very much.