This year's Spring Soccer season went really well. Alex is beginning to use more of the moves she learns in practice and she was very happy to play with children from her old school. During the last game of the year Alex was very happy to get the chance to score the last goal of the season! It was a rough game as she was knocked down, stepped on and nearly tackled. I can only hope we can get her into the fall session.
It sure has been a while since I have made any posts. I got real sick for a week and it has taken me some time to return to normal. The house went to the kids for a week, and I thought I was never caught up before. So I am glad to be here to catch up with myself.
I have been reading when I get the chance. My favorite book that I am reading is A RETURN TO MODESTY: Discovering the Lost Virtue by Wendy Shalit. It is one of those perspective changing books if you know what I mean. I will be a better person and mother for what I am reading right now. I pick up The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul now and then , but I am determined to get done with my other books as well. I think I like to tackle too much sometimes.
Alex has returned to soccer and should be posting about that by tomorrow. She has been working on short writing entries, she writes them out by hand guessing at the spelling. Then I go through and edit her work. I pick out the misspelled words and we use them for spelling practice. Her soccer entry is ready to be typed and her photo posted. She is much more confident and willing to steal the ball from the other team. Once you can get it away from Mom and Dad, those other kids aren't so scary anymore.
We are plugging away at math worksheets much of which is review, but we are now mastering it. Taking our time to learn the concept as we go. Review may be a bit boring or redundant, but she gains confidence once she can complete it with ease on her own.
We are doing the human body for science this week. This is in preparation to a museum field trip we have planned for next weekend. The Milwaukee Public Museum has an exhibit right now called Body Worlds 1 from Germany. My husband and I went to see it on our honeymoon in Chicago. It is truly amazing. She has looked through the picture book from that exhibit in Chicago and seemed fascinated. So we will do some studying and she will get to take a good look at what an awesome job God did when he created humans.
Alex is doing wonderful with her reading. She is reading books labeled for third grade without much help. I haven't updated her books in the margin in the past month, but it has been many. Reading is a great time because it can also include learning different subjects. Social Studies and reading fit hand in hand. She learned about Crazy Horse last week, and has been listening to the Little House series on CD. I could only find the audio of some of the stories. We love the library, even Gabe.
Hi! Guess what me and my family went to Missouri. But I just got to stay 2 days. Me and Memo played checkers and Jenga. Memo knocked it down, I won. Gabe got a car and a train set. I got a bubble stick and we got to go on Jesse's pony and the pony's name is Pedro.
I posted the below picture last night so a friend could see a diaper that I made for a friend's baby shower. I wanted her to see the difference in size so I posted one of my son's diapers.
Right now I am working on a full set for my son, but I have made some as gifts for friends. If you like them please let me know, I would consider making them for others.
I was browsing through blogs tonight and loved this so much I had to share it with family and friends. Thanks Boys 'R' Us!
The School for Animals
An old story tells of the creation of a school for the animals. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects: flying, swimming, climbing, and running. Among the students were a duck, a flying squirrel, a fox, and an elephant. These four were highly motivated, and wanted to get good grades, so they all tried very hard.
The duck did fantastically well in swimming and flying, but he lagged behind his classmates in climbing and running, so focused special attention on those two subjects. However, his feet became so sore from trying to run and his wings were so bedraggled from trying to climb that by the end of the year he not only failed both those subjects, but made C’s in swimming and flying, which had once been his two best subjects.
At the beginning of the school year, the squirrel was first in his class in climbing and running and was second only to the duck at flying. But as the months wore on, he missed so much school from catching pneumonia in his swimming class that he failed everything.
To make matters even worse, because the squirrel constantly squirmed and chattered in class, and had difficulty paying attention, he was diagnosed with a learning disorder. The squirrel eventually was placed in remedial classes and had to be medicated in order to continue with his school work.
The fox was a natural in his running class and scored well in climbing and swimming, but became so frustrated at his inability to get good grades in flying that he began assaulting his classmates. He even tried to eat the duck. His behavior was so disruptive he was expelled from school. He fell in with a rough crowd and eventually wound up in a center for animal delinquents.
I have finished a set of cloth diapers now and have decided to name them Doopa Diapers. Dupa is Polish for your rear. Here are some of my fun patterns:
I have mentioned these before in my Frybread Power! blog. Last time we made frybread we made Buffalo Burgers, this time we made Indian Tacos. The process is the same for the bread no matter what, but the Indian Taco has different toppings. I like to put refried beans down as the first layer of the taco followed by the meat. Today we used ground turkey but in the past we have used venison, buffalo, regular ground beef, or ground chicken. The type of meat is really up to you. After adding the meat I would add lettuce, cheese, and salsa for tomatoes. Top it off with sour cream and you have a wonderful Indian Taco.
Today we used all white flour for our frybread.
This makes the bread lighter and flakier than when you use wheat flour and you can tell by the texture of the finished product.
Earlier today... or more like yesterday as it is past midnight, we went to visit Alex's friends at her old school. Boy it sure sounds strange to say her "old school". We had a library book to return as well as a "book in a bag". We were lucky enough to find ourselves there right in time to catch the last couple acts of the school talent show. Both Alex and Gabe really enjoyed that.
After everyone cleared the gym we went to visit her friends. They were all very happy to see Alex and they all miss her very much. Her former teacher was very welcoming and brought Alex up to share what she was doing with the rest of the class. She allowed the students to ask Alex questions. Alex was a good sport on the hot seat, hardly shy at all and very confident I thought.
We have been invited to visit as often as we like and I have invited them to peek in on our blog. This post will be the beginning of a new category; Alex's Space. I will have my blog space, Mom's Space, and this will be her own space where I will let her keep her own journal of what she wants to blog about once or twice a week. I think she is going to have fun with this!
I want to give my thanks everyone at Bethesda Elementary who has been so kind and understanding of our decision to bring Alex home. I know they miss her, but her family missed her when she was there. For us it is great to BE the close knit family we always wanted to be.
New and improved Diaper 3.0 has absorbent diaper sewn right inside flannel cover! I decided to try sewing the diaper right up inside of this version. We will put it to the test tomorrow and then wash it to see how it holds up. Here is my fitted diaper:
I remember something about the television series Little House on the Prairie but It wasn't a show I watched. I came across a DVD at the library that was Little House on the Prairie, I thought I would rent it and watch it with Alex. To my surprise and delight it was not the TV show but a (2004) remake! I didn't even know they did a Mini-Series.
The first episode was rather long yet excitement was never far off. The girls were on the edge of their seats, the girls being Alex and my 4yr old niece. By the time the first "To Be Continued" flashed on the screen the girls were asking if it was over and complaining that it can't be over! Can we please watch some more? I would recommend this movie in a heartbeat, but you may want to watch it yourself first as there are some rather tense scenes. We still haven't decided if we should let my niece see the last half. It really got them interested in life on the frontier.
After watching the movie Alex and I made some log cabins and then Gabe knocked them down. Then we made some more and daddy kept Gabe from destroying them long enough to take a picture.
What a great learning experience! Really though, I am glad I tried it and I can't wait to make more. I found a free pattern here: Mama Bird diaper patterns. We started out at Jo Ann fabrics. I chose some flannel fabrics, 2yds. and elastic, 1yd. and velcro, 1yd.. The velcro was more expensive than all the other materials put together.
I cut my pattern out and went right in without directions again, just an idea of what I wanted to accomplish. I will improve upon this model. I plan on making some measuring adjustments. I tinkered with this one and used a vinyl liner inside of it. I don't think I will do that with the next one.
I would like the front tabs to come closer to the center so I will lengthen them. The next one will be 100% flannel and will need to have a plastic pant over it while Gabe is dressed. If he is just running around the house though we let him go in just his diaper cover. The back of them look great I think, so no changes there!
I had to continue on to my next diaper wrap. This time I did a double layer of flannel. The tabs have been lengthened and there is now no vinyl liner. We just put some plastic pants over this when we get him dressed. DWrap 2.0:
I got a recipe for pancakes from my mom a couple of years ago, when I make it I double the recipe so I can freeze some pancakes for one day during the week. I usually use one half wheat and one half white flour but today I had more white flour than wheat, so we had white pancakes.
It certainly isn't easy for Alex to double the recipes, but I think she will catch on after a couple of batches. She told my friend that math is now her favorite subject. I think she likes helping me in the kitchen, but the math will come later simply from doing. Alex even got to scramble her and Gabe's eggs.
Homemade Pancakes
1c. flour
1/2tsp. salt
2tbs. baking powder
2tbs. sugar
1 egg
3/4c. milk
2tbs. oil or melted butter
1tsp. vanilla
Mix together in large bowl flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Set aside. In smaller bowl combine egg, milk, oil or butter and Vanilla. Mix well and add to dry bowl. Stir the two together to desired consistency, use 1/4c. measuring cup to scoop onto griddle or pan. Cook until golden brown and flip cooking other side until golden brown. Enjoy! (Don't forget to shut everything off!)
In my last post I had mentioned wanting to make my own diaper covers as we are now using cloth diapers. What I may not have mentioned is that I am not a seamstress. I just got my first sewing machine. I don't think I have touched one since high school. In other words, I could use some practice before I jump right into sewing up diaper covers.
I got a yard of Thomas the train fabric a couple of weeks ago and a free pattern to make a pillowcase. I decided not to follow the directions and see what happened and I think it turned out alright. Now if I could just learn to steer the thing I'd be good! So here is Thomas the Tank Engine Pillow!
That's right, our son is 19 months old and we are just beginning to use cloth diapers. We are making an attempt to live less dependent upon modern "conveniences". If the economy is heading in a negative direction, we would like to know we can take care of our son's diapering needs even if the prices rise because we will already have what we need. I think I am going to sew on a velcro fastener instead of pins. I don't mind cleaning them up, it has to be done.
We started out with gDiapers and then put cloth inside the liners instead of the expensive inserts. The inserts are nice however because they break down in 50-150 days and can be composted in your garden versus 500 years with disposables. So I shortened a bunch of my cloth diapers to fit inside the gDiaper liner and that has been working great, but I also wanted to try some of the regular vinyl pants too.
I'm toying with the idea of sewing my own Diaper covers. There are patterns available for them or I could design my own. It would be a great project for Alex and I, especially choosing the fabric! I love being creative, even when it comes to diapers.
I can't tell you how inspiring it is, you will have to see it for yourself. For many years I have wanted to move out of the city and into the country so that I could raise my own food. Well, here is something to consider.
Much to my surprise the other day, Alex decided on her own that she wanted to create an art project. She came to me with some of our paper quilt scraps in one hand and a bag of glue and scissors in the other and said, "Can I please make something Mommy?". I was so pleased to hear her finally taking some initiative to do something completely on her own. I told her of course she could. "Thank You!" she said as she ran off into the kitchen and began to create something wonderful.
She had lovingly made her very own paper doll which she began to create accessories for and then a cat. This is a great big step for Alex, she generally needs suggestions and guidance. I think that learning how things work around the house is building her confidence. She has also been coloring some beautiful Disney Fairies, here they are:
I'm voluntarily being tagged. Thanks Heather, I needed some motivation to straighten out my desk! I've been considering it for a couple days, but playing with my new blog has been more fun. So you caught me with a disaster of a desk, and it is not an unusual occurrence. I'm unorganized. Maybe I will learn to become more organized, but really, the organizational state of my desk is the least of my concerns! =) Without further adieu...
You can tell a lot about a person by the state of their desk and what they keep on it. So, share what's on your desk. You can take pictures, take an inventory, or do both. Don't have a desk? That's okay, just give us a glimpse into the space where you pay bills, write letters, grade papers, study, or work on the computer.
When you've finished your photos or inventory, post it on your blog and tag five more people to do the same. Don't forget to share the rules with those you tag and ask them to share their posts with you when they are done.
So here is my desk, obviously I did not stop to clean it up! I am not about to take an inventory! As my friend said, consider yourself tagged if you want to play along!
After sharing that terrible scene of a messy desk I had to redeem myself and actually file things away where they belong. So here is what a little desk cleaning motivation can accomplish... won't last long!
I took the title of this blog from 1998 film Smoke Signals. One of the lead characters wore a t-shirt that says Frybread Power! I used a simple recipe but couldn't find my 1c. measuring cup, so we learned about fractions this evening, and it was fun. Here is Alex flipping her frybread disk.
They look very thin, but they puff up and grow large enough to slice down the middle to create the perfect bun for a buffalo burger. Frybread has many other uses and some would surprise you. Frybread can make an out of this world Indian Taco with venison, buffalo, beef, turkey... whatever your pleasure. They are great underneath sundaes of all kinds. Dip strips in syrup for breakfast or marinara sauce for an Italian dinner. A little icing and cinnamon and you've got frybread cinna sticks. This is a great food to make with the kids, but I do the bread frying in this house until Alex is older. We don't usually fry anything else in oil besides the frybread and that is not very often, but it is a nice treat! Here's frybread as a buffalo burger.
We used half white flour and half whole wheat flour and boy were they heavy and filling! Alex had a good time and enjoyed eating it. This was the first time she helped me to make it. She enjoys helping in the kitchen and now that she is older I think she can do a little more each time.
Simple Frybread
2c. flour
1tsp. salt
3tsp. baking powder
1c. water
Kneed dough and shape into thin disks, flatten as desired. If frying whole, poke a hole in the center to keep dough flat. If cutting into strips leave them as they are. Plug your sink and fill it with about two to three inches of hot water. Put your dough into a large bowl, then place in sink on top of water. No water should enter the bowl. Get a paper towel wet with the warm water and wring it out into the water and place over your dough. Allow your dough to sit covered for at least 15 minutes. Heat oil of your choice on the stove in a small pot about an inch deep. Throw your dough in and brown to your liking. Top with anything you can think of!
I'm a new Homeschooling Mom from Wisconsin. My husband David and I thought about homeschooling his daughter Alex before we placed her into Kindergarten, but we decided to try public school. After all, we both went to public school, right?
Public school didn't work out so well for my husband, but I did well enough. I didn't develop an addiction to learning until after school when I was able to explore on my own and read what I chose to read. I feel it is easier to learn about things we are interested in. Needless to say things were not working out for us in public school and I finally became brave enough to tackle the task myself.
Alex has been home with her younger brother Gabe and me for a couple of weeks and we are very excited to be free to learn whatever she may be interested in learning. At this point I am not sure what method(s) to use if any, but I am paying attention to what she already knows and what she seems to like. I look forward to meeting many of you and learning alongside our children.
