Things have been pretty busy around here for me and even though I've had a lot of great "blog material" there has just not been much time for blogging it! However I want to change that.
For the next few posts I want to share some cultural events I've participated in with our Quechua friends. The first took place at the end of last month....a wedding!
I believe I shared HERE that we were sponsors for a young Quechua man for his graduation in December. Sadly, as is the case with many Quechua young people, he and his girlfriend were sleeping together and in Jan. or so he shared with us that she was pregnant. Shane began spending time talking with them whenever he could about what it means to really love and care for someone. The young man was under a lot of peer pressure to not marry his girlfriend and made fun of him just for thinking of it. Her parents were also a bit resistant to the idea of them getting married. However, he seemed like he really loved her and was concerned about her and their baby. He went away for a few months to work with his Dad and some other friends harvesting coffee and when he came back at the beginning of June her parents were more willing that they should get married and they began to talk and plan towards a wedding.
Just 1 1/2 weeks before the wedding he came to us with his brother and they told us that since we are his sponsors that we both needed to be at the wedding. (Just Shane was planning to be there) It was then we realized they were not asking us to be sponsors but just assuming we were. That was something to get used to! But for some reason the Lord allowed us to be agreeable to the idea and not hesitate so we plunged in to help them make wedding plans. Looking back we can see that if it would have been up to us we would have said no, but God did not let us say no and in addition he arranged the rest of our money we had left for the month to be just EXACTLY what we needed to pay for things for the wedding and our own expenses.
So we went up with a rented wedding dress (something they tend to do here and it works out well!), Shane, Heidi and I. We arrived right around 5pm. At the door of the groom's home there was an archway of flowers pinned over the doorway. In their small front room were all of the bride and groom's families! They had just finished a meal which the ladies of the groom's family had made for them. As is proper in Quechua culture, we began greeting everyone with a handshake. We first greeted the bride and groom and their parents who then started introducing us to all the family members in the room. When that was done we went up into the little kitchen where all the groom's sisters were along with his mom and grandma and aunt. They fed us a large meal of soup, "mote" (hominy), baked pork and baked potatoes. When we were done they gave us an extra portion of food to take home with us. We said thank you and the response in Quechua for "your welcome" translates as: "even though it was a little". Ha! A little??
 
As we were eating it became evident that the bride and bridesmaids (6 of them!!) all needed their hair done. The groom's sister-in-law (who was basically coordinating the wedding) along with the groom's sister and I went down the street to where we were staying to start braiding hair. Thankfully it was straightforward enough that I could help some. Then I quickly got ready in order to be at the right place at the right time to do all the things expected of me as "madrina" or the new "co-parent" to the bride and groom.
That first involved being at the church for the first ceremony....the civil ceremony. The bride wore a more simple dress for that and it involved Shane and I sitting up in the front with the bride and groom before the Mayor and his secretary at a table.
One of the elders of the church greeted everyone and prayed and then handed it over to the Mayor who also greeted everyone and explained how things would go. Then the secretary read a couple of papers that were REALLY boring to listen to. Lots of legal jargon and the jist was that this document says there is no reason they cannot be married, yada yada. Then the bride and groom, Shane and I each signed and fingerprinted the papers and there was an exchange of "I do" and "I accept" between the bride and groom and then they were pronounced man and wife and told they could kiss. The groom just gave the bride a peck since it was quite embarrassing for them to do something like that in a culture where husbands and wifes do not show much affection in public and men and women only shake hands.
We and some of the family members then filed out and went down to the bride's home to get her dressed in her wedding dress so we could return to the church for the church ceremony. This whole time the church was packed with friends and family. I think the one man led them all in some songs while we were gone.
Then the church wedding began.
The bridesmaids and groomsman all went in together in couples. Doing a sort of dance thing and ended up standing on either side of the aisle with flowers held up like a walkway for everyone to walk through. (Shane had a hard time going through that will all those short people!)
First the parents went in and sat down, then the flower girl came through with rose petals along with the ring bearer, then I escorted the groom to the front (with Heidi's help).
Then Shane escorted the bride in. Traditionally in this area it is the "padrinos" (sponsors or co-parents) who escort the bride and groom and not the parents like we are used to in the U.S.
The ceremony was much like we are used to in the U.S. in most churches.
 They exchanged rings and "I do"s.
However instead of a "unity candle" lighting, they did a "unity cup" pouring.
Each poured some pop into one cup and that symbolized the two becoming one.
Afterwards we all stayed where we were and enjoyed some finger foods and pop instead of cake. It worked out best with the number of people there!
After the bride and groom each threw the bouquet and the new "couple" was made to be part of a rather long joke!
Since there was a "couple" and all the people were there and we were in the church they asked for a volunteer couple to be the sponsors (that is the couple directly behind the "bride and groom"....notice they each have a bouquet of flowers! :) ) . Since no one offered to be pastor the lady in the white and purple shirt decided to officiate. :) She started out by greeting everyone and then asked if there was any reason why this couple should not be married? A hand was raised...come to find out it was the guy who almost caught the bouquet! :) He came forward and with a serious face said that he'd seen this couple around and knows that they each have a different girlfriend or boyfriend so they must not really love each other and therefore should not get married! As soon as he finished saying his piece he burst into a huge grin!
There he is in the red tie above. So the wedding was called off and I must say that was the longest joke I'd ever seen and we were really wondering how it would end!
Lots of pictures were taken. The families really enjoyed getting pictures taken with the couple.
The following day we enjoyed breakfast and fellowship with the groom's family and a huge lunch with the bride's family. We found out that the newlyweds had to wake up early and go to all of their relatives houses to visit them. (and most likely were made to eat a little something at each place)
Just last week these newlyweds had their baby! More on that in the next post. |
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Jul. 13, 2008 Enter to win a baby carrier stash!
Go to this link
Along for the Ride
and enter to win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)!
     
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Jul. 4, 2008 Happy Independence Day! Jul. 2, 2008 Winter in Peru
For many of my friends especially those on homeschoolblooger you are all in the middle of Summer with heat, bugs, rain, growing gardens,etc. Down here in Peru we are in the middle of Winter. In our particular area it never gets really cold even if people here say otherwise. The days they say "It's COLD" I just think, "This isn't cold! Do they really know what cold is?" 
For us the weather just gets really dry and windy with cooler temps in the morning and evening sort of like Springtime or early Fall in North America. After all those months earlier this year with rain and all the green plants, it's strange to see the mountains all around us looking so brown and dusty. It's been quite a challenge to keep up with dirt blowing into the house every day. I wonder how many pounds of dirt I've swept up or wiped away these past few 3 years we've lived in this house?
Since it's Winter that means the schools here are still in session until they have a break later in July for Peru's Independence Day. We continue with school here at home. Not necessarily because everyone else here is, but because it tends to work best for us to keep going and when their is a reason for a break we take it. I love homeschooling.
Dane and Arel and I have been working through the Apologia Science book "Astronomy" on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is well written and enjoyable to read. The boys and I are really learning a lot! We are working our way through the planets and are in the middle of reading about Venus. We've already had some good discussions.
Dane is finishing books lately. Done with Easy Grammar 4 and waiting for the next one to arrive in the mail. He is on his last few workbook pages for Math U See Epsilon. Arel also is in the last few lessons of his Math U See book too. Not that it's super important to be finishing books and starting new ones but it is a good feeling after putting so much work into it to finish and be able to get into what comes next.
Well, I'm almost done with my tea, so I think it's time for some History! We have some very creative Lego/Math U See manipulative blocks building going on...that could end up being part of our morning. |
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That's right! Liam turned 5 just a couple weeks ago!
Here's the boy in on his party day with a party hat he picked out for the occasion.
We don't usually do piñatas but we decided to this time since there would be lots of kids. This is the popular style these days...the kind you pull and the bottom falls out. (Yes, those are Shane's hands at the top holding up the box)
Going for the loot!
Lots of food, fun and fellowship. Thanks for turning 5 Liam so we could all get together! :)
Oh yeah and have you ever seen this before? Pin the tail on the....Liam donkey! Hee hee! Everyone was doing a double take when the first saw this on the wall.
Happy Birthday Liam! We love you!
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May. 31, 2008 Been gone but here now
Howdy all!
I was taking a break from blogging and other internet things while our family got away for a week's vacation. It was great to get out of here and do things we normally don't do everyday. A total change of scene.
We went to the capital city of Peru...Lima. It is a BIG city so it has it's fun things to do and see (like shopping and big buildings) but it's also a big dirty city full of people.
Since it was time to renew Liam's passports (yes, he's our little American/Peruvian) we decide to get that done and take the rest of the week for me to get some much needed shopping done (everyone in the family needed new socks!) and to do some fun things as a family.
The passport renewing took us two days. One to apply for the American passport at the embassy (the kids love going to the embassy...such an impressive building!) and one at the immigrations building for the Peruvian passport. That one takes longer since there are several things to do there and each thing requires you stand in line. But we got in the special preference line since Liam is a kid. It took us most of the morning but we were happy it went so smoothly. The good news is that whenever we need to go renew Liam or Heidi's passports again both parents don't have to be there so the entire family doesn't have to go stand and sit in lines next time. Good to know.
We got to go see the new Narnia movie "Prince Caspian". We all loved it even if they did change or leave out too many things. (there should be SO many more animals don't ya think? Lucy and Aslan were great though!)
For the first time we also went to China town in Lima and ate an amazing Asian meal at a restaurant recommended to us by some friends. Mmmm! Lots of fried wantans, chicken fried rice and chicken and veggie dishes and Oolong tea. Yum!
The kids liked watching the fish in the fish tank there. Shane and I got a kick out of a table full of Chinese/Peruvian ladies out for a birthday lunch. Boy could they eat!
I enjoyed some of the booths in the china town area but we kept getting sucked back to the ONE tiny little store/booth that sold legos. Sigh. Any gals out there want to go back with me (just girls!) and shop for flowing scarves, comfy cotton skirts and fun bangle bracelets and other jewelry at really good deals?? I just keep reminding myself I am not going to be a mom of young kids forever. :) I did get a great deal on a package of curry powder and some chopsticks!
Later I'll post about our trip to the zoo in Lima. That needs it's own post.
We stayed at a missionary guest house and it was comfy, quiet and provided a great place for us to relax. With all the doves that live in the neighborhood and in the yard it really gave it a nice calm feeling with them cooing all the time. Liam is our kid who can mimic most any sound and really had the dove coo down by the time we left.
Sadly there were no other missionary kids there until the day we left but three little girls and our three big boys made the most of it and had a great time for a couple of hours! Heidi was nervous about the new people as usual but liked watching the kids have so much fun.
It's good to be home again. |
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We found a tiny rose and some dandelions in the garden and Heidi was just enthralled with them in their little vase.
"Heidi Wayta" is the name our Quechua friends gave Heidi...it means "Heidi Flower". |
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May. 7, 2008 Birthdays and Blue Skies
Yes, it's been all blue skies lately around here. It rarely rains now and most of the time there is not a cloud in the sky. Really!
The last week of April was birthday week around here. Shane and I have birthdays just 4 days apart. He is exactly four years and four days older than me. :)
Shane's came first and we had friends over for Indonesian food (spicy! slurp.) and gingerbread cake with whipped cream on top! Actually there were choices of cake...gingerbread or chocolate because a young friend of ours who lives with us had her birthday that day too. I made her a chocolate cake to take on her camping trip but the first one flopped....right out of the pan into 4 pieces. Waa! So I made her another one that did NOT fall apart and we had choices that evening for those who did not want gingerbread. So it all worked out!  
I spent most of my birthday talking on the phone. It was so great to talk to my parents and other family and friends who live far away and hear their voices and know how they are doing. I also received many wonderful emails and greetings from friends and family! I am so blessed!
The boys all helped me make pizzas. Shane tossed some crusts for me and those were the best! 
Here we are posing with our pizza and notice Liam saying "cheese" while he eats it? And you thought you were being sneaky little guy....we caught you! Oh and right beside Arel is his pizza dough creature...he says it's an alien. He had olive pieces for eyes with squares of salami as flippers or something and cheese for fur.
Here's Liam and Heidi trying to wait patiently for their piece of blueberry cheesecake dessert. |
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Apr. 23, 2008 BFS Assignment 24: Reduce, Recycle, Re-use!
This week's assignment is The Three R's -- Reduce, Recycle, and Re-use. I thought since today is Earth Day and this month is Arbor Day that we all could share ideas or tips that we use for recycling, reducing or re-using items in our home. Do you recycle at all? Does it just seem nearly impossible to recycle? Trying to catch every piece of trash that goes into the garbage is a hard one for me too. I have a friend who is very diligent with it and so are her children! It amazed me to see how they re-spect nature and use the Three R's in their home. I challenge you all to write about your ventures with recycling, reducing, and re-using your trash and take a pledge to at least try to use some of the tips that you read about on this assignment. Don't forget to add your favorite scripture for this assignment.
I was very excited a few months ago when a lady came to our door asking if we wanted to recycle. She gave me a list of things they would accept and said they would come once a week to pick them up. So we jumped right in separating everything, papers, plastic bags, cans, jars,etc. They came two weeks in a row and that was all! And the one week they came, they said they could not accept THAT much stuff (I had a build up of jars ) So much for that idea! But then we realized that every few days when the garbage truck comes for our garbage, they separate things like glass and plastic right there in the truck. So even though it's not what I'd love to be doing it seems that some things get recycled and I know for a fact that if anything we throw seems at all still usable to the garbage men, they set it aside and keep it. As they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure".
We do have some other ways though that we reduce, recycle and re-use around here.
The main one is composting. We have a very small yard (I call it a garden like most Peruvians do, because it is just too small to be a yard) so not lots of space for this but we have set aside specific spots in three corners of the garden for worm piles.
 We put some worms there, started feeding them all our scraps and now each of those piles has quite a lot of worms!
 At one point we even had a mini compost pile going in a large flower pot and later planted peppers and then cucumbers grew (I shared about that a few posts ago). I also have a bucket of compost going as an experiment.
 By far the best are the ones in the corners.
We were getting quite a build up of cans from a chocolate drink mix we use. I was saving them just in case something came up that we might use them for...sure enough! Remember our finches? Their were getting to be a lot of adults at one point who were fighting over the few nests we had. So we decided to use the cans. They work really well for nests when you cut an opening in the lid.
 They hang nicely all together in a string too! We tried another plastic container as well, but the cans are the favorite with the birds. 
Another thing I re-use is zip-lock bags. I use them to store my veggies in after they come home from the market and are washed. This keeps everything fresh and clean in the frig. Then when re-wash the bags and use them again. The freezer bags are the best since they are thicker, making them last many many washings.
The boys also like the different cans, plastic containers and jars that we save from food we eat. I saved peanut butter jars (plastic) from last year and used them for storing homemade playdough for a while.
I'm sure there's more things I re-use or recycle here but this is getting long enough. :) What a great assignment! |
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Apr. 17, 2008 BFS Assignment 23: Flames of Passion
This week's assignment was the idea of my homeschool blogger friend Sombra!
Sombra wrote, "I think it would be interesting to find out if some
of the other ladies have sunk their teeth into something new in the last
year or so, what are they enthralled with, what has claimed the fires of
their passion." You can post pictures or as many things as you'd love to start doing for YOURself. I stand corrected but I took it from Sombra's email that she meant OUR OWN passion and not something your children or husband would like you to learn. Make sure you include a favorite scripture.
I think the thing I have started to "sink my teeth into" in the past 6 months or so is learning to play guitar. Shane learned to play when he was in grade school and whenever he had a chance to play someone else's guitar he would. Last year we were finally able to buy one for our family! Over the past few months we have enjoyed him accompanying us while we sing with our friends every week for house church.
One of the reasons we bought this particular guitar was because it has a smaller neck so that I could learn to play. Not because Shane was making me, but because I had expressed interest in learning how to play if we were to buy a guitar.
It's really great for me to have Shane nearby to help me figure out how to position my fingers for the different cords and give me handy tips on how to play. A friend of mine is letting me borrow her set of three dvds that teach you how to play guitar while praising the Lord. I love it because it's all praise songs and the teacher encourages you to ask the Lord for help as you practice and enjoy the practice time as a time to worship the Lord.
I've not had a lot of time since Christmas to stick to a good practice schedule but just this past week I was trying a new song out that Shane had sitting on his desk.
I used to play the Hammered Dulcimer when I was grade school age and really liked it but always wanted to learn to play guitar to understand chords.
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Apr. 14, 2008 Jalapeρo peppers or cucumbers?
When you plant jalapeño seeds you get.....
Cucumbers!?
Let me tell you we were shocked too! :)
We had a mini compost pile going in a large flower pot hoping
it would nourish the dirt and we could get some jalapeños going in there.
A couple months ago we stirred up the dirt and planted our seeds and
look what we have! Cucumbers! :)
It seems the cucumber seeds "woke up" from the compost pile and decided
to grow. I'm a little sad I do not have jalapeños but I am really enjoying the little
cucumbers! They nice and little and so yummy. A nice treat since all we get from
the market here are the HUGE cucumbers that sometimes have no flavor.
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Apr. 13, 2008 TOS Spring/Summer Promo
Spring has sprung and there's a contest springing up from the The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Read about it below and join in if you want!
I really like The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. For me it's great reading and living overseas it's always nice to find something good to read in English. I also love it because I don't get to talk to many homeschoolers in real life and it's a great way to read what other homeschoolers are doing and also realize that our family isn't nuts and we go through some of the same things too! It's another great way for me to feel connected to home and homeschooling.
I subscribed for one year and am looking forward to getting the next one here before too long. I am also excited that I can now subscribe online and download it to my computer if I want. That will be coming in handy for me!
The HSB Front Porch is having a contest and you can win a $50 gift certificate just for blogging about The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Spring Promo before midnight April 30, 2008. Subscribe now to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and receive 25 BONUS gifts valued at over $550! The Winter Promo sold out, don't miss out on the free gifts this time!
They are also giving away a $150 gift certificate to the Schoolhouse Store. All print subscribers (new or renewing) between April 3 - 30, 2008 will be automatically entered into a drawing. No purchase neccessary to win. To enter without subscribing, please send a postcard with your name, address, telephone number, and email address to:
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Spring Promo Contest
PO BOX 8426
Gray, TN 37615
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Apr. 10, 2008 BFS Assignment 22: Dinner Tonight
For this week's assignment I thought it would be fun to share our dinner plans for the night or if you're organized enough for the week. You can include pictures if you desire. Also tell what your family likes to drink, if you have desserts or not. If you want to then take this assignment and let all the children in your life make dinner for the night. Please add your favorite verse for this assignment as it might be an encouragement for someone else. This week's assignment is short and sweet so have fun with it.
It's been a while since I did a Blogger Friend's School assignment. Life's just been really full lately. But I had time today so here it is!
I went to the one little grocery store here in our city last week for our monthly trip to stock up and what did I see when I came to the legumes? Black Beans!!!! They are hard to find in this country and I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw all those bags of black beans for a good price! Woo hoo! So I stocked up!
This week I cooked them up with some taco seasoning in the pressure cooker and served them over rice with fresh salsa on the side (my tomatoes were a bit mushy but made perfect salsa). Yum! Just last night I re-heated the beans and we ate them with little potatoes I boiled and some cubed fried potatoes (didn't have enough of either kind of potato so I made both!) , lettuce and some sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. We usually drink water with our meals or after the meal.
This week we had some very tart apples that were starting to get really ripe so I sliced them all up and added some sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice to them. I had some leftover pie crust in the freezer so I rolled it out into 4" squares and put the apple filling in the middle and folded the corners in to the middle. Making a sort of bundle. From a recipe for apple dumplings I followed the instructions for a syrup to pour over the "bundles" of: sugar, water, cinnamon and butter. This I boiled for a couple minutes and then poured over the "bundles" which I had placed in a 9X13" glass pan. I baked this for about 40 minutes and they turned out very yummy!
There was still some leftover apple mixture so I mixed up a really simple cobbler batter:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
It wasn't much but just enough for a tiny pan. Poured the batter in and spooned the apple mixture over it and baked this too. We had lots of yummy apple goodness to eat for desserts for a couple days. Mmmm!
Verse that came to mind with this assignment:
Song of Solomon 2:4 -
He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.
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Mar. 28, 2008 Show and Tell Friday: Field Trip!
Last Friday we went on a little "field" trip with some friends to some property they own outside the city about 1/2 hour away. I thought I'd share some of the sights we saw on the drive up.
Our kids and all the other kids who came along had a blast running around, playing catch or volleyball and climbing on the truck. :)
Heidi enjoyed it but only if I didn't leave her side.
At one point Liam found a nest of biting ants that started crawling up his socks and into his pants. Thankfully we were able to get things off in time before he got too many bites. As I was picking ants off his pants he said to me "Be CAREFUL! Those things BITE!"
And look at these amazing flowers I found out in the fields! Many of these I've never seen before and so tiny! Sadly they didn't last being so fragile, hence the picture.
Check out more Show and Tell Friday posts by going to
Canada Girl's site.
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Mar. 25, 2008 Rain, rain, rain
Howdy all! After some busy days I finally got pictures uploaded!
Here's what our past few weeks have been here...Rain.
and more rain...
 Loads of fun for the kids. Getting good use out of their rubber boots!
 Yes, that is the street there to the right of the trees.
 Shane was taking these pictures I think and caught the garbage truck coming by.
In between the days of rain we have some days like this with no rain...
but lots of clouds. 
Or like this with BEAUTIFUL blue skies. I took this a few days ago when Heidi
looked up and pointed out how amazing it was.
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Mar. 8, 2008 Look at the size of this thing!
Shane came home from the market this week with this monster! Yep. That's a papaya! And it's beautiful on the inside too.
And here it is next to the little pineapple he also brought home.
Another fun surprise for me from the market, little sweet bananas! These are my favorites! More dense than a normal banana, sweeter and so nice and little!
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Mar. 5, 2008 Firm Foundations: Creation part 1
I finally got some pictures uploaded to show you how things are going with the Firm Foundations class with the Peruvian girls.
After missing a week Shane taught twice last week.
The focus for those days was mainly that God created everything out of nothing! Here's some simple drawings we copied off to show them and then they later took more of these pages home to color and remember throughout the week.
Day 1: Let there be Light, and there was!
Day 2: Water below and Sky above
Day 3: Sea, Dry Land, Plants, grass, trees.
Day 4: Sun, Moon, Stars, Day and Night
Day 5: Fish and Birds
(I realized later I took a picture of the wrong drawing and shared one that had other animals not just fish and birds. Oops! Only fish and birds on day 5!)
"And God saw that it was good."
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Feb. 29, 2008 Homeschool Pajama Day!
Over at Tamara's blog: Training Hearts
I noticed last year they would sometimes do "Homeschool Pajama Day" on the last Friday of the month.
I have been wanting to do it but we've had things going on the past few months on that last Friday so this month we are just now getting to that.
Today was Homeschool Pajama Day at our house!
Here's the boys in their PJs! 
First we ate our chocolate oatmeal. Then Arel finished his Pac-Man Maze while I read the boys more of "Johnny Texas" (This link I just found gives a quote from each chapter and a child's drawing for each chapter...this is a great book to read to boys!)
Graph paper is the standard notebook paper in Peru (I think in most Latin American countries) instead of college rule like we are used to in the U.S. They sell notebooks of all shapes and sizes and all in graph paper! It's one of Arel's favorite papers to use for drawing because it makes it easy to draw things more exactly and in the case of making a Pac-Man Maze it's perfect. Notice the yellow dots...those are the "Pac Dots" that Pac-Man has to eat before the ghosts get him. Arel is BIG into Pac-Man video games and after he plays he loves to draw the mazes or "adventures" as he remembers them onto paper.
After reading we worked on Math. Mainly Dane worked on Math since he has a goal to finish his Math book by the end of April. He actually has it all planned out that doing two pages a day including tests he'll finish on April 10th. :) So we he did his Math and Arel and I worked on one or two problems but mainly Arel kept drawing while I downloaded pictures onto the computer. :)
Then we pulled out Dane's Monopoly game! Dane, Arel, Liam and I played with Heidi watching and playing with the left over playing pieces: the dog and the shoe. We didn't play to finish but just went several rounds until we all started getting tired of it. Dane and I counted up everyone's assets in order to determine the winner. Results:
Arel: $1, 505
Mom: $1,729
Dane: $1,866
and the winner.....(doo, doo, da, doo!)
LIAM: $2,094!!!!
Liam loves games like this and he just bought up property every chance he got and never seemed to land anywhere where he had to pay much.
Afterwards Dane decided to count up all the Monopoly money to see how much this game had. Total was: $16,410!
Then it was lunchtime and time for chores and such. The boys are mostly still running around in PJs. It was fun and we may try doing this every month.
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Feb. 28, 2008 How to make Chocolate Oatmeal
Chocolate Oatmeal
Cook desired amount of oats (instant or whole).
About a minute before you are finished cooking the oats add approximately 1 Tablespoon of cocoa powder or instant hot chocolate mix.
I like to use a wire whisk to mix the oats while they boil so I just keep on whisking after adding the cocoa powder. Remove from heat.
Add your sweetener: sugar or honey or whatever and serve!
I have also discovered that you can make fruit oatmeal by boiling chopped fruit in the water for a few minutes first before adding the oats.
I have done:
Mango Oatmeal
Apple cinnamon Oatmeal
Banana Oatmeal (the banana is better to add mashed after the oatmeal cooks)
Peach Oatmeal
The best thing about the fruit flavored oatmeal made this way is that it's all natural! Not chock full of preservatives in the instant packet form and it tastes WAY better! I'm not much of an oatmeal person, but I like it this way! |
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Heidi's favorite breakfast...chocolate oatmeal!
She's also my first kid to insist on using silverware to eat at her age. Such a lady...well, a lady with a messy oatmeal beard. |
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