Dec. 2, 2008 - Pepper Jack Potatoe Soup - A Soup Everyone Will Love (& Easy, Too)

I could have titled this post, “The Perfect Day,” because it felt appropriate.  If you follow my blog, you know that I love Monday’s because I claim it to be whatever I want it to be.  I let the kids sleep in (generally), I have extra time to read the Bible, write in my scripture journal, and sometimes even get to post a blog.  I did all of that this morning.   When the kids got up, Joshua built us a warm fire.  I went outside in the cold and snow and did the farm chores, instead of asking the kids to do them.  I took my time making sure all the animals had their water (the troughs were not filled with frozen water), and food.  I collected the eggs from the chickens nests, gave them their clean water, and feed.  I filled the tub for the ducks with the clean water.  I actually like doing this stuff in the cold, snow, and sleet.  It must be the nurturing side of me surfacing.

When I came in, the kids had drawn close to the crackling fire.  Ruthie had her entire American Girl collection all set up around the clinker brick fireplace.  On the coffee table in front of the fireplace, the boys had their army toys and tanks all laid out.  The snow falling outside and the cold weather made me grateful to be tucked inside with my children playing contently by the fire.  Its’ moments like these that I cherish.  It’s moments like these I want to stop and enjoy and let them sink into my soul for an eternity of memories.  I know all too well that these moments are racing by me.  I pray often that He will help me to slow down time (in the way of not over-hurrying my schedule; stay at home more; enjoy my kids.)

After looking at something with Rachel on the pc, I told her that I needed to get going on my busy schedule of all the things I needed to accomplish for the day.  I stood up and walked across the room.  I looked at the piano, and the thought came over me, “I want to play the piano.”  This was certainly not on my to-do list, in fact, it’s something I rarely do unless on a Sunday morning church service for accompanying the hymns.  I sat down, opened a book of classical music, and began to play.  From my peripheral vision, I could see that all the children had stopped what they were doing.  They were staring at me in disbelief.  See, I haven’t played classical piano in maybe three decades, way before they were ever born.  They didn’t know I could do this!  I stopped playing.  I wish I’d had a camera with me, for I would have snapped a picture to capture the moment.  I think I might have even seen some of their mouths just hanging open in disbelief.  I said, “You guys didn’t know I could play the piano like this, did you?”  To which they all affirmed a clear agreement that I was right in my assumption.

 I began to play again, and I began to think about how I really haven’t played in so very long.  Just what did cause me to choose this moment to do so?  I think the answer to that is that I have been feeling rather melancholy since Thanksgiving Day, and inside of me I think I just needed to soothe my soul with music.  I began to recall playing as a young girl, in junior high, about 12 and 13 years old, and music such as this would soothe my soul.  It was strange; this music conjured up within me long ago forgotten feelings of certain sadness during that age.

I played and played.  Rachel came and sat down beside me.  I stopped again, and started telling the kids that I hadn’t practiced these songs in decades, yet I could still play them.  I chose this moment to encourage them in their own music lessons.  It is said that our fingers have memory – yes, it is true! Just like our brain has memory, our fingers do, too.  I told the kids that when they practice their music, whether it is guitar or piano, it’s time wisely invested.  What their learning may very well be lodged in them forever.  I must have played for hours.  I could feel that by the very act of playing these notes and expressing emotion in the music, I was working out what was bothering me in my heart.  Then, I began to be happy that I had been experiencing my unpleasant emotions, for they had led me to this lost love of playing the piano! 

I took time to email a good friend.  In fact, we corresponded several times during this day, a rather unusual thing for me to do, also.  I ventilated my unpleasant emotions – that’s what friends are for, right?  She helped me to see some things in a different light, and this too, helped lift my spirits.

I felt like having something hot to eat, but nothing that was labor intensive.  I came up with a soup recipe that absolutely everyone in the house liked, even those that said they didn’t like potato soup (my husband) or my boys that are generally not soup lovers anyways.

I cut up about six or seven potatoes and put them in the crock pot.  I covered the potatoes with a few cans of chicken broth (it would have been better had I used homemade broth) and enough water to cover the potatoes.  I added some shredded carrots, and some chopped onion.  I wanted to add Lipton onion soup, but I didn’t have it.  Instead, I found a package of Good Seasons Red Pepper and Basil seasonings, just like the Italian seasonings.  It was just a small package, so if you don’t have it, I don’t know it would make a huge difference.  But it is a new product just on the market, so you can see if you can find it.  Anyways, I then added a can of Campbell’s Cream of Chicken and Mushroom soup and a can of Campbell’s Pepper Jack soup.  I cooked it on high.  For the cheese lovers, add extra pepper jack cheese (Rachel did this).  I didn’t add the extra cheese to save on the calories, but it does make a better soup if you do.  It was a hit – not a person in the house didn’t like it.  Now, that rarely happens around here to get a 100% approval rating!

We did have school time, too.  In fact, I myself learned a ton!  I love it when we have class time and I learn new things right along with the kids.  I learned something new that I never knew before in Bible class; History class; and science class.  Now that’s quite remarkable, too!

Dad got home late this evening.  Because our morning had started all so slow, this helped me to fit the extra things in that I might not have had time for.  I even got some exercise in. 

Now, that’s what I call a great day. 

Dec. 2, 2008 - My Week Ahead 12/01

Since I’m posting my Monday post on Tuesday, you can guess how my days are going. Actually, things haven’t been too out of control. My work schedule has gone crazy, and I’m headed into finals at school, and we’re still going strong with the kids’ schooling, but my dear family has jumped in and taken on some of my responsibilities. What a blessing!!

1. Bible Study/ Devotions ~ No Bible studies, no devotionals, nothing but the Bible this week. Glorious!
2. "Must Do"~ The “must-do” list this week is filled with fun holiday activities. I’m probably the only person who thinks these things are fun, but that’s okay:

·           Mix and freeze about 4 more batches of cookie dough..

·           Continue working on Christmas projects.

·           Finish Christmas shopping.

·           Start organizing for the Christmas Treasure Hunt.

·           Study for final exams.

3. Zone~ Everyone has been keeping up on the house. We still have some clutter, but it’s manageable. Technically, my zone this week is the entrance and dining room, but I have to empty and re-organize the kitchen shelves. They are overfull with extra baking items and it’s time to organize it all.
4. Train Them Up~ School is on track and still going strong. I’m not pushing them quite as hard as usual, but we’re still working every day.  
5. Menu Planning~ My work schedule is in high gear so the menu is very simple.  J

Breakfast – Choose from Apple and Cinnamon Oatmeal, Toast, Granola, Cold Cereal (rice crispies), and Fruit (oranges)

Lunch – For Hubby, it’s two sandwiches, a piece of fruit, and potato chips. For the rest of us, lunch is either leftovers from the night before or some kind of sandwich. This week, the sandwich choice is turkey and cheese.

Dinner:

Monday – Pizza (not take-out this time, but still yummy. I really love pizza!)

Tuesday – Baked Mac & Cheese

Wednesday – Spaghetti (Using up the last of the sauce that I froze last month)

Thursday – Texas Ranger Soup

Friday – Tater Tot Casserole

Saturday – Leftovers!

Sunday –  Oven Fried Chicken, herbed potatoes, veggies

Hope you have a blessed week! And a memorable Thanksgiving!

Thanks for stopping by.

Betty

Grace and peace be yours in abundance. – 1Peter1:2b

Dec. 2, 2008 - My New Favorite Song...Love this! Beautiful Life!

Dec. 2, 2008 - Tuesday Review!

 Don't forget to scroll down to the next post to get a chance to win a pair of Polliwalks!

If you have a product, book, curriculum, anything that makes life better  for you please write a review and then leave a comment and sign Mr. Linky so we can all see the product you are reviewing.  I love to write reviews and love to read them so I think this will be so much fun!  Feel free to copy the picture above and add it to your sidebar or just use it for your review entry

 If would like to do a review but Tuesday is not good for you please feel free to link up to Mr. Linky any day this week, we would love to read your review regardless the day you post it!

Today I'm reviewing RimeToRead.  This is a website of 20 books online that your child can read.  You can read them online or print them out and make them into the book.  My son really enjoyed the books that he could read, he is just learning so some are still a challenge for him.  I loved the fact that my son who is a just learning could actually read a whole book with words he could do.  He was excited that he read a book, it was really neat to see.  The books have some wonderful pictures too so that reading comprehension is there and they are able to put faces to their stories.    The only down side is the website would be too expensive for some on tight budgets but you can read the first book for free to see if it is something your interested in.  If you have a child that needs extra reading help it would be a great site to check out too!  Here are the prices:

The Rime to Read online reading program costs $44.99 for the complete set of 20 books. Or you can purchase each 4-book vowel set for $9.99.

Here are some features that the website shares:

• Highly effective approach to beginning reading
• Emphasizing word families (rimes)
• Unique color-coded system
• Structured for success
• Having trouble reading a word? CLICK it and it will be read back to you.

Thanks to the Homeschool Crew and RimetoRead for this opportunity!

Dec. 1, 2008 - Romanian Missionaries Coming To Live On the Ranch

It was a relaxing day on the Sabbath.  My husband, two boys, and I had gone out to meet our oldest son at a gun shop – its deer hunting season and there were some supplies needed. While the boys were in the shop, I visited in the car with my daughter-in-law, Kristi.  We both have common interests and the time flew quickly until the baby had decided she was tired of being in the car.  That prompted us to chase the boys out of the shop and off to breakfast.

When we got back home, there were some missionaries from Romania at our home, waiting to meet us.  This was our first time to meet them, but we have been praying and looking forward to their arrival since the middle of summer.  They are here on a furlough for about 10 months and are in need of a place to stay.  We just so happen to have an accommodation, with a little bit of cleaning and some labor of drywall and the such, which will provide them with the privacy that their family needs while in the states.  Although it’s not going to be like staying at the Ritz, it will be a place for them to recluse together instead of staying in the homes of others.  On past trips much shorter to the U.S., they have stayed in the homes of others and with this extended trip, they had desired greatly to be able to have a place of their own.    

Rachel had her girlfriends over for the weekend – when we went out for breakfast with the boys, they made a gigantic “Mexican” breakfast.  More often than not, when we leave, they all get busy in the kitchen and have a grand time.  After their big meal, they all went horseback riding, including little Ruthie.  This is the first season for Ruthie to go trail riding (verses taking lessons in the Round Pen).  She took Minnie (my favorite horse) and rode right along with the big girls as if a seasoned rider.  Did I mention how proud I was of her?

As the missionaries were leaving after chatting with them and showing them around for a quite a while, Rachel ran up with her colt, Magic.  He is looking like a children’s toy – those stuffed horses you see at Christmas time for sale – with his this winter hair growth.  He is the friendliest little guy I’ve ever met.  He brings a lot of happiness to our place! We all love him (and he loves us back.)

Church went excellent.  We gathered together Sunday morning around 11:00 a.m. and did not finish until almost 6:00 p.m.  We worshipped God, fellowshipped with one another, and ate together.  It was a time of mutual encouragement and being built up together in Christ.

In the evening, we sat around the fireplace and had our family reading time together.  We are reading from the book, “For The Temple,” subtitled, “A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem,” by G.A. Henty.   This is our fourth book in this series that we have read and we love them all.

Today, it is cold and snow outside.  Monday is my favorite day of the week because I hibernate with my children.  I let them sleep in while I refuel my spiritual tank with searching the Scriptures.  When they are up and about, there is no hurry. We start a fire, have breakfast, and slowly move into our class time.  This is the day we have no individual class time, but rather, spend a lot of time reading together the Bible, history, and science.  We sometimes watch a historical or documentary movie.  I also use this day to look over my bills, balance my check book and today will spend time figuring out the Christmas budget.  So right now, I need to get going and get started on the first thing on my ‘to-do-list,’ and that is emailing my husband on a to-do-list for him! 

Dec. 1, 2008 - Polliwalks and Giveaway!

I received two pairs of shoes from Polliwalks.  Wow!  Are these fun shoes, my daughter LOVES them.  She can't wait to go somewhere now just to wear the shoes.  These shoes are shaped like animals, she received the kitties in pink with fur.  Polliwalks really wanted to make shoes fun and comfortable for kids and they have done just that!  Each pair have pawprints on the bottom so when the kids walk in the snow or sand there will be pawprints left by your child.   These shoes are so comfortable and my daughter can totally put them on and off herself!

This is what the website says about Polliwalks

Introducing Polliwalks™, a company that is committed to
innovation, design, and FUN!
We believe that shoes shoudn't just be shoes;
they should be toys for feet!

We have created a brand that is driven by an unending desire
to design fun products from a kid's perspective. Something
that goes beyond comfort, function,quality and fit, something
that also speaks to the playful side of being a child, something
that reaches the core of a child's imagination.

Polliwalks™ shoes are available in several colorful animal styles
and all feature our patent pending Footprinter™ Bottom.  Children will step in dirt, firm sand, water or snow and leave a trail of tiny Polliwalks™ footprints wherever they go. 

Wearing Polliwalks™ shoes is like wearing little animals on your feet!  They are constant companions for all of life’s little adventures at home, school or play

For the Christmas season Dillards and Zappos.com are going to have two of the new spring syles in for the holidays.  
(the Fish Lips and Firefly) .  The fish lips change color in the sun..  And the Firefly tail lights up, these are so so cool!  My daughter received a pair of the fish lips too.  They come with a strap so you wear them with our without the strap.

We LOVE these shoes, everything about them is fun fun!  The best part is I get to give a pair in a giveaway!  This is open to US residents only.    The contest will end Monday December 8th at midnight.

All you have to do is go to the website www.polliwalks.com and tell me what pair of shoes you think are the cutest, I will tell you it will be hard, they are all adorable.  In the giveaway there are only a limited selection that they are giving away but you can't go wrong with ANY of them-after you win I will let you know your choices. 

If you post this contest on your blog, come back and leave another comment and I will give you another chance to win!

Make sure you leave me an email or blog address so I can contact you, if you don't I will have to reject it!

Thanks so much to polliwalks and Family Review Network for this opportunity!

Dec. 1, 2008 - Happy Birthday Sam!

Wow!  Another year has passed and my oldest is now 10, half way to adulthood, does that ever make me want to weep?  Sam is such a sweet child and we are so proud of him!  He is truly becoming a young man and we love him more then he could ever know!  I remember 10 yrs ago right before he was born, he was due the 16th and we always put the tree up on the 1st.  I thought maybe we should put it up a day after Thanksgiving that year just so everything would be done in case and thank God I did because on the 1st day of December is when he made his arrival.  It was tough and ended in an emergency c-section but we had our first son in our arms and it was so wonderful and now he is almost as tall as I am (he is very tall for his age) and I couldn't carry him if I tried.  They always tell you time flies and you don't really believe it until your grown and you see it with your own eyes, I truly can't believe Sam is now 10-Happy Birthday baby boy, well you will always be my baby!

Nov. 30, 2008 - Ferrero Rocher!

Share Something Sweet is a partnership between chocolate company Ferrero and Share Our Strength, a leading hunger-relief organization. You can learn more about this at:

www.sharesomethingsweet.com

This partnership is in its second year, and this year Ferrero has donated $150,000 to Share Our Strength and is giving others a chance to add to that donation. Right now, if you log on to Share Something Sweet and use it to "send something sweet" (that is, a customizable e-card), Ferrero will donate another $1 per e-card sent, up to $10,000. And for every person that joins the Ferrero Facebook page, "Ferrero Lovers Unite," Ferrero will donate another $1 to Share Our Strength (up to $1,000):

http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/FerreroR-Lovers-Unite/26098488476

There's also a chocolate personality quiz, product offers and event news.

Thanks to Family Review Network for sharing the campaign.

Nov. 30, 2008 - Relaxed homeschoolers, I need your help!

Will you help me?  I need about ten quotes on "relaxed homeschooling." 

Tell me how it works for you.  Tell me what you really like about it.  Tell me the pitfalls you have with it, or the blessings.  I'd like to be able to quote you in an article, so if you respond here be sure to give me at least your first name and an initial. 

The first five who leave me a comment will receive a free download of my E-book, "Homeschooling Is Our Life!"

I need those right away, so please leave me a comment with your thoughts.  Thanks so much!

Nancy

Nov. 29, 2008 - etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

 Yes, we have recently watched "The King and I."

Oh, there's lots to tell. Friday & Saturday were a blur of activity.  Hannah's friend Leah came over mid-morning.  (she goes to private school).  I had a lot to do-bread to make, brownies to make, house-cleaning, organizing.  I've been on an organizing streak the last week or so.  I am missing some of my clothes and can't find them.  How in the world does that happen??  I'm sure the kids must be involved in some way.  So, the only way I find things is to clean and we have too much clutter and junk everywhere anyway.  It was snowing outside & I had Christmas music on, so I was quite happy puttering around cleaning.

My dh picked up several colors of electrical tape for me so I could fix our Konos timeline.  It was in such a sorry state.  I should have taken a before picture.  Here it is all neat & shiny.  Now to add the people:

 My didn't even blink an eye when I told him I was putting electrical tape on the walls.  I guess homeschool dads get used to anything and everything happening in and around the house.  LOL  I put the year numbers on each end of each tape. 

Leah & Hannah made horse treats, which the horses all LOVED.  They look pretty good to me, too:

 Later in the afternoon a truck pulled in-it was Hannah's friend, Danielle & her Grandpa.  He wanted to see the buck Pat got.  Danielle ended up staying here to hang out w/ Hannah & Leah.  She was still in her pajamas, too.  LOL

They played with the horses, played board games, had a snowball fight.  Here is Hannah & Danielle (and the dogs):

 And here is Jonah, Leah & Susanna.  I'm not sure who won:

The 2 girls ended up spending the night.  Pat worked evenings & was getting home at midnight.  The girls left a note on the horse cookies to say what they were in case Pat was tempted to try one.  LOL  In the morning, all the kids did the outside animal chores & played more, then had bagels for breakfast.  Pat worked on skinning deer in the barn-there are 3 of them hanging in there. 

Mid-morning, 2 of Jonah's friends showed up to play for the day.  Shortly after they arrived, Hannah, Danielle & Leah went to Danielle's house to play with her horses and go snow-mobiling.  They also do something called extreme sledding.  It's where Danielle's Grandpa pulls their sleds behind the snowmobile.  The boys (& Susanna) played outside almost all day-sledding & snowboarding.  Here they are:

Here's Alyssa Rose all suited up to go outside, too:

Pat had to work Saturday evening, too. Around 6pm(and I was pretty spent), I got the kids all loaded up to bring the boys home.  Stopped at Clayton's house (friend of Jonah) to drop off his clothes he left behind last week, then went to pick up Hannah. 

About 50 yrds from the driveway I hit a big rabbit.  I got upset, Hannah was upset and Susanna was crying & yelling that I had killed a baby rabbit and it's mother was looking for it.  I didn't know if was alive & suffering, but couldn't stand the thought of that, so we drove up to the house to get a shovel & Jonah's BB gun.  He thought we should get the 22, but I wasn't comfortable with that.  Jonah was in charge of what had to be done if it was needed. 

I drove back down the driveway, stopped the car in front of the rabbit, but not too close and it appeared to be dead.  Jonah gets out & says, "ok, all you girls should probably cover your eyes while I do this."  (LOLROF)

Before he walks away with the shovel & the gun he asks me if we can save it and eat it!!  I told him there was no way we were eating road kill.  LOL  Thankfully the rabbit was dead.  Jonah got it out of the road and we got back up to the house.  Phew-I was so exhausted after 2 whole days of extra kids.  I want to laugh at people when they ask me about "socialization."  Not only were there friends over, but Blythe called Hannah to discuss their Science Fair project, Clayton called & Hannah got several emails.  Some days I'd like to change our phone number & our address.  It was fun & I'm glad the kids have so many friends, but I told them I need a week without friends coming over. 

With that being said, I now need to get ready as we have friends coming over today to help butcher deer!  LOL