Tossing and Turning

Anyone else lay awake at night thinking of nothing but classroom layouts, school schedules and curriculum? Maybe it's just me. But, if there is a kindred spirit out there in the blogosphere, here's a fun tool to get your classroom all set up, you can even do it in the middle of the night and not wake your whole family.

Sledding in August

So, I asked Macho Man to watch the baby while I was working in the garden this morning. Next thing I know, I look up and he's riding her around on a sled he tied to his bike. Of course, she loved it but it made my heart skip a beat. Crazy kids!

A Week In Pictures

Some really creative stacking by my dish washing, eldest son. This says future engineer to me!

This week we are s-l-o-w-l-y move toward our new schedule for the school year. This year I will be taking all of the cooking back over (last year my eldest daughter was our dinner girl and my son made lunches) and so I've added in a baking day on Sundays.

Starting this morning at 8 am I made a very, very big batch of pancakes, two pans of these oatmeal scotchies shown above, one batch of coconut chocolate chip cookies, a big batch of beans (you can see my stock pot peeking out in the photo above) for chili and baked beans this week, a batch of brownies and cleaned up the kitchen as I went. I took a break to make lunch (!) and then took a nap. I hope to get some meat cooked during these baking days too. Now I've got a head start on some dinners, there are quick pancakes for the toaster for a couple of mornings, my husband has snacks for work and my children have some afternoon snacks that I can pull out of the freezer.

I really hope that I can get back to the point where I bake one breakfast thing and one snack type thing every week and have enough in the freezer from previous baking days to pull something out several days a week. That will give me extra time to focus on dinner prep. Whew!

We enjoyed a wonderful time at the park with some friends one morning this last week. It was a beautiful day, nobody else in sight. When we were packing up I had several ask when we were going to do this again!

Another new thing, my daughter is going to try her hand at selling on ebay. We found some matching, possibly twin, outfits at a thrift store. She's trying to finance her upcoming piano lessons to go along with her voice lessons. Voice+piano+pony lessons and gymnastics for the the boys=poor parents. Who said that homeschooling moms can't do math!?

A little project time at the table.

My serious artist.

Bike time is back with our new schedule. Get your afternoon chores done and you get a half an hour to ride your bike or scooter or skates. In the house!

Lots of Extra Produce?

Days of Awe

We are coming upon a somber and serious time, really a a month of introspection and repentance. Tonight (Wed) is Rosh Chodesh Elul. Don't let the weird words throw you. That just means the new moon, Rosh Chodesh, which is what the Hebrew calendar is based on and the name of the new month, Elul.

From tonight, through Rosh Hashana, until the culmination of Yom Kipper, we are all to look at our lives, reflect and seriously take stock of ourselves.

Sound like a weird, Jewish Lent. Funny thing here. These 40 days are God-ordained. Those 40 days are pseudo-Holy Days, man made. Strange, isn't it? There are always imitations of the real thing.

From the Hive....

Checking on my bee hive this morning, I found ten very full frames of honey. You'll never guess how good this stuff really is for you. Take a peek over here to educate yourself.

And, you know that honey is not the only great thing that comes from the bee hive. Check this post out at Beneficial Bee on how to make beeswax lip balm.

Fun Snack Idea

I don't know about you, but around our house I make two snacks a day. It's almost always fruit in the morning but something a little different most of the time in the afternoon. And often I am stumped as what to offer. I hate to hear, "Again?" from my children.

I saw this recipe in the Family Fun magazine that was in my mailbox today, so I thought I'd try it:

Sticks and Stones

4 tbs. butter

3/4 cup frozen orange or apple juice concentrate

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

3 cups oatmeal cereal squares

2 cups pretzel sticks

1 1/2 cups whole almonds

1 cup raisins or dried cranberries

Heat oven to 300. Place the butter, juice concentrate and sugar in large, microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 45 seconds to melt the butter. Stir in cinnamon.

Spread the oatmeal squares, pretzels and almonds (NOT THE FRUIT!!) on a baking sheet. Toss to coat with the butter mixture. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from oven then stir the fruit in. Let mix cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Well, I did have a little less than half of these ingredients... the butter, sugar and some pretzels but they weren't sticks, so I made up my own recipe with what I had:

Jenny's Juicy Snack Mix

4 Tbs. butter

1/4 cup grape juice concentrate

1/4 brown sugar

3 cups Honey Nut Cheerios

2 cups mini-pretzels

1 1/2 cup cashews

1 cup dried apricots, chopped

Bake as directed above... but remember not to put the fruit in until it's done!!! (Can you guess what I did?)

Use what you have and bake your children up something a little different for snack today. And, consider doubling it and putting the leftovers in a gallon jar with a lid for another day.