Learning!

After attending this last homeschool conference I'd read something or heard something SOMEWHERE....

about doing spelling w/ chalk on cement... or such....

So I got to thinking....

We got some chalk....

And I wrote out the alphabet, in a keyboard format, so that the kids could spell words, by jumping from letter to letter....

This also means their learning is reinforced:

Kinesthetically, Visually, Audibly (they have to say it and then they hear it)......

And also they're learning the layout of the keyboard for typing skills.....

And they're getting their "P.E." in, ALL at the SAME time!! :)

I know I TOOK some photos of them doing the jumping and spelling... but for some reason they seem to have disappeared... ??

We Did It Ourselves!

Isn't the Lord so good to give us brains and wisdom??? ;)

My dad always taught us growing up that there's soooo many things people could easily repair themselves, if they but TRY. All you have to do is investigate it a bit, and "wholla~!"

So guess what? See that green chair right there? Well, we had another green chair that eventually formed enough wear to produce big tears in, and of course, we duck-taped it for a few weeks......
Then last Sunday or so, after JUST buying Cody a NEW pair, never been worn, dress pants..... he sets in his duck taped chair for breakfast, and we're getting ready to go, and he's got sticky gray lines all over his butt! :(

It took a few seconds, before realizing he'd been stuck w/ duck tape!! :(

(I've been treating and re-treating those pants 10 times since then!) :(

And last week, I had Cody unscrew the bottom of the chair seat, to prepare it for recovering. I didn't want to spend any $ on vinyl (nor did I care for more green chairs anyway), and so I just found some nice peach skin, burgundy fabric to cover it with.

I called Chris in for some help, and we finished it TOGETHER! :) Whalla! :)

Since it's NOT vinyl, I put it over to use w/ my new, but used $5 sewing desk I just got at a yard sale! :) Now I have a pretty chair to set in, and sew, at MY very own SEWING desk! ..... :)

Yep!- My Dad wasn't perfect, but he sure did teach us alot of useful things! :)
And what did he teach us? -To just TRY to fix it yourselves!! :)

We're pretty pleased with ourselves! :)

-Glory to God for wisdom!! :)

Look- what we've found!

Look what we've found!!

Brittany discovered this in our backyard tree, a few mornings ago. She just looked up and there was this leaf COVERED in TONS of baby bugs!

There were alot more there, but after tugging the leaf off the tree, not so many made it to the photo shoot.... :)

Neat! -Huh? ;)

(We did however squash all the bugs in their tracks after the photo shoot. We don't really need any more bugs, ya know.... ?)

I love it when God "Homeschools" us! :)

"Ravi-rollis"

So you might be saying "Ravi-rollis"?!!??!?!? .....

My family (well Brittany, really) has been requesting homemade raviolis for the last few months. And you may know that I AM 1/2 Italian, and I do know how to cook! : )

So, finally I got to it, & I set out to make raviolis:
..... making the filling, making the dough, rolling it out, and spooning the filling on, covering it back up w/ another layer of pasta dough, cutting, sealing, boiling....... batch after batch...

Tedious.... isn't it? ;)

My feet and legs don't take long to ache, either, let me tell ya! :)

But before I got that far, I ran out of white flour, so wound up using white wheat flour, and mixed it by hand instead of using the mixer, (because my hands were messsy and so much was going on, I didn't GET to...) and my pasta dough was tough, and too thick... but still tasty... somewhat..... :)

So I ever so sweetly asked Chris to go to the store (a 2nd time, after he already went and got me eggs and cottage cheese for the filling) to go get me some white flour so I can make all this work, worth it! :) And he did, and I made an all new batch, and made sure to use the mixer, and it came out wonderfully!! :)

The only thing is, I had a million more to make, and my feet and legs were KILLING me!! :) Ya see, I'm using my parents' recipe, which has been handed down for generations, and I always forget that the recipes are twice as big as what WE need them to be..... :(

So... rather than finish making the raviolis, nor wasting food.... I thought I'd try rolling the dough up like jelly rolls, full of filling, and after all, we WERE wanting alot more meaty filling, and less dough.... so this was a dandy idea! :)

I just didn't know if it'd work, or HOW to cook it w/ out it getting soggy, or crusty weird.... or tough....

So finally, I just put in a casserole pan, in the oven, WITH tinfoil, so it would get some moisture it should seem to need.....

And then, AFTER baking it, and it cooled down a bit, I covered it in sauce.

They are quite YUMMY!! Better than raviolis even.... kind of like a lasagna.... or a "la-violi" or "rav-i-agna"..... but it's original name, as I chose to call it, is: "Ravi-rollis" That's 2 L's, because you do roll it! :)

Improvising.... can be such a wonderful thing!! :)

The not so good part is that Brittany only has taken bites of my hard labor I so lovingly did for HER...... So what does she say?: ".....They just don't taste the same.... I think I like the store raviolis...."

Ugh!.... :( Don't you just appreciate that?? ;)

So Chris said "Please, please, please honey.... do NOT go out of your way to cook things for the kids... Don't do that to yourself...."

Chris, my wonderful, loving husband did love it though and raves all over it! :)

He even called to say "Honey, the 'ravi-rollis' were soooo goood.... and full of MEATY filling!! Thank YOU!!!" ;)

...............I love that man! :)

Turning Muffins into COOKIES

You know how many people like muffin- TOPS more than the other 1/2 of the muffin? WE are one of THOSE people........ and you know that they sell those kind of pans, that you can just make the TOPS..... yes, they do.... Well, I had wanted those.... until I got to thinking maybe I can achieve the same results by just making COOKIES!! :)

I love making really healthy muffins, but I really like the tops the most (don't we all?) :) And... I don't really like, though, the extra trouble of placing all the muffin papers in.... or the tedious clean up of the pan, whether you use papers or not.... it's all just rather tedious, to do it very often, as ya might like to...

So.... I've been making muffin batter, or banana bread, or whatever, and just spoon them onto cookie sheets!! It's healthier, easier, faster, easier, faster, easier, faster.... healthier.... (did I say that enough???) :) And.... the kids think they're realllly getting quite the treat, when we call them COOKIES!! :)

They're even cutely displayed and stored in a cookie jar! :)

And hey.... I didn't even have to spend more $ on one more pan, or find a place for yet another pan!! :) Ha! :)

Update/ My Vacation From the Internet...

Well, I thought I may as well throw in the latest weight comparison update, which is that I'm down 35 lbs!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, onto what I really wanted to inform ya'll of:

Addictions....

Some of us have Starbucks addictions.... (and some people have been beginning to get them....) and some of us have internet addictions....

I've been wasting wayyyyyy too much time online lately, and have literally been extremely addicted to being online..... It's getting to be a reeeeal problem, and I'm neglecting other things I need to be taking care of......

Okay... so....

I'm gonna be taking a lil break from being online, (hopefully 2 weeks).... My daughter doesn't think I can go a single day without getting online, but I'll go for TWO WEEKS!!

Yes... I need to break this habit somehow....

So.... Don't come pounding down my door ~OR~ ring my telephone off the hook, if you don't hear from me for awhile; because I need a break from the telephone too.

And... This will give me more time to for "act-unities" (exercise) too!! I do need to get in more exercise, and this will free me back up to do so!! :)

I am taking a vacation from being online- like it or not.

So... I might not be back until August 16th.....

And who knows..... I may just let myself get online, Saturdays only....

So off I go..... I hope I get to see lots of messages in my inbox, as usual, when I return! :) And I DO look fwd to catching up w/ you again, at that time! :)

Love ya!
Take care!!
Wish me luck!!