School daze

Here are some new pictures from a school day at our house. 

 

James does school work on the floor or the table or anywhere I can get him to do school.

Damian is so good (most of the time) at following directions and being self driven. I am so proud of him.

I love his hands

James and I struggle with school the most.

He is four and wants to be busy.

He does not like an audience. He likes quiet one on one time when he is learning.

With a big brother who likes to be with other people while he works.

This is hard work for both of us.

Sometimes Damian and I will do our own school work together at the table.

 

 

I hope your day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

When an eye is an eye

Yesterday I finished crocheting this hat for my dear friend's middle child.

I love this hat. It is so kooky (like me). On a side note I wanted to use the word corky but when I looked it up it meant the nature of a cork (Which could be me some nights if the nature of a cork is wine soaked). It did not really apply to the hat.

I made this eye too big for the hat and my kids found it.

James loved it because he has brown eyes too.

I love my life. Seriously how lucky am to have these wonderful little people who can always find a better use for my 'mistakes'.  I can not wait to share with you the three hats that I made for my friend's kids. I also made matching scarves! I am thinking about make her and her husband a hat so that everyone gets a new winter hat. Yes, I know it is summer. They live in Michigan so they will need the hats in September. All I really know is that I am grateful that she is letting me make these for her family. When I made my first hat I did not know that I was going to fall in love with crochet.

I hope you are having a wonderful day filled with delight, love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Oh me, oh my.

Do you ever have a moment when you realize that your child is taking after you in all the wrong ways? If you haven't yet had the pleasure I am sure it is coming soon. At least I hope so because the other option here is that I am totally crazy. Which is mostly true looking at the facts alone. Today I asked Damian to copy four sentences from his latin book explain etc. Which as you know is et cetera which is a Latin expression meaning "and other things" or "and so on". He started crying and yelling and ranting and raving. Me I am standing at the counter reading a recipe on making ricotta cheese. I look up at him and see myself when he says, "I am going to be a dried up old prune by the time this is finished and it is going to be all your fault." I swallowed hard and smiled at the absurdity of it all. This is my child acting like me. Not that I have ever said those words in that way before but I have been known to yell crazy things when I get upset including, "Oh all hail the King of the House for he has spoken and so it will be down!" or "Don't tell me that my argument makes no sense, it makes plenty of sense, I know your thinking it so stop thinking it right now. I make total sense and just because you are currently thinking I am crazy does not in fact make me crazy. No you are not right stop thinking that too. I am going to pull out of my hair trying to tell you that I am right not you." Maybe this last argument was a lacking in content but I was totally right at the time I knew I what I was talking about. Plus I get mad and I don't want to be hurtful so I yell, "Your lucky I love you right now!" I don't know if it is just me but it feels good to just yell something anything. Here is the thing my husband lets me talk crazy until I calm down. He sits there and smiles at how absurd I am saying next to nothing. Believe me we had an argument over fig vinegar and that just got completely out of hand on the crazy meter. Even he could not believe the crazy things coming from his mouth. Sometimes the crazy spreads.

Anyway as I was saying I realized that my sweet boy was taking after his nutty mother instead of his usually calm quiet father. I am so sorry that he is taking after me. I feel like maybe I am the wrong parent to take after most of the time.

There is a bright side of this crazy train when we are happy we sing about daily life. If you watch How I Met Your Mother you have seen Marshal sing about paying bills, doing laundry, walking, cooking, drinking, etc. That is me and the boys. I sing about driving the car, traffic, cooking, chopping, walking, folding laundry doing dishes, reading, playing, lunch, so on and on. It is weird and wonderful to make up little songs that fill you up with happiness. I only hope that when my children grow up they find a partner to balance them out. I hope I haven't ruined them.

I have no idea how the universe aligned to allow for Rob and I to find each other in this crazy world but it did. I have to believe That God brought us together because he knew we needed each other to fully grow into the people we were meant to be. Not to sound totally dependant on my husband but even the flowers need to be watered in order to grow.

I hope that your children take after the right parent and that your day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

New thoughts on old ideas

I am sure you noticed that I stopped doing the photo of the day. I ran out of steam on day 23 which was technology, day 24 something new and so on. I just did not find the creativity in these days plus I miss updating about my garden, crafts, cooking and schooling. The picture of the day is fun but it gets to be a little overwhelming towards the end. So I think I will lay off trying to be so consistent  on one single topic. This month I have found my love all thing homemade including ketchup, and crackers. I have made two sets of matching hats and scarves with at least one more coming in the next week. I starting making a log cabin quilt for a dear friend's children (one is still cooking. So I am waiting to get the news on where to add pink or add monsters). Honestly I want to try and focus on me, me, me. Well on the things that I am interested in. I want to be able to give you new ideas to try out or just share my new ideas. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed taking pictures and I had some fun working on the picture of the day. I just feel like it is time to move on. I hope you will continue to read along on this crazy jumble of words and thoughts that I call life. I enjoy sharing the pieces of me with you friends.

Today I am planing a BBQ to celebrate Memorial Day hamburgers, macaroni salad / pasta salad, baked beans, grilled corn salad, and a blackberry cobbler. I am just waiting on some replies to my guests. I found some flavored water that sounds yummy, and just now I want a lemon drop martini in a mason jar. Summer is coming which is always exciting but now that I live near the sun (I mean south Texas) summer takes on a whole new meaning of heat. Fortunately for us the pool is finally open so we all will be getting more exercise by way of walking to and from the pool in the mornings.

Here are a couple of summer songs to get you in the mood.

What is better then John Travolta? Well as long as you don't read the tabloids . . .

Hello Kieth Urban. "We should be together. . . Singing along with the radio."

You know you love to slow down for a minute and slow dance with your partner or child.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend filled with love, laughter, and music. Be well my friends.

21. where you stand

Photo of the Day for the Month of May
Day 21 Where you stand.

All morning I have been thinking about taking a picture of my feet somewhere. Then something amazing happened my baby, sorry I mean my big boy, started swinging by himself.

This is where I am standing, on the sideline of my kids life.

I know that I am still coaching but some days it is getting real.

This boy is learning how to fly.

I will be left standing while both of them leave the nest.

I love being their mom. I love that they are best friends. That they love each other.

Today I am standing still hope that they will grow a little slower, but I know they won't. I know that even though I want to hold on to these little people I also want to let them grow into adult men. I also know that I am going to need God's help to guide them down the road. I am praying that they know I am doing the best I can and that they will turn out happy adjusted people.

I hope that you are having a swinging day filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

7. someone that inspires you

Photo Challenge for the month of May

Day 7 Someone that inspires you

Of course you can guess the person who inspires me.

My husband who believes in me more than I do. Who encourages me to follow my dreams and to believe in myself. Who has been known to say, "whatever makes you happy" in response to my crazy ideas or plans. I love you Mr. Bartlett.

My first born son who is passionate and encourages me to be better. I love you Mr. Bartlett.

My baby, I mean youngest child. Is honest and super stubborn inspires me to be Proud of being me.I love you Mr. Bartlett.



It is funny when I call for mister Bartlett around these parts all three of these boys answer. It is one of my favorite things. As for inspirational people I have three of the best people to look to for a little big idea or encouragement. Love is really an amazing thing. I am blessed to have so much around me. I thank god for these blessings every day.

I hope that you are inspired by someone you love today and that your day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Upcoming Homeschool Year

The next school year in our house starts on May 1. Second grade has felt like a transitional period where we experimented with different ways to homeschool. What I found is Damian does better with structure which I kind of suck at in general but I believe that I can do better. Damian is starting third grade, and James will be learning to read. James will not have a grade level attached to him until he can read. I believe reading is the foundation of knowledge. James is finally showing signs of reading readiness and I am ready to watch him fall in love with reading. This year I have decided on six weeks school one week off. Christmas will be two weeks off. This way I can assign reading to Damian during school weeks and he will have a whole week of just piano practice and fun reading to look forward too. I want to show what the basic matrials look like for the school year.

These are the baskets of school books. Third grade books on the left and the teaching reading books on the right. 

I am using this book to teach James to read. Fingers crossed.

Third grade is looking harder then second grade. All of this work plus the weekly classic that goes along with the lessons. We are going to be busy.

Here is how our daily schedule is going to work.

James will do one reading lesson for 15-30 minutes in the morning.

Damian's schedule looks like this

Language arts 60 minutes

Math 30-60 minutes

History 30 minutes

Science 30 minutes

Latin 30 minutes

Piano practice 30 minutes

Reading at least 60 minutes

On average a school day will last about 4-5 hours depending on how willing the kids are to do the work. He is growing up fast. We are excited to start the new school year and we are starting with hope in our hearts. Wish me luck I am going to need it.

I hope that your day is filled with Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Easy popcorn

I am sure I found the most important life changing tip from http://www.tipjunkie.com/. How to make your very own microwaveable popcorn. Although I am sure I saw it on her facebook page I could not find the how to do the popcorn to link up to. If I got this idea from somewhere else I am sorry I forgot. Like I said I am like totally almost sure. I want to share it with you.

This is what you need. A lunch bag of the small brown bag persuasion, 1/4 cup popcorn seeds, and a little piece of tape. Plus if your crafty and want to decorate your bags anything you need there.

Put the popcorn in the bag and fold down the edge to close the bag and tape it down. Put it in the microwave for about 2-4 minutes (it only take about 2 minutes 30 seconds in my microwave so do not walk away to do just one quick thing. It burns fast.)

It looks like this when it comes out of the microwave. Now is the perfect time to add the salt.

Then eat.

We make our own popcorn around here because it cost a dollar for a bag of popcorn that last forever (okay at most 6 weeks), and it tastes so good. This way of making popcorn makes it a healthy snack. Like I said if you decorated the bags a great treat or gift indeed. My family loves it. By the way I found the site I got this idea from http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2010/10/make-your-own-microwave-popcorn-packs.html. I still believe TipJunkie posted it on facebook. She did a whole camping theme that is wonderful if you like to decorate brown bags.  I hope you enjoy the popcorn.

I hope you have a wonderful family night planned with easy popcorn and that it is filled with Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Puffy Recipe

I found a quick breakfast recipe hidden in my stack of grocery store cookbook. You know those little cookbooks that stare at you while you are waiting to check out (if not then I know you are secretly reading those trashy tabloids. Not to worry those two head aliens are crazy! Well that and all those glossy celebrity magazines, where everyone looks perfect in messed up relationships and who looks great in a bikini.) anyway I used to have a slight problem that I had to kick. I think I bought all of those little magazines for two years straight. I finally stopped buying them and gave all but four away. One of them is all about breakfast. This is important because breakfast around here is oatmeal, or eggs. I am not a morning person, my kids are. As soon as they wake up they ask what is for breakfast. I growl while I pour coffee and aim for the easiest way to make breakfast. The puffy pancake should called perfect because it requires almost no thought before my first cup of coffee. Here is a link to Betty Crocker's recipe for puffy pancakes  http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/puffy-oven-pancake-with-berry-topping/fa1070e1-1aed-438d-87c7-5366ff90fff3


Puffy Pancakes

Ingredients 

2 tablespoons butter (I use the stick kind and don't always measure but it puffs up more with a little more butter)
2 eggs (Farm fresh eggs are the best but any kind will do)
1/2 cup flour (Whole wheat flour also works great)
1/2 cup milk (Any kind of milk can be used. I have used heavy cream, raw milk, almond milk, and whole organic milk.
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon extract (Your favorite extract works and adds a hint of a lovely flavor I have used peppermint, vanilla, coconut, and almond extract but any flavor works. Also instead you can use citrus zest such as lemon and oranges)
Toppings can be anything you like the recipe suggests 2 cups fresh berries, but I dust it with powdered sugar and top with nuts, coconut flakes, berries, apple slices, and dried fruit. Use what you like or what the kids like.

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Put your butter into a pie pan (or what ever pan you have. I like to cut the butter into smaller pieces so that it melts faster.) Put the pan in the oven. Mix the eggs, flour, milk, salt, and extract in a bowl. When the butter is melted take your pan out of the oven pour the batter into the pan put into the oven for 25 minutes. Serve hot with your topping of choice.

That is it! Easy. My kids think I am wonderful every time I make this, I am willing to bet that your kids will think the same about you.

I do not have any pictures of this wonderful pancake.  Here is the one from Betty's website

http://www.bettycrocker.com

I hope that you have a wonderful week filled with Love and Laughter. Be well Friends.

Moments

Yesterday was was my baby's birthday. I can not believe that he has grown up so fast. Every time one of my children have a birthday I reflect on the past birthdays and the future ones. One day they may not want to celebrate with their parents. They will want to go out to dinner with all of their friends instead of choosing their homemade birthday dinner from me. I realize that I only have a few years left before they are adults. These sweet years are mine forever, because for them they will become part of the fiber that they are made out of. The story's they tell their future wives and children. I am hoping that by having this tradition of a big meal of their choice and all of us being together will bring them home. Maybe the hardest part of being in the military is knowing that there is a real chance that the kids might move away from us. The difference is I know that I will go to them. I am living the dream right now, living the moments that I will remember my whole life.

I made my sweet little man a Cape for his birthday.



I hope your week is filled with Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Love Language

Have you read The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman? My husband and I read this book a few years ago, I think maybe four years ago, I can't remember if we had James yet, I just remembered we did have James he was a baby so three years ago we read the book. I know it is not important when we read it, but it was bothering me so I had to work through it. Thanks for bearing with me. This month we have made it to being married for Ten Years. I have been thinking a lot about why we only have one single day to reflect upon our marriage and celebrate each other. I love my husband every day, and I am still thankful that he chose me even after all of these years. This morning that book came floating into my mind and I was inspired. I am going to reread this slowly working through all of the activities with the hopes of building my husband up without his knowing. Also I wonder if it would work for my kids. I have no idea what love language each of my children speak so it might be revealing and help to bring us all closer together, and it starts with me. Yesterday at dinner Damian asked if we could give up meat for lent, and my husband said he didn’t want to give up meet and alcohol (I had talked about giving up alcohol, wine for lent). That is when it hit me hard, these people depend on me to guide them, that I am the spiritual guide for our family, and I am the one that they look to as an example (well the kids, and my husband is the head of the house). I think maybe this is a good opportunity for me to become a better version of myself as a mother and a wife.



There are Five Love Languages



1. Words of Affirmation

2. Quality Time

3. Receiving Gifts

4. Acts of Service

5. Physical touch
 

When we read this my love language was Acts of Service and physical touch, and my husband’s was Quality Time and Physical touch. It is possible that they can change but it is unlikely. Still I am going to work slowly through this book starting at Chapter 1. I will update you on how it is going in the next week or so.



I hope your week is filled with Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Lessons learned

Lessons  Learned I learned last week. I know I am late on this post by two days but know that I am thinking about you even when I am not posting. I think it is the time of year when I would rather be in the kitchen baking and candy making add on that we are homeschooling and I am in college and we have a clash of responsibilities verses hobbies. I do my best and I always find a way to write to you again.

My favorite lesson I learned this week comes from Martha Stewart’s School of Cooking book. You can freeze cookie dough for up to a month. So I baked one dozen and then carefully divided the rest of the dough into two dozen cookies and froze them in a Ziploc bag.  That means I get fast cookies that are better than Tollhouse Cookies (sorry Tollhouse I am just against the random preservatives that you have to put in your cookie dough to sell to the general public. Don’t take it personally.).

Froozen cookies

Froozen cookies ready for the oven

Fresh from the oven

So I am going to Share with you the cookie recipe which can be found in Martha’s School of Cooking with my own notes added along to suit my tastes. This is a basic recipe so you can add anything that makes you happy. Don’t be afraid just through in those yummy mini M&M’s, heath bits, or butterscotch chips, or dark chocolate, or milk chocolate, and any nut you can think of or a combination of all of the above.

Basic Drop Cookies

3 cups All Purpose Flour

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (or whatever kind of butter you normally buy.) room temperature (it makes it easier to cream)

2 large eggs, room temperature (just set them out when you get started, mine were cold and the cookies were still good)

1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

2 Cups add- ins(again anything you want chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, candy, whatever makes your heart sing)

Preheat oven to 350* line pan with parchment paper (I didn’t do anything to the pan). Combine dry ingredients flour, salt, and baking soda. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy then add eggs one at a time, and then stir in vanilla. Add dry ingredients in three additions and stirring until completely incorporated. Then stir in two cups of your add-ins (I did three. Two cups milk chocolate chips and 1 cup of walnuts). Then use an ice cream scoop to drop the cookies on to the pan. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Allow to cool. After I put the cookies in the oven I used my little scoop to sort out the cookies for the freezer.

yummy...

p.s. I just wrote the highlights of the recipe. Here is a link to her website http://www.marthastewart.com/food

Did you know that when Chickens molt they stop laying eggs? I guess it gives their reproduction systems a welcome break, which leads to healthier chickens, and better quality eggs. They molt for 2-6 months depending on the bred. It is good for them, and it is good for me but I have found a love of fresh eggs. I am happy that the famer is so natural and wonderful and treats these animals with respect. So when she announced the molt I was both happy and a little sad. Maybe I should disclose that I buy five dozen eggs every two weeks.  If you make the switch to a local farmer with the same high standards as The Hanson Family farm you will understand how wonderful an egg can truly be. Honestly the price is slightly higher than the organic eggs at the market. I pay $3 a dozen; $2.75 if I return the egg carton which I do.  Like I have said before it is a wonderful feeling to know the farmer you are supporting. There is no middle man, there is no supermarket. I hand my money to the farmers, they take it and use it on their animals, or to care for their family. I am the lucky one because I get to support their dreams. It is really a beautiful cycle.  When was the last time you went to a grocery store and could say the same by buying factory eggs that are .99 cents a dozen.  

Okay enough about food. I learned how to end crochet projects by threading about twelve inches into the hat. I also learned how to attach the flowers on to my hats. I only made eight hats last week. I have a problem. I will make more next week.

I bought Rob a Pecan Tree for Christmas.  He planted it and then said lets go look at this nursery I found. They had trees on sale we bought three more. I got two roses 60% off. Rob planted all of them. I hope that we get some fruit off of these trees before we are forced to sale the house in 3-? Years.

Speaking of trees I let the boys pick the tree with out me. Because it was so short I also let them decorate it. Too. So far this is how the tree looks. Damian is working on Christmas banners to hang on it.

My post is getting long so I will stop now. For your sake. You know I could carry on unashamed.

I hope that your week is filled with magic, music, love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Christmas Ornaments

A couple of years ago my husband and I bought a big box of wonderful matching tree decorations. We were so excited to finally have a respectable tree. I especially had visions of people coming far and wide to see our wonderful tree in its entire perfect beauty.  Yes, I can be unreasonable delusional. The point is I knew that our tree would be perfect. Then we decorated the tree and it was perfect for five minutes when the reality of having young kids hit. James wanted to play with all of the pretty balls, Damian want to rearrange all of the store bought decorations every hour. When I was finished pulling out my hair to keep them away from the tree I put all of them back into the box and they do not come out any more. Lucky for me we were invited to a pottery place where the kids got to make their own ornaments. So they got put on the tree and a tradition was born. I forgot that the beauty of Christmas is found in the hearts of children that perfect is overrated. Now I let the kids decorate the tree with candy canes, homemade ornaments, and lights (The grown-ups hang the multicolored lights). Now we love the Christmas tree for its uniqueness, it is special to us. If the ornaments get broke it isn’t a big deal because we made them with love and laughter (sometimes a cranky mommy overwhelmed with giving the reins to the kids while we make ornaments) it all works out for the best.

This year I decided to try out the cinnamon applesauce  ornaments.  Here is the recipe from  http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1815,154190-231207,00.html 

APPLESAUCE - CINNAMON ORNAMENTS

Read more about it at www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1815,154190-231207,00.html Content Copyright © 2011 Cooks.com - All rights reserved. 1 c. ground cinnamon 1 tsp. allspice 1 tsp. ground cloves 1 tsp. nutmeg 1 c. applesauce Mix dry ingredients. Add applesauce a little at a time. Mixture should have consistency of playdough. If too dry, add 1-2 tablespoons applesauce. Roll 1/4 inch thick on ungreased surface. If too sticky, sprinkle with ground cinnamon. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on level surface to dry 4-5 days. Insert fine wire at top of ornament before drying. Tie with ribbon. Yield 2 dozen. I put them in the over at 200 degree for 2 hours. Also I used a straw and poked out holes in each ornament so that I could easily add the ribbon when they have cooled. The house smelled really yummy while they were baking. I am sure that you can decorate these with a little glue and glitter, paint, markers, and googly eyes but my boys wanted them to go on to the tree as soon as they were cool enough to handle. I hope that you have a very wonderful week filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Lessons Learned December 5

Lessons I learned last week.

My lovely husband was home all last week which is why my blog has been quiet. I love having him home but I am always glad to get the house back when he returns to work. I have no idea what we are going to do when he retires. Wait we'll be farmers so he will be busy with a thousand projects that need to get done.

So last week nap time some how became optional and went out the window. I am paying for this today and most likely tomorrow too.

School work for all parties became unbearable. With all the extra help less got done then normal.

I read Chaucer for the first time. I was surprised that his vulgar story telling is considered classic, also I had to write a short paper on whether he was for or against the church. I am pretty sure he was against it.

I sent the boys to pick our Christmas tree and some how all three of them decided on a 5 foot tree. I am 5'7". The lesson is always go as a family to pick the Christmas tree. It is pretty all dressed up even if it is the smallest tree we have ever had.

Finally I have found a new obsession . . .

Hats

Flowers

Adding flowers to Hats

Making my boys model flowery hats.

I have to be honest this yarn is some that someone gave me because they didn't like it. I have kept it around to try things out. If I don't like the outcome no big deal. It is kind of Christmasy if you squint a little to the left.

Then I discovered the five petal flowers. 

Oh yes friends, I like these flowers a lot.

Now what can I attach them too.

You guessed right a hat. I love the color of the flowers on the white hat.

The boys realized that these were girl hats.

I had to force him to model it for me.

I made them each their own hat. Which caused happy faces. Isn't he cute!

I am glad he is missing a tooth if he wasn't he would look a lot older. Then I would worry.

This is for one of my little nieces. I am so happy her mom said I could make her stuff with flowers on it. Then she said in natural colors or yellow. Wait! What? I want pink. Still I like the hat. I hope she does too.

So I am afraid you will be seeing more crocheted flowers and other stuff as I learn how to do them. I want to learn to make socks. Then I can make myself socks with flowers on them. I wonder if that is hard?

Any chance you were impressed by this new super talent? No. I don't blame you. Yes? You would not be so impressed if you knew how super easy these projects are. If you want to learn the secret to these lovelies check youtube. That is right step by step instructions. I hope you don't mind all of the pictures this week. I can not control myself. Do you know what I found that is next on my list? I won't make you guess it is a dinosaur hat. I have to buy yarn. I also need to con some people into letting me make them one. Do you need a hat? I am just kidding, kind of.

I hope you have a wonderful week filled with Holiday cheer (We celebrate Christmas but I love saying happy Holiday's because we are all in it together trying to spread goodwill to all)  I hope it is full of peace and hope and Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.