~One Saturday Afternoon~

Cousin L had a birthday awhile ago and because it was on a Saturday and Papa, because of the extreme cold, had to take the T-all to work as the car actually froze solid in the -38C weather we had earlier that week, we couldn't go. Then Grandma called. She was going and she offered to take J and L with her. So we quickly got some lunch and then ready to go. They had a blast and got to go bowling for the 1st time ever! 

SO while the boys were off with Grandma, J3 and Baby G sleeping, E and R and I had some fun!! I asked them what they wanted to do and they both yelled, "BATTLESHIP ON YOUR IPAD!!!" Ok so I shared my ipad2 and let them play a couple of games of battleship on my app. While they were busy I cooked up an idea.. 

Yup we had a Tea Party :) 

Chocolate Milk, cookies, goodies Grandma had brought them, marshmallows and chocolate chips :) 

The kids love Tea Parties and they love to use LOTS of play dishes :) They also all like to have their own 'pot' so we each had our own teapot full of chocolate milk. To make it extra special we lite a candle. We had fun and I was surprised how good the girls conversational skills were. We talked a bit about manners and being a good hostess. E really has wonderful instincts at being a good hostess.. I have no idea where she got them from as I have NONE! Maybe next time we have company I'll ask her what I should do :) I love to watch my children mature and grow and I love that they surprise me and outdo even what I expect from them. I guess we really are a family of overachievers :) 

Spring Rolls, Coffee and Fun!!

Our dear friend Mrs. L came over the other day and taught Papa and I how to make spring rolls. The pork we thought we'd gotten out of the freezer turned out to be beef but they still turned out really well. We both learned how to wrap them up in their flour warps and I have to admit all mine turned out to be short and fat and all of Papa's were perfect.. long and skinny. Humm... I guess he can have that job :) They turned out to be a lot easier to make then I thought. Mrs. L doesn't use a recipe so I didn't get one either but basically it's fine noodles, graded and squeezed carrots, meat, sugar, salt and pepper, soy sauce, eggs and the mystery fungus.. some kind of chopped mushroom that looks like tiny stripes of fabric. Despite being hamburger instead of pork they turned out wonderful.
The next night Mrs. L brought her 4 children and Papa took them on sled rides with a sled he borrowed from work :) And of course they had to warm up with hot chocolate and cookies!! They had a blast!! Papa also BBQ'd some chicken which we served up with baked potatoes and green beans :) Chocolate chip cookies and Kettle Popcorn made for a great dessert. While Papa and the older kids were outside Mrs. L and I baked the potatoes, played with J3 and Baby G and visited. Great times!!

New Kitten!

She is a cute little fur ball that showed up next door one day about two months or so ago. She moved to our house about a week later and still goes over to visit next door fairly often.  She was a kids kitten. They pick her up any which way and run, ride, jump and she takes it. She didn't much care for Chip at first but has learned to love him and they are often seen sniffing each other or sitting together in the sun. J was carrying her when she 1st came and Chip came over to see her and she ran right up his face and sat on his head!! Jumped off his head and poor Chip really didn't know what he'd done!! He is such a softy. Papa has dubbed her midnight and we are hoping she stays around long enough to give us a batch of kittens or two :)

January Pictures of the Kids!

Baby G at age 10 weeks. 

J3 at age 18 months.

R at age 46 months.. or 2 months short of 4 years old. 

E at age 5 years and 3 months old.

L at age 6, will be 7 in 3 months. 

J at age 8. 

We've Passed 5000

Hit's on the blog since I put the counter on the blog :) YAY!!  I have no idea when I put the counter on but it was at least a year ago?? My stats page on Blogger says that I'm OVER 8000 hits since I started in 2008!! In the last month, Blogger informs me, I've had 396 hits.. NOT counting mine :) Thanks for reading :)

Cinnamon rolls for Havi

The kids and I recently made cinnamon rolls and posted a finished picture on FB. An friend of ours from Wa. State asked for the recipe :) Here you go Havi!!

I just use bun or bread dough with a few additions for the dough. I make my dough in the bread machine on the dough cycle.

2 Cups warm water
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil or butter

Let this set until the yeast has come up from the bottom to float on top.

Add 6 cups of flour. I did 2 whole wheat and 4 white.

That is my bread recipe :) To make cinnamon rolls I put in twice as much sugar, a egg and another tsp of yeast.

You can either make it on the dough cycle on the bread maker or by hand until it's well mixed and dough :) Then let it rise for about an hour or until it at least doubles.
This part is fun and the kids love to watch and help. Sprinkle flour on the table or where ever you have a nice big surface and roll out your dough. I did half at a time because it makes it easier to deal with. When it's about a 1/4 of an inch thick get some soft butter and butter the surface of the dough. Lots or little will depend on the person. I do about half of the surface with a very lite cover of butter. Then take cinnamon and sprinkle some on :) This too depends on the person. I have a great big cinnamon container and just do a light dusting. Brown sugar is next and I try and cover as much of the surface as possible with a thin layer. Raisins, if you like them, go on next. About a cup in total for all the bread. Too many and it makes it hard to roll up!
 Rolling it up is fun! start at the long side of your dough and roll it up until all the dough is rolled. Pinch the ends into the side of the roll and your ready to cut! We always eat the ends of the roll :) I cut mine about 2 inches deep all the way down the roll. Put them in the pan as you go to save mess. Put them cut side up into the pan. I let mine rise for about 20 minutes.. until the sides are touching. If you let them rise too long you'll have all dough :) Btdt. I baked mine for about 30 minutes at 350 but my oven is a bit cool.. so 25 might do just as well on yours.

I don't make these very often and I'm still playing with the recipe. I like to use my bread recipe because I have it memorized. Cinnamon rolls that I've had that others have made seem to have richer dough which is why I added the egg. Next time I may add two just to see what that does. But these were defiantly better then the last batch I did with no egg and no extra sugar or yeast. Hope you like them :) Oh and I just put store bought icing, and only a tiny bit, on them when we eat them. You could also mix a bit of icing sugar and milk and drizzle it all over them while they are warm. The kids like them plain with no icing or anything. These do tend to stick to the pan.. so loosen them up as soon as the cool off a little and then cover them with plastic wrap before they are completely cool... YUM!!!

Aprons. Momma's Little Kitchen Helpers.

A friend of mine made these made these aprons for the girls :)

 We LOVE them and they wear them often.. 

whether we are baking or playing :) 

Just so you know.... I've changed my list settings and recently found a bunch of half finished posts

SO I'm finishing them :) 

Proof, Fun And Games!

More proof that I share :) 

Papa and the kids playing Battleship on my Ipad2!! 

J3 loves to push the red button!! 

Yes they are all in their PJ's :) 

We often have very lazy mornings on farm when Papa is off :) 

Baby G was happy until 2 seconds before I took the picture! 

12 Years!!

Better Late Then Never :) 

Beautiful aren't they??  Papa surprised me with them on our 12th Wedding Anniversary!!
My mom took the kids for the night and Papa and I went out to our favorite local place for a special supper out. Papa had shrimp for his appy and another one for his dessert!! I had cheese cake for dessert and stuffed mushrooms for my appy!! YUM!!!
We had a great time together and talked over memories, parenting ideas, hopes and dreams and enjoyed our time out together :) 

Ahhh.. The Life of a Home Schooled Kid!!

Well now that the holidays and birthdays of the last month are done we've started school again. Full time.. which means every day except the ones Papa has off, unless he does science with them on his off days, and only a part day on Wednesday as that is AWANA. Doing a full day of school and AWANA is a bit much together. Which means we do a half day of school on Wednesdays and a full day Thursdays, Friday and Saturday :) A full day runs between 2 and 3 hours of actual school work plus some reading time. Actually they all read every day, whether Papa is working or home, some days they do Raz Kids online and other days they just read books on the couch :)  Actual school work these days is me circling page numbers and the kids working independently at the table, coming to ask me if they need help, while I mark finished PACES or blog :) or feed the baby or whatever.

You might be wondering what else we do during the day?? Well we do chores; animal and household. Animal includes chicken chores which the kids are in charge of this winter.. meaning they do all the feeding, watering, egg collecting, and egg washing. Papa is doing the rest of the animal chores this winter which is wonderful!! No running the pig gauntlet for me!! Household chores include kitchen chores like the dishwasher loading and unloading, wiping things down, baking, large dish washing, and cooking. Household chores also includes bathrooms, floors, dusting, laundry, general cleanup and toys swaps. Chores during the day takes about 2 hours TOTAL. Not two hours in a row, though normally we do about an hour in the morning and then just little bits through the day. SO school and chores take up between 4 and 5 hours of our day... Kids get up at 9:30am and go to bed at 9pm. That means of the 11.5 hours left we spend max 5 on housework and school.

Which leaves us with 6.5 hours in which to do other things. Meals take up about an hour or an hour and a half. That leaves us with 5 hours!! What do we do?? Well it depends :) Play is high on the list. Inside or out. Often both. Watching movies (They really love Answers In Genesis movies on creation or dinosaurs so even that we can count as school :) is on that list. They watch quite a few movies with Papa working evenings as by about 7 I'm about done in for the day and need a reading/internet break and Baby G needs more of my attention then as cranky time has hit her. Though more and more I'm keeping larger amounts of energy and Baby G is getting more involved in 'Kid watching'. Puzzles and games (Computer games, battleship, chess. Etc, etc) Crafts and Reading. Visiting. Company.  More playing. Ahhh.. the life of a home schooled kid!!