All posts by Melissa

Homeschooling first grade-Day 1….

Getting Organized, Homeschooling
Share/Bookmark

Well, it’s that time of year again. The kids go back to school, the rain starts in, and it gets dark way too early. I do love fall though. Summer and Fall are my favorite seasons.

My oldest, Nboy, turns 7 in November and we started homeschooling first grade yesterday.  Sure we “homeschooled” Kindergarten, if you really want to call it “school”(it just gets me that people think you “have” to send your kids to Kindergarten, but that’s another topic for another day), but yesterday we started official schooling.

The nice thing, is that my mindset has changed. All year this year, I’ve been trying to get myself to get up at 7am and get the kids up at 8am. Wasn’t working. But now, I guess with the homeschooling being “official” I’ve got a motivation to get up and that’s what I’ve done the past 2 mornings. This is my plan for the school year, schedule wise:

  • Up at 6:50 am-Study Bible and Prayer time
  • 7:10 am-8am Eat breakfast, do morning routine(put clean dishes away, fold laundry,etc)
  • Post on Twitter, blog, etc….
  • 8am, get the boys up and eating breakfast
  • 8:30 am Start school
  • 11 am School done

So that’s a rough schedule for now, but it gives you an idea.

Yesterday we started at 8:30 on the dot and opened with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we did some review in math and counting. Nboy can count easily to 100 and beyond, so we don’t need to work on that. Ekid, who will be 4 in December, can count to 10 pretty easily too. He’s not officially doing school, but I let him sit in and learn too.

So Nboy also did some addition problems and I had to remind him how to count on his fingers when adding larger numbers like 8+6, but other than that, he did pretty well on his own. I also wrote the numbers 1-9 in the front of his math section in his binder and drew the dots on them so he can learn to just count that way(that’s what they did when I was in grade school and it made it so easy), and then eventually do it in his head. We’ll be starting addition, and subtraction of double digit numbers pretty soon too.

Next we did Art. I bought big pieces of poster board, 4 of them, to stable 2 together for Nboy and Ekid and make them into big pockets for their artwork that they do throughout the year. They both got to paint one piece of poster board yesterday and will finish them today and then we’ll stable 3 sides together and they’ll just slip in their artwork. This is an idea I learned in my art class my Freshman year in high school.

By the way, Baby was still sleeping at this point, which was sooooo nice because he didn’t wake up till about 9:30 when we were done with the painting.

Now I think I’m going to switch it up today and do reading and writing before art, because yesterday Nboy was pretty tired after art and started getting easily frustrated with the reading and didn’t really want to do it.

So we started reading/writing time off with going over the alphabet and then I used alphabet flashcards and held each one up for Nboy to say what letter it was, then for Ekid to say it(he just copied his brother) and then held the same one up for Nboy to say the sound, and then Ekid to do the same. For reading we are working through the McGuffy’s readers, starting with the Primer. We were already a little more than halfway through it before summer started, so we just jumped in where we left off. He’s doing really well and only needed my help a few times, and even then I would just give him hints and he figured it out on his own.

So after reading, we had exercise time and I put on some kids christian music and we jumped, hopped, skipped to the music and had a fun time while getting a bit of a workout(at least for me anyway!)

That’s what we did our first day of homeschooling first grade.  I’m going to add Science and some History into our day somewhere as well, so stay tuned for more on our homeschooling journey!

Do you homeschool? What did you do for your first day back to “school”?

Photobucket

Frappuccino Recipe-How To Make a Frappuccino at Home!

Drinks, Frappuccinos/Blended Coffee, Recipes, , ,
Share/Bookmark

Frappuccino Recipe Mocha Frappuccino

Visit my new site Home Coffee Recipes for more!

Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:

This is the Best Chocolate/ Mocha Frappuccino Recipe!

I LOVE a mocha frappuccino. I used to hate coffee, even the slightest taste of it until I started working for my brother at his espresso stand. It didn’t take long before I discovered that I Loved the blended drinks. Frappuccino, Commotion, whatever you wanna call it, they are so yummy! Still don’t like hot espresso drinks much, but those frappuccinos! Mmmm….

Personally, I’m not a fan of Starbucks. Maybe I got spoiled working for my brother, but he has the best drinks! I have yet to taste a blended drink from any other espresso stand or coffee shop that compares with his!

I don’t work for my brother anymore since I’ve had kids, but I do know how to make a frappuccino at home and it’s so simple and just as good if not better than what you’d buy at many coffee shops (and less expensive too.

So, how do you make a mocha frappuccino?  See my frappuccino recipe below….

This recipe is not trying to imitate the Starbucks frappuccino. In my opinion it is much better!

Mocha Frappuccino Recipe

(If you want a plain frappuccino, just don’t use the chocolate)

By Melissa Hall
Ingredients

    • 3/4 cup Half & half (you can use lower fat milk too if you want.)
    • 9 ice cubes or aprox. 1 & 1/4 cup
    • 1 heaping tbls Powdered cocoa-Much better than Hersheys chocolate syrup! I use Ghirardelli Chocolate Sweet Ground Chocolate . (you can omit the cocoa if you don‘t want a mocha frappuccino)
    • Sugar– start with 3 tablespoons and go from there.
    • 2 oz or 6 pumps, Any flavored syrup if you want a flavored mocha. Try Torani or DaVinci. Torani Variety Pack
    • You can also use 1/4 cup Peanut Butter for a Chocolate Peanut Butter Mocha Frappuccino…. One of my favs!
    • 1 or 2 oz Espresso shots, (or if you’re like me and don’t have an espresso maker, you can just use strong black coffee.)

 

Instructions:

Put in ice and Pour 1-2 shots of espresso into blender
First make your espresso shots, or your coffee. 1 shot = 1 ounce, so if you’re like me and don’t like real strong drinks, I would use 1 shot for a 16-20oz drink, and 2 shots for a 24oz. But if you’re the average espresso drinker, or coffee drinker you should use 2 shots for 20oz and 3 for a 24oz drink.Make sure to chill the espresso or coffee firstbefore adding it to the blender or it will melt the ice and won’t taste as good. Or you can add an ice cube to it first and maybe some of the half and half or milk before pouring it into the blender.For the ice cubes you can just fill whatever cup you’re using with the ice cubes about 3/4 of the way and that should be just the right amount or use then measurement above. Then dump them into the blender.Add Ghirardelli Ground ChocolateFor Mocha Frappuccino: Put in the Cocoa powder (please try the cocoa powder if you never have, it tastes so much better! ). For a 16 oz mocha frappuccino drink use about 2 tablespoons, 20oz 2 and a half tablespoons and so on….  Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate

For Mocha Frappuccino: If you are using flavored syrup too, then only use about 1/3 of the cocoa powder. You can always use more if you like stronger chocolate taste.

 

 

 

Add sugar

Now put in your sugar. If you are not going to use any flavored syrup, then start with 3 tablespoons of sugar and use more if needed. If you are using flavored syrup, then you can use probably about 1 tablespoon of sugar or none at all.

 

If you have flavored syrup with a pump on it (makes it so much easier to measure accurately), then use 6 pumps total, for a 16oz frappuccino drink, 8 pumps for 20oz, 9 pumps for 24oz, etc…. I believe 3 pumps of syrup is 1 oz, so 6 pumps would be equal to 2 oz. of syrup, and I’ll let you do the math for the rest ;)

Pour in Half and Half and espresso shots

If you want to add peanut butter, I just use about 1/4 cup  for a 16oz frappuccino. I love using peanut butter with mocha frappuccinos. Chocolate/Peanut butter is the best!

 

Now, add your espresso or coffee shots and the half & half, or milk (half & half tastes so much better. Just try it,,,just this once? I know it’s fattening, but one time won’t hurt will it? :) ) You can use the measurement above or just pour the half & half directly into the blender up to just a couple ounces under whatever size drink you’re making. If it’s 16 oz, then just fill up to like 14 oz, so not quite to the top of the ice in the blender.

 

 

 

Ready to blend your Mocha Frappuccino!

 

Now you’re ready to blend! Blend for at least 20 seconds. If you don’t have the best blender then blend for longer. You don’t want ice chunks, you want nice and smooth!

Now drink and enjoy!!

I’ll post some recipes for different flavored frappuccinos and mocha frappuccinos too! Snickers, Heath bar, Jack & Jill, and there are many more!

Here’s one to get you started:

Snickers Frappuccino

 

4.0 from 2 reviews
Print
Mocha Frappuccino Recipe
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1
 
Better than Starbucks ;) This is an excellent chocolate frappuccino recipe you are sure to love! Easy to make and you can use this recipe as a base for many different flavors of frappuccinos!
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup Half & half (you can use lower fat milk too if you want.)
  • 9 ice cubes or aprox. 1 & ¼ cup
  • 1 heaping tbls Powdered cocoa-Much better than Hersheys syrup!(you can omit the cocoa if you don‘t want a mocha frappuccino)
  • Sugar- start with 3 tablespoons and go from there.
  • 2 oz or 6 pumps, Any flavored syrup if you want a flavored frappuccino or flavored mocha frappuccino.
  • 1 or 2 oz Espresso shots, (or if you’re like me and don’t have an espresso maker, you can just use strong black coffee.)
Instructions
  1. First make your espresso shots, or your coffee. 1 shot = 1 ounce, so if you're like me and don't like real strong drinks, I would use 1 shot for a 16-20oz drink, and 2 shots for a 24oz. But if you're the average espresso drinker, or coffee drinker you should use 2 shots for 20oz and 3 for a 24oz drink.
  2. Make sure to chill the espresso or coffee first before adding it to the blender or it will melt the ice and won't taste as good. Or you can add an ice cube to it first and maybe some of the half and half or milk before pouring it into the blender.
  3. For the ice cubes you can just fill whatever cup you're using with the ice cubes about ¾ of the way and that should be just the right amount or use then measurement above. Then dump them into the blender.
  4. For Mocha Frappuccino: Put in the Cocoa powder (please try the cocoa powder if you never have, it tastes so much better! ). For a 16 oz mocha frappuccino drink use about 2 tablespoons, 20oz 2 and a half tablespoons and so on.
  5. For Mocha Frappuccino: If you are using flavored syrup too, then only use about ⅓ of the cocoa powder. You can always use more if you like stronger chocolate taste.
  6. Now put in your sugar. If you are not going to use any flavored syrup, then start with 3 tablespoons of sugar and use more if needed. If you are using flavored syrup, then you can use probably about 1 tablespoon of sugar or none at all.
  7. If you have flavored syrup with a pump on it (makes it so much easier to measure accurately), then use 6 pumps total, for a 16oz frappuccino drink, 8 pumps for 20oz, 9 pumps for 24oz, etc.... I believe 3 pumps of syrup is 1 oz, so 6 pumps would be equal to 2 oz. of syrup, and I'll let you do the math for the rest ;)
  8. Now, add your espresso or coffee shots and the half & half, or milk.
  9. You can use the measurement above or just pour the half & half directly into the blender up to just a couple ounces under whatever size drink you're making. If it's 16 oz, then just fill up to like 14 oz, so not quite to the top of the ice in the blender.
  10. Now you're ready to blend! Blend for at least 20 seconds. If you don't have the best blender then blend for longer. You don't want ice chunks, you want nice and smooth!
  11. Now drink and enjoy!!

Now that you know how to make a frappuccino, try this frappuccino recipe and let me know what you think! Did I explain everything clear enough? Did the measurements work out for you? Let me know!

Find more recipes at my new site http://www.homecoffeerecipes.com

Update: I have created a website for my brother’s espresso business, so I would love it if you all would head over there and take a look! Salem Oregon Coffee Shop-Coffee In Motion

Soy Candle Giveaway! U.S. Residents

Giveaways!
Share/Bookmark

Alright, I’m gonna go ahead and do it. I was going to wait a little longer, but I thought, what the hay?

Vanilla Cake Soy Candles

First off, I make soy candles and here is the link to my handmade soy candles website. My candles are made with all natural soy wax and natural fiber wicks. Soy candles last twice as long as regular paraffin candles, and they produce less soot. I also love the fact that they are much easier to clean up if spilled!

So this giveaway is for  an 8oz Vanilla Cake soy candle a 4oz Mocha soy candle and a 6 pack of tealights of your choice(must be one fragrance).

Continental United States Residents only please (sorry, the international shipping costs would just be too much)

So here’s what you need to do to be entered(you MUST do this first one to be entered):

1. Go to my soy candles site and  take a look around, come back here and tell me which fragrance candle you would love to have if you won, and what fragrance, if any, do you wish I had that you didn’t see on the site!

For extra entries(do each of the following for 1 extra entry each), also come back here and leave a comment for each thing that you do below so I know:

1. Follow @themomventure on Twitter

2. Follow @HMSoyCandles on Twitter

3. Like Homemade Candle Creations on Facebook

4. Tweet this on Twitter to your followers:

Soy Candle Giveaway by @themomventure Win a free soy candle set at http://www.mom-venture.com/soy-candle-giveaway

Ok, that’s it! Just leave a comment for each thing that you do! Several ways to gain entries, so have fun!

Entries will close on Thursday September 9th at 11:55 pm Pacific Time

To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate

Children, Health
Share/Bookmark

So the kids were watching PBS this morning and one of the kids shows,Sid the Science Kid is talking about vaccinations. So my kids are asking “Mommy are shots really good for you” I say “yes, they help you not to get those kinds of sickness”

Now, I hesitate because I still have mixed feelings about vaccinations. All of my kids are up to date on their shots, so I’m definitely not against vaccinating.

The problem is that I feel like I should have stepped in and told them at the hospital with our first two boys that I didn’t want them vaccinated so soon after birth. Instead I went ahead and said ok when I wasn’t really sure. The funny thing is that with our 3rd, they didn’t vaccinate him in the hospital, so obviously they decided that maybe it was too soon to do that! I feel like I should have at least delayed vaccinating with some of the vaccinations. And I’m not sure that vaccinations aren’t a cause of the rise in autism and that kind of scares me!

So I just kind of feel like I’m saying, yes, vaccinations are good for you and safe for you, yet I’m thinking, are they really? What if one of my children started showing signs of autism? I would naturally think that it was probably because of the vaccinations.

At the same time, most vaccines don’t have the questionable stuff they used to have, but are there other things in the vaccines that could cause the autism? Could it be that so many viruses are being introduced all at once at such a young age that maybe some kids just can’t handle it? At the same time, though, naturally our kids are subjected to tons of germs and viruses every day, which is how the immune system builds up and learns to fight against them, so is it really that bad that they get so many shots so close together?

Anyway, I was just thinking about this this morning. All the things that our government tells us and we just believe, because it’s the government or the doctor, and we teach our kids to do the same. Hmmm……

Why I can never get the dishes done…..

Children, Getting Organized,
Share/Bookmark

Ok, so my husband wonders why I can’t keep the house clean. Well, tonight was a perfect example of my plight to wash dishes. Here’s the rundown….

First off, I don’t have a dishwasher, so I have to wash dishes by hand, put them in the dish rack thingy and then if I have a whole sink full of dishes I have to dry the ones I put in the dish rack and put them away so I can wash more dishes.

So tonight was a perfect example of why it’s hard for me to get anything done with a 6 year old, 3 year old and 11 month old around all day.  I get the boys to bed after brushing thier teeth, reading a book, singing a song, getting drinks, going potty and prayer time. The hubby is in our bedroom doing some song recording with a friend so I can’t put Baby to bed in there. Baby falls asleep while I’m nursing him in the boys room so I lay a blanket on the floor and put him down in there. He stays asleep.  Then after praying and saying good night to the boys I go into the kitchen and start on dishes. Pretty soon I’m having to go back in and give Ekid a tums because his “tummy hurts” sure, whatever, it hurts every night lately. I don’t always give him tums because it’s usually that he wants a drink so he says his tummy hurts(don’t know what that has to do with needing a drink of water…). But tonight instead of another drink I gave him a tums and told him to “Go to sleep!”.  Then I try washing some more dishes.

Baby wakes up crying.

I go into the room and Ekid(3.5) is on the top bunk bed saying that Nboy(6.5) touched Baby and woke him up. I ask if this was so and Nboy sheepishly nods his head. Nboy got in trouble…….

Now I’m really mad because now Baby is awake and won’t go back to sleep and I can’t put him in our bedroom because the guys are recording in there! So the dishes are put on hold until I can get Baby occupied with something. I finally did get the dishes done, but it was probably like 2 hours from the time I first started on them.

Ooops, actually I didn’t get them all done, but it was close…..(sorry, I was trying to romanticize this shot. How do you make dirty dishes in a sink look good?)

Is it pathetic that it’s after 1am and I’m taking pictures of my sink? And that I have edited this several times since I published it……. I think the blogging is getting to me….

This is pretty much my whole day.  It almost feels useless to start something knowing that I’m just going to get interrupted shortly after. I know doing something is better than nothing though, so I must trudge on (:

Anyway, so, to my husband, that is why it’s so hard for me to get things done and keep the house clean!

And, we really need to get your recording studio out of our bedroom! (;

Oh, yes, and by the way if you’d like to hear some of my husbands songs, we just got them uploaded here: http://www.indiependencemusic.com/chris-hall You can listen, rate them, join his fan club and buy songs too! It’s pretty cool and we’re really excited about finally getting his music out there!

Sleeping on the Floor, in the Livingroom….

Baby,
Share/Bookmark

No, my husband didn’t kick me out of bed, and I didn’t sleep on the livingroom floor because I was mad at him either, although there are times I’ve felt like it.(Well, maybe not the floor, but the couch).

No, I got my co-sleeping baby who is now 11.5 months old down to sleep about 11:30 last night. That is his standard bed time in case you were curious. I know it’s late, but it works for us for now. I don’t have the energy to fight with him to go to sleep earlier than that and that’s the time he falls to sleep most easily and stays asleep for a while.

So I normally stay up late after everyone goes to bed so I can actually have some peace and quiet while I work on stuff, or just relax and eat ice cream and oreos(like I did last night..hehe).

The last few nights I’ve been working on texturing and painting the older boys room so Nboy(6.5) and Ekid (3.5) have been sleeping in the livingroom this past week. A few nights ago, I decided to try and see if Baby would sleep longer if I just slept out in the livingroom instead of in the bed with him and Chris. Well, I’m happy to say that it actually worked! He didn’t sleep all night, but he did sleep for about 5 hours straight! Usually he wakes up about 2 hours after going to bed and then he might sleep for 3 or 4 hours before waking up again, or sometimes it seems like he’s nursing all night!(that’s usually just when he’s teething though).

So I tried it again the next night, but it didn’t go as well. But last night I slept on the floor with Nboy(because Ekid was taking up the couch) and Baby didn’t wake up till around 3 or 3:30 so, that’s still progress! So I think I’m going to try just doing that every night till he is consistantly sleeping longer without nursing because it does seem to be working.

Anyway, just thought I’d share that. If you have a co-sleeper/bed sharer, and you want to start gently getting them to sleep longer, you may want to try that. If the buffet isn’t right there for them to think about, then they may just put themselves back to sleep on thier own :)