All posts by Melissa

Homeschooling-Catching up

Homeschooling
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Well, it’s almost 2am and I am still awake. Was planning on going to bed early tonight since the kids all got to sleep earlier than normal (a little before 10) And the hubs went to bed earlier than normal (around 11:30) since he has to leave for work early in the morning. Sooooo, I’ve been having a pretty relaxing evening…Yay me :) But I’ve been having such a nice quiet time that I can’t help but want to stay up!

But anyway, that is not what I was going to t write about tonight. So Nboy is homeschooling 2nd grade this year and we had quite a lot of set backs earlier in the school year. My candle business kind of took over everything until after Christmas, and then I decided to quit that. And so we’ve been playing catch up with his schooling since then.

I am very happy to say that he finished his 2nd Mcguffy reader about a month ago and has been doing at least 2 lessons a day in his Abeka math workbook. This past week he has even been getting his workbook out before I tell him to and starts working on it on his own because he wants to get done with it! lol He said the other day that he wanted to work on math all day! And he actually did about 4 lessons and a test! And then we did a couple lessons and a test the next day. And of course he gets 100% on nearly every test. I love it!

It is nice when you see your child learning things and understanding things that you thought a year ago, might be hard for him to understand, but it is amazing to see how their understanding grows from year to year.

Anyway, so we should be done with math by next month, which is awesome! And for 3rd grade, I anticipate that he will fly through those lessons and be done even sooner since we won’t have the distraction of my candle business in the fall. Although, we will have Ekid doing 1st grade, so that will take up a bit more time on  my part. But when Nboy will be able to do much of his work on his own after the initial instruction.

So onward and upward!

Diaperless…..

Baby, Funny Stories
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Baby (who is 2.5 now) comes out of his bedroom, diaperless, saying ” I didn’t poop on the floor mommy”
Me: “you didn’t poop on the floor?”
Baby: “No”
Me (very suspicious now): “Did you poop on the floor?”
Baby: “No”
Me (as I’m walking to his room, careful to watch for poop): “Did you pee on the floor?”
Baby: “No, I not pee on the floor, I peed on the wall”

Sure enough, he had peed on the wall while looking out his bedroom window………The joys of potty training……

Taking a few “Sun” days….

Gardening, Getting Organized, Homeschooling
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So Friday, Monday and today, we’ve been taking some “Sun” days from home schooling(you know, instead of “Snow” days, since we don’t get much snow here in the valley ). It has been raining so much this past month that I decided to just let them play outside most of the day the last few days while I get some spring cleaning done in the house and some yard work and flower planting done outside.

My house still is in need of more organisation, but I’ve got Mount Washmore almost eradicated, and the living room and dining room are mostly cleared and swept and vacuumed and dishes all got done yesterday so I don’t have so many to do tonight. Feels good to be able to be able to get outside and plant some flowers too. I can’t wait till they start blooming!

It is raining now again. Started just as I was finishing up outside.Good old Oregon lol

So my next project is to start on the garden out back. I want to get some planting soil and raise the area up and put a border around it to keep it contained. Then I’m planning on planting some corn, carrots, beans and tomatoes. My goal is to plant things that I can easily freeze for the winter, with the exception of the tomatoes.  I have a dream of having property some day, but for now, I’ll have to pretend to homestead here in town :)

Well, hope you all are having a wonderful productive Spring so far!

Easy Potato, Eggs, Bell peppers, Onions and Cheese Skillet Recipe

Breakfast Recipes, Main Dish, Recipes
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Easy Potato, Eggs, Bell peppers, Onions and Cheese Skillet Recipe. 

Easy to make, and wonderful for a tight budget. This recipe is great for breakfast lunch or dinner and you can add more ingredients if you like too! (mushrooms, bacon, ham, etc……) Makes just enough for our family of 5 (3 small children and 2 adults). You can easily double it for a larger family or if you want left overs.

Ingredients

3 potatoes peeled and thinly sliced

1/2 large onion sliced or diced

1 green pepper diced

6 eggs

1 cup cheese or more if you like lots of cheese!

garlic salt to taste optional

salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions:

Put a couple tablespoons of oil in a deep frying pan and arrange potatoe slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat until they are somewhat browned on both sides.

Mix the eggs, onion, green pepper and garlic salt and pour on top of the browned potato slices in the frying pan. Top with cheese and cook on low-medium until eggs are done in the center.

That’s it! Easy, cheap and healthy  Potato cheese, egg skillet recipe! :)

Oat Bran Muffins Recipe-Cake Mix Muffins

Health, Muffins, Recipes
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I have some oat bran I’ve been meaning to use more often to add more fiber to mine and my family’s diet. What got me going on oat bran, was when my mom showed me an article in a magazine about the Dukan Diet. She tried it and actually did well losing some weight with it. I tried the Dukan Diet for a week and lost a few pounds but had a hard time sticking with it. I do like the idea of using oat bran to add more fiber to my diet though. The problem  is that I keep forgetting to use it on a regular basis. I kept thinking about making muffins with it, and finally decided to just do it the other night. I searched for a good oat bran muffins recipe, but I was out of eggs and I couldn’t find one that I had all the ingredients for. So I decided to use my eggless  Wacky Cake Recipe and just add some of the oat bran to it making them, Cake Mix Muffins :) . So here is what I did. I am not going to post the whole recipe, since you can just go to the Wacky Cake link above and use that but make the following changes:

I omitted the cocoa powder, but you could try it with the cocoa for chocolate oat bran muffins.

I mixed all ingredients in a bowl according to my Eggless Wacky Cake Recipe and used about 1 1/4 cup of flour, with 1/2 cup of oat bran. (if using the cocoa, you may want to use only 1 cup of flour)

I also ended up using only 1/2 cup sugar instead of a whole cup on accident, but they tasted great, so I think I will stick with only using half the sugar :)

After mixing the ingredients with the changes above, just fill each lightly greased muffin cup about 1/2-3/4 full. I only have a miniature muffin pan, so I baked them for about 15-20 min. You may need to bake regular muffins for about 30 minutes or so. at 350 degrees.

Now these do not rise quite as much as regular muffins and are a little heavier, but I love them that way! They are nice and moist and tasted wonderful!

I hope you enjoy this great, simple, healthy oat bran muffins recipe (with no eggs)!

Turning the Page of Life….

Spiritual Fitness
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My sweet grandma passed away on the 8th of February. It was hard seeing her at the last, but I am so glad I and all the other family were able to be with her in her last days. She passed peacefully and since she knew Jesus as her saviour, I know she’s rejoicing in Heaven right now, and that’s what allowed us to be able to celebrate her passing at her memorial service.

I really think that’s what it should be for a child of God who has gone home. Now, yes, it may be a bit easier when you know their time is very near and you’ve been prepared well in advance. It does maybe seem harder to let go of someone who has passed at a younger age, or suddenly, but still, if they had accepted Jesus Christ as their saviour at some point in their life, I know they are in a much happier place. She was 91 years old, so she lived a long and full life and got to see several great grandchildren. She was such an inspiration as a woman, wife, mother, grandmother…..

She was a beautiful pianist and I wish I hadn’t stopped taking piano lessons from her when I got to an age where I got to choose, because as I got older I started really enjoying playing again and wish I was better at it! She also told the most wonderful, enchanting bed time stories when my brother and I were young and we spent the night at her house.

I love and miss my grandma, but one day I will see her again, and she is now with my grandpa who passed away years ago when I was a teenager.  I’m sure it was difficult for her having to go on without him for so many years, but now she is comforted at last!

I love you Grandma!