Thursday, December 3

The Provident Woman--yup...again!

A while back, I told you about a blog that I now love. Actually, I haven't posted anything else since then...but whatever. The Provident Woman is a beautiful site. The writer and her family are beekeepers. They sell their honey and other goods at their local farmer's market and online. She is currently running another great giveaway! She recently went to meet the Pioneer Woman...you can link to her from my sidebar. While she was there, she thoughtfully had PW sign an extra copy of her cookbook to give away. And a t-shirt too.

Head over to The Provident Woman and enter today!

Monday, October 26

The Provident Woman

A while back, I began following a blog that I now love. The Provident Woman is a beautiful site. The writer and her family are beekeepers. They sell their honey and other goods at their local farmer's market and online. She is currently running a giveaway! There are some yummy things in the giveaway! Hop on over there and check her out and while you are there, be sure and sign up for her giveaway!

Saturday, October 24

Busy, busy Autumn!

Fall is always busy for our household. We celebrate 4 birthdays, both Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts have lots of things planned, plus we have fall outings such as the pumpkin patch to do. This year, we also started homeschooling. We are busier than ever this year, I think.

Skater's birthday is technically still in the summer(9/17), but it is the start of the Fall season for us. He turned 10 this year! He is still sporting his skater/rock and roll style. He loves rock music and Green Day, The Fray and Nickelback are his current favorite bands. He is doing well in school and his favorite subject is Astronomy. He also holds a freakish fascination for public officials, so he was excited to see the Governor at a Army Departure Ceremony for a friend of ours who is headed for another tour overseas. A couple of weeks later, he was even more excited to meet the Mayor of our town at Scouts.

October for us kicked off with a Cub Scout family campout. It was great fun for the boys and their families too. This year, we had a chili cook-off. I love chili so that was fun for me! Our Chicken Chili didn't win, but several people mentioned they liked it. While at the campout, Rock Collector and one of her Brownie friends were able to earn their Eco-Explorer patch by gathering up the other girls at the event and going on a scavenger hunt/nature hike. They had a great time and were able to recruit another girl to join GS.

Next on the calendar was Rock Collector's birthday. She turned 8 this year! She is gir.ly girl all the way! She is very involved in her Brownie Troop and is great friends with many of the girls. She is still listening to Han.nah Mon.tana and Ta.ylor Sw.ift. Her favorite TV show right now is iCarly. Her birthday was spent at the movies with 4 of her best friends. They had a great time. She told me on the way to the theater that the thing she was most excited about was that she and I were getting to spend a bit of time together...just the two of us. Makes a mom wonder why she doesn't have 20 more! She is enjoying school and her favorite subject this year is reading and spelling. She is way above average on both and way ahead in her book in spelling. This week, she gets to go ziplining with Girl Scouts and is starting caroling rehearsals!


Now we have come to Shorty's birthday. She turned 3 this year. I can't believe how big she has gotten. She is smart as a whip and beautiful to boot! She is into digging in the mud and changing clothes 15 times a day. She likes to "wash" dishes. She is fearless and recently, on a visit to a barn, rode a horse named Chester that belongs to some friends. She didn't want to get off and give someone else a turn. Chester is now the name of every stuffed toy she owns. She is completely potty-trained in the day time and is very particular about which under-pants she is going to wear. Her current favorite TV shows are Wonder Pets, Max and Ruby, and Dora.

Professor will turn 5 in a few weeks. She is a joy to be around! She is snuggly, sweet and stinkin' cute. She enjoys playing with her Polly Pockets and their doll house. She has started K4 this year and is learning a lot. She has days when she just doesn't want to do school, but they are backed by days where that is all she wants to do and she catches up. She also loves Han.nah Mont.ana, Tay.lor Sw.ift, and iCarly. But, she still loves the little girls shows too. Little Bear, Miss Spider and Max and Ruby are among her favorites. Her favorite colors are pink and purple.

This fall we have sold popcorn for Cub Scouts and are gearing up to sell cookies for Girl Scouts. We have begun thinking about pine wood derby cars for both of our scouts. Our local indoor water park is offering free admission for the next month (got to take advantage of that offer). Pumpkin patches are calling our name and we have already carved Mr. O'Lantern and roasted the seeds with friends. We will be caroling in early November and again in December with Girl Scouts. Rehearsals for that will be frequent in the the next two weeks. Thanksgiving is coming, too.

Whew! That's a lot! Happy Fall!

Photos are from a trip to a good friend's stables. Dave captured this image too — could be a painting.

Tuesday, September 29

Whippersnapper

Jokingly, during school today, I called Skater a young whippersnapper. We both laughed about it and then he got serious and asked me "what, exactly, is a whippersnapper?"

So, I, like a good homeschool mom, wrote it down on my "to-look-up" list. Well...here is what it means and it's origin:

from this site:

Someone who is young and tenacious and new to a task, and sometimes perhaps shows a little bit of cheek or enthusiasm is referred to as a young whippersnapper.

So what is the origin of this phrase?

Well it has to do with cowboys, no less, and the task of looking after the cows.

One of the easiest skills to master was that of cracking the whip. So since this was usually done by a beginner who did not yet have the other skills which were harder to master at their command, then it became known as a whippersnapper, and the phrase has stuck and moved into common parlance.

So, I guess this whole homeschool thing isn't just for the kids to learn...I learned something today too. And, truth be told, just about every day so far!

Sunday, August 16

5 Minute chocolate cake in a Mug

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts..
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Friday, August 7

Getting some Edumacation!

After much thought and prayer, we have decided to homeschool the kids this year! We are excited and scared and nervous and happy, all rolled into one. The kids have wanted us to do it for a while now and now we are doing it. Any advice is welcome!

Friday, July 17

The Tasty Kitchen


I have followed the Pioneer Woman for a couple of years now. She has started a new website call Tasty Kitchen that is similar to Allrecipes.com. The biggest (and best) difference in the two (in my opinion) is that all of Ree's recipes are on Tasty Kitchen. You can submit recipes, make friends, rate recipes. You can save your favorite recipes to your own recipe box and you can print recipes. Click over and add your favorite recipes. Look me up while you are there so we can be "friends." My name over there is FarOutMom.