My slave in the kitchen

My happiest & easiest days are days when my slave is working in the kitchen.  I can forget about supper because she is working away all day in there making my family a hot dinner.  She was wonderful gift from my husband a few years ago so she is definitely not new.  Age spots decorate her white exterior.  Of course I am talking about my crock pot.

I was having a chat this morning with a dear friend and was inspired to include a couple of good recipes for this colder weather and busy time of year.  With it getting dark early there is nothing better for me & my family than to have a hot meal ready at 6 p.m. without a lot of fuss or preparation.  So easy is the word for these!  Some of these I don’t know where they came from but if I do I will site the book or website.

Slow-Cooker Chicken with Cashews—Parents.com

Pulled Chicken BBQ—not sure where I got this from!
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup ketchup(we like Hunts no HFCS!)
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup mustard
2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Place chicken in crockpot with enough water to cover the bottom of the crockpot, so the chicken doesn’t burn.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or until the chicken is cooked all the way through.

When chicken is finished cooking, remove from crockpot and allow to cool slightly.  Shred the chicken with two forks.  Set aside.

Mix the top 6 ingredients together on medium heat in a large sauce pot.  Add the shredded chicken and stir to heat through.

Our family eats this on whole wheat buns with corn on the cob & steamed broccoli.

High School at Home part 1

4 years ago when my oldest entered the 9th grade I had a panic attack.  How am I going to give him a high school education?  After all he needs to be prepared for college or the work place in order to succeed in life.  This is my responsibility.  I don’t want to fail after all this time & effort we have put in to school for the past 9 years.  Wow what a burden and responsibility!
Sort of makes you break out in a cold sweat doesn’t it? 
Our motto at the beginning was just one year at a time.  We weren’t set on homeschooling at first.  It was an experiment that we wanted to try and we would take it a year at a time.  This would be not different(hear me trying to convince myself?)  So we sat down and laid out a basic plan.  First stop our states graduation requirements & the local universities application requirements.  That was logical and pretty much laid out the basics for us.
So at least there was a plan—I felt much better about that(why I don’t know). 
Since Michael LOVES science, math & history. 
He chose to do more of those items than were required & the qualified as some of his electives. 

Our problem came with English.  We expected to be able to take a class taught by a local professor but the professor didn’t offer his class until Michael’s senior year. 
So often that was a last minute decision on our part each year when we found out that it wasn’t being offered. 
However, I do believe it is important for home school students to take a writing class outside the home their junior or senior year.  We found when it is only Mom or Dad reading the papers & essays it is hard for the student to really get a good idea of how they are doing.  More people will be reading high school students papers as they head to college so this is a good time to start that transition process.  It really gave confidence & showed Michael he COULD write even if he didn’t enjoy it.

My helper

Pain is not fun.  I never really thought about how I would handle pain when I grew old.  I am not old but daily I battle continual nagging pain.  It usually isn’t enough to reach for the aleve but some days I should reach for it instead of just gutting it out.  Thankfully my family knows the signs.  Each of them has a way of helping.  The littles just ask for hugs a lot & those help.  But more and more my oldest daughter, Elizabeth, has been stepping in to the role of my helper.

At 14 she could be the whiner.  She could give me the eye roll & sarcastic responses.  Mostly though she just says “Go sit down.  I will do this”  She’s blunt and bosses me around but I think that I know where she gets that.  There is a soft heart hidden under that gruff exterior. 

So yesterday when I came home from an afternoon of errands(which she let me run alone while she watched her younger brother & sister) & I needed to just sit.  When I asked her to put away the groceries she did it alone with out complaining.  I know this is unusual.  I am SO thankful for my helper who isn’t so little anymore.

Daddy moments

When daddy is home there are more sillies, singing & dancing in the kitchen. 

I always say that Steve relates well to the the 12 year olds in our lives because mentally he is still there.  That is not true but he really does bring out the crazy fun in everyone.  I am pretty sure that anyone who has been around him has noticed his zany sense of humor.

!

There is a special relationship between Daddy’s and children.

He comforts.

Provides challenges.

Guides.

And teaches new things.

The Daddy at our house loves his kids & wants to spend time with them. 

I am so thankful that he considers that a priority and we get to spend that time with him.

 

Busy Days

Early get up.  Exercises.  Bible time with the kids.

Do school with Joshua.

 

Defrost steak(arg.) & make Swiss Steak in the crockpot. 

Listen to Megan quote her verses. 

Encourage her to keep studying when she wants to give up. 

Eat a lunch which Elizabeth lovingly made for us.  Print coupons. 

Throw a snack together.  Make sure everyone has their books & clogging shoes. 

Fly out the door.

Piano lessons.

 

Sit, cut & sort coupons.  Write checks.

Go to mother-in-laws.  Return jars & pick up juice.

Go to the bank.  Get a SODA(first in a week!)

Drive home—turn crockpot down to low.

Drive to clogging.  Listen to LOUD stomping & music!

Sit & play with a cute niece or two.

Head home & do more studying with the girls.

Snarf supper(thank God for my crockpot).

Go to quiz practice & herd 30ish teens around.

Home.  Put apple butter in to jars. Bed.

Twice a month we have a REALLY long day of errands & lessons.  I am so thankful that I am able to be home to take my kids to the lessons for interests that they are pursuing.  It is tiring but I am glad I have the time, money & energy to get these days done.  In between all the work there is laughter, lessons & fun along the way.

Just Joshua

It seems silly to say I am thankful for my children.  Of course I am thankful for them.  But I need to say it about Joshua.  Some days I have to list why I am thankful for him in my head.  He drives me crazy.  A lot.  So here goes

I am thankful for his imagination.  I never know what is going on in his head.  Today he asked me what ignite was(although he knows).  Then he looked it up by himself in the dictionary just to prove that I wasn’t quite right.



I am thankful he is brave.

He loves to find a new cool bug, animal, or toad.

And pick it up. And show it up close to me.





I love that he is smart.

He buzzes through his school work so fast that I have a hard time keeping up with him.




I am thankful that he loves to play.

It keeps him busy after school is done.




I am thankful that he knows no strangers.

He will make lots of friends and lead them many places in life.

I am thankful that he tells me EVERYTHING.  I could be wondering instead.

But most of all I love & I am thankful for Joshua’s faces.

He is just Joshua.

              

Freedom is NOT Free

It is so easy to just NOT think.  We live day to day minding our own business and if we just DON’T think then everything is easy & flows along smoothly.

Unfortunately life isn’t like that.

I discovered that when we started to “do” school at home.  History wasn’t quite what I remembered from my years of school.  We started reading books that pointed to God’s hand in history.  We read books about famous Americans who listened to God’s leading and it changed their lives.  Wow I guess that is what we had done in homeschooling.  Were we making history?

There were so many people who really thought about how their lives should be lived.  They didn’t choose to just NOT think.  They listened and acted where they could make a difference.

Today is the first Tuesday in November.  I chose to act where I could today.  I voted and I am thankful that I am FREE and live in this wonderful country.  It seems like a small thing but it isn’t because I had to THINK and take action.  I hope that I am walking a life that shows my children how thankful I am for those who have gone before us to secure that freedom. 

Help my children to live lives that are always overflowing with thankfulness, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.                    Col. 2:7, Ephesians 5:20