Conversation with Roman..

Here is the conversation with Roman yesterday in the bathroom at Panera Bread.

Roman: Mama go poo poo?

mom: Shhhh

Roman: Mama go poo poo? Yeah mama good boy!

Course now I just admitted what I did in the bathroom:) ah well we all do right!

100% Whole Wheat Bread

Here is a picture of the bread that I make that we eat all the time. It's a whole wheat bread and very healthy plus it tastes great. I actually grind my own wheat fresh into flour for this bread. I think it makes it taste lighter not so heavy of a bread. I'm sure it would work great with wheat flour from the store as well I've just never tried it. Anyway here is the recipe:


Whole Wheat Bread

2 Cups warm water
1/4 C canola or olive oil
1/4 C. honey
1 tbs salt
6 Cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbs vital wheat gluten
2 1/2 tps. yeast

I put everything in my bread machine on the dough cycle. When that's done I put it in my own pans and let rise until double and then bake at 350 for 30 min. When done I spread a small amount of butter over the top of the bread. If anyone tries it let me know how it turned out. This does make two loaves of bread I forgot to state that..sorry.

No Milk Please

This morning after Kaleb woke up with yet another round of hives this time head to toe I decided he needed to see the doc. Turns out he is having a reaction to dairy and his body is very inflammed thus the hives, post nasel drip and eye ticks he's been having. So for now he's off dairy and may have to be taken off gluten as well. He goes back in three weeks for another evaluation and if he's not some what better he'll have to be taken off gluten then. We've always known he was "sensitive" to dairy he's been off cows milk etc. for years but we just haven't been strict enough with the cheese, yogurt and ice cream in the summer. I just hope and pray this takes care of it because I really don't want to take bread away from my baby.

Happy Tuesday

Two things today first off is Kaleb and his hives. I thought they were gone but seems they came back this morning every where they weren't yesterday plus places they were already. So I called the doc. and he said it could be a food allergy he's developed suddenly..(let's hope it's not this) or it's a reaction to ragweed which is most likely the culprit. Lucas had this same kind of reaction at around seven also to ragweed so I'm thinking this is it. However, we are having Kaleb tested for food allergies this week sometime. I'm hoping we'll get some answers then.

Second is that I finally splurged and bought a bread machine. I had one years ago but it broke and I never replaced it until I had a real strong desire to make bread again. I did it by hand all last winter and just wasn't motivated to do that again. I LOVE it!! I can make bread all while doing other things it's fantastic. I mostly use it for the dough cycle but seriously how much time does this save me..a ton! I have been making a wheat bread for years that my hubby grew up on and it is a great bread. It's so easy to just go and buy bread that I got out of the habit. But now with the new bread machine were back in business. I'll post a picture of the bread and also the recipe tomorrow.

Hives..

While doing school with Kaleb this morning he kept itching his stomach and saying it really itched. Now he is somewhat of an exaggerator so I just thought it must be a mosquito bite or something. After were done with school he takes his shirt off and this is what I see. This is a pic from the Internet not his belly but it looked horrible like this. I scoop out the rest of his body and he has them all down his legs and buns and everywhere. Poor kid I felt bad I didn't look sooner I gave him some allergy medicine right away and put some lotion on his hives. I have no idea what caused them he had oatmeal for breakfast like most morning with frozen blueberries in them. Anyone else know what can cause hives I always thought it was an allergic reaction that's it. Once the allergy medicine kicked in they started to go away but you can still see them and I'm afraid they'll come back. He hasn't had any new food or anything so I'm stumped.

Batman..

Here is Roman flying around the house being batman his favorite dress up to play. He laughs hysterically at himself whenever he does this. I finally captured him on a short video and it's hilarious. If you listen closely at the end you can hear him doing the flying sounds..I love it!

And here he is most adorable as ever in the batman cape posing for a picture stains on shirt and all..:)

Pic's from the zoo

These are pictures from the zoo on Tuesday. I love this zoo and am always amazed at how much we learn every time we go. It's a large zoo so you have to plan a good four hours for it. The boys and I walked a swamp trail this time which is almost a mile long. It was so pretty with all the fall wildflowers and the trees starting to change. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It being during the day and most kids in school the zoo was not busy at all. We took our good ol time wandering through it and just enjoyed the outdoors and God's creation.

Roman feeding the goats he loves animals and any chance to pet or feed one is the highlite of his day.
Boys feeding the giraffes I always forget how big they!

Lucas, Kaleb and Roman in a cool tree we found on our swamp adventure.

This was part of a mural on the wall I had to take the boys picture by it. Are elephants really that big? I don't know I've never seen one before.

Giraffe

This is a picture of a giraffe at the zoo yesterday. The boys and I decided that since it was so nice out we'd go to the zoo. I thought this picture was hilarious! I'll post more pic's tomorrow some are really cute. Isn't this to funny and gross!

Favorite food

As I sit here reading blogs I'm chowing down on these animal crackers. These are one of my favorite foods which my kids think is hilarious. They are low fat probably not all that healthy but oh they taste so good. I could sit and eat a small bag in one sitting. I actually count out 16 crackers and put them in a bowl so I don't eat the whole bag..most times:+) Anybody else have weird favorite foods..maybe this isn't so weird I do have one other friend who loves these as much as me. Sometimes I even share them with the kids:+)

Chocolate Chiffon Cake recipe

This morning I awoke to two little boys in the kitchen cooking me breakfast. It was so sweet Lucas was busy frying up eggs and Kaleb was toasting english muffins. They were so proud it was so cute I just have the best boys in the world! In other news a few people requested this cake recipe so here it is.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

3/4 C. boiling water
1/2C. Cocoa
1 3/4 C. Cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 3/4 C. sugar
1/2 C. vegetable oil
7 egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tarter

Combine boiling water and cocoa. cool. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in bowl. Make a well and add oil, egg yolks, vanilla and cooled cocoa mixture. Beat until smooth. Beat egg whites and cream of tarter until very stiff. Add in the flour and cocoa mixture very slowly to the egg whites gently folding in until well blended. Bake in a 10 inch tube pan ungreased for 55 min. at 325 and then at 350 for 10-15 min. Invert pan to cool. When cool carefully loosen from pan. Cut into three layers and frost in between layers and down the middle hole. After all layers are put back together frost outside of cake. Frost all with "mock whipped cream frosting". After the whole cake is frosted take 2 squares bitter sweet baking chocolate and 1 Tbl. of butter and melt in microwave. Drizzle the warm chocolate down the outside all the way around cake and down center whole. Also on the top of cake if you desire.

Mock Whipped Cream Frosting

6 T. Flour
1 1/2 C. milk
3/4 C. shortening
3/4 C. oleo
1 C. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix together flour and milk. Cook slowly together on stove until thick, stirring constantly. Cool thoroughly. Beat shortening, oleo, sugar, and vanilla in mixer at fast speed about 10 min. until creamy. Add the cooled flour mixture and beat another five min. until thoroughly mixed and fluffy.

My race..

Yesterday was my race that I have been training for it was a 10 mile race through our downtown. It was quite a fun race and one I would like to do again. I really enjoyed every minute of it I'm a little sore today but the joy I get out of running is worth a little pain. I did the race in 1:23.00 which I was very pleased with for me that's a great time. Running is something that really helps me relax and release stress in my life. I thank the Lord that I can run and am healthy and able to.

Being sick..

Yesterday and today Lucas has been sick with the flu he started feeling better around 4:00 this afternoon. He requested pizza for dinner and said he was starving so I figured his stomach must be feeling better. I bring him his pizza and give him a hug and say "I'm glad your feeling better". He says to me "mom, thank you for taking care of me today and yesterday". Ahhhh I almost started crying and have tears in my eyes now it was just so sweet and so good to hear.

roman sayings..

While doing school with the boys yesterday here is what Roman was doing. He was so quiet for so long I thought for sure he was up to no good. I caught him laying under this blanket talking to himself it was so cute. In other Roman news while at Target yesterday buying feminine products Roman all of a sudden says very loudly "mommy band-aides". Of course he doesn't stop saying this very loudly until I acknowlege it and high tail it out of that section. And one more cute saying from Roman while leaving the grocery store yesterday afternoon he looks at me and says "I want to say bless me". I looked at him funny not knowing what he meant then he sneezed all over me ..yup I got why he wanted to say bless me:)

A few people asked for the website for the reading test I gave my kids here it is:
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/articles/060899.htm

The recipe for the cake I will post it's a long recipe and will take a bit to type up. I'll try and do it tomorrow or later today.

Ben's favorite cake..

This is my hubby's favorite cake in all the world. It's called Chocolate Chiffon cake and it's a beauty. His dear grandma made it for him for his birthday when he was 10 and it's been his favorite ever since. It's quite a chore to make so I've never attempted to make it quite frankly it scared me to even try. I decided this year it's about time I learn how since it is a great cake plus his favorite. One day his grandma came over and we made one together (thank you again grandma). Today I was all on my own it didn't turn out near as pretty as his grandma's but I'm hoping it tastes the same. It sure smelled good coming out of the oven today. I'm quite proud of the fact it looks similar to her cake and boy I can't wait to cut it. Benny worked late yesterday and today so this is why I didn't make the cake until today. He's on his way home now and I can't wait for him to try a piece:)

Happy Birthday to my hubby!!

My dear husband and best friend turns 31 today! I love him so much and pray the Lord gives me many more years with him. This picture was taken a couple years ago on our 10th anniversary. We were at a mexican restaurant celebrating and these hats were on the wall. We asked if we could try them on and they let us so here is our pic from that day! I thought it was a good picture of my hubby. Were a bit red from boating all day but we had such a fun day and memorable anniversary.

Happy Birthday Ben!!

cleaning...

AAAHHHH...sigh...I get such a high almost from deep cleaning I'm a crazy women I think..heehee. This morning after we did some school the boys and I went through ALL the toys in the house and purged...big time..YIPEE!! Can you tell I'm so excited about it! We got rid of a lot of big things and then we went through and organized them all talk about fun!! Then onto their rooms Romans was easy he doesn't have much. Lucas and Kaleb's room took a little longer but we got rid of a bunch more stuff and put things where they belong. We found many "missing" items to other toys to. Mysteriously they have a lot more legos and magnetix than they did before. What a productive morning I love those now we must make our donation to Goodwill. My next project is teaching Roman to clean up the toys after himself. He has a horrible habit of just dumping out toys and walking away from them. I've decided enough is enough and I'm working on him playing with say just the legos and then picking them up before getting out say the play food etc. It'll take awhile I should've started much sooner but it's one of those things that I let slide and it was easier to have the boys do it with him etc. Well now he's three and kind of a slob so we are going to correct that..wish me luck!

Reading

Here is us on a typical day doing school at our kitchen table. I always wonder if I'm doing enough with the boys and worry about if their on track grade level wise. Today I found a reading test online that will tell you what grade level your child reads at. I actually had both of them take two different such tests. The results were great! Lucas who is in sixth grade reads at an eighth grade level. Kaleb who is in second grade reads at a fourth grade reading level I was so surprised. I think they read awesome but I didn't know what grade levels they would be considered at. They both read an hour a day and I try and make it year round I guess it's working. Now I'd like to find a test that will determine their reading comprehension grade level. Because it's great if they can read the words but what really matters is if their comprehending what their reading. I believe they both do whenever we read together the boys can always tell me what happened and answer the questions. But I'd like a test anyone know of one? Anyway it just made my day after the boys took the test here's to homeschooling...I love it!!

Tour of Italy

Or so it felt like it. This weekend Ben and I and a bunch of our friends went wine tasting for a friends birthday. We visited four different vineyards in our state and just had a very relaxing and fun time. It is so amazing to me how many different wines there are and how different they all tasted. We bought a few different bottles to share with friends and family. We decided we'll do it again because we only saw four and I think there are about 15 more we could've visited. We got a tour at two different vineyards and learned all about the process it was quite interesting.
A picture of one of the vineyards each one was just beautiful.
Hubby and I at the last vineyard the suns rays got into the picture too but I still thought it was a nice pic.

Ahhh, break time!!

This is what I feel like when school is done for the day..YIKES! Just kidding it's always just such a relief to have it done for the day. Lucas and Kaleb go read at 1:00 and Roman goes down for a nap every day..ahhhh..did I already say that:) As much as I love teaching my kids at home and always having them around me you do tire out. I've found that taking this one hour time slot every day just for me really helps me to regroup. I try not to do house chores during this time although probably half the time I do. I either read or garden or run or something I enjoy that is relaxing to me. Today I watched I Love Lucy reruns it was great! That show always makes me laugh. Ok so now my secret is out what I do in the afternoon:)

And day two of school...

Today went much better we got back into our routine from last year for the most part and everything went so much more smoothly. It's amazing how much better the boys do when they know what to expect next in the day. Here is my somewhat schedule and of course some days it changes based on what we have going that day.

8:00:Breakfast
Devotions
8:45 Math - Lucas and Kaleb. Roman outside
Language or phonics and language - Lucas and Kaleb
Writing and spelling - Kaleb
10:00 - they both get a 15 min. break Kaleb is usually done by this time and sometimes Lucas gets math and language done sooner than 10 if so he gets a longer break.
10:15 - Kaleb reads aloud to me for about a half hour and Lucas finishes up with spelling, history, penmanship, and bible.
11:00-11:30 whenever all our seat work is done I'll often run errands or a lot of the times go to the Y for a workout. Or the boys and I might take a walk or play outside I try and make this an exercise time or play time for us.
12-12:30 is lunch time
1:00 Lucas and Kaleb each go to their room and read for an hour and Roman goes down for his nap.
2:00 is usually chore time and then free time for the rest of the day.

The boys are starting guitar lessons October 1st so 2:00 will probably be practice time some days. Like I said we don't get to stick to this every day but I try to and so far it's worked well last year went very smooth most days. Fridays the boys take science and art at a place for homeschool students so Friday is usually our test day for spelling and then Math or language if they have one that week. Well anyway just thought I'd post this for anyone interested I like to read how others structure their day during the school year.

First day of school!!

Today we begin our official school year. With Lucas is sixth and Kaleb in second it should be a fun year. We're already done for today the first day is always review and goes fairly smoothly. The good news is that my kids didn't forget everything from last year. After having four months of summer vacation I always wonder:) I am quite overwhelmed by it all as I always am at the start of a new school year. Wondering how I'm going to fit everything in and how my patience level will be. It's always an adjustment from getting up and heading right outside to having to sit for awhile and focus. Lucas is pretty good at focusing now and Kaleb always has been. I did notice with Kaleb he was day dreaming all during school so were going to have to really work with him and switch gears. All in all school went good and I look forward to teaching and having a great year of learning with my boys!

Running..

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" Phil. 4:13

This is one of the verses that I recite to myself as I'm running. A few weeks ago my friend Amy and I were running and doing a tough hill route. Seven miles into our run we hit a huge hill at the same time we started saying this verse to ourselves. We chuckled because we were quoting the same Bible verse. Then we Prayed:) until we made it to the top! I am training right now for a 10 mile race by our house so during the week I often run a 10 or 11 mile run. I am constantly amazed at the things the human body can do and I thank God every time I run that I can run that far and am able to run at all. I praise the Lord that I'm healthy and able with him who "strengtheneth" me to run!