I'M ON THE CREW!!!!

I'm officially part of TOS Crew! What that means is I will be participating in reviewing curriculum throughout the summer. I am so excited!!! Come join me in this new adventure!

God Bless!

by far the best oatmeal icebox cookies

Today I have been doing a lot of food preparation for our vacation. With a large family, lots of food is needed! We usually take everything with us on our vacations. I do as much food prep, here at home before we leave. Today, I have been making lots of cookie dough. I triple our favorite cookie recipes and store it in ice cream containers in the refrigerator. It's a lot easier to make the cookie dough and take it with us than to take all of the ingredients with us an try to BAKE on vacation. We have two favorite recipes, Oatmeal Icebox Cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookies. My friend shared the icebox cookie recipe with me a while back and it is by far one of the best ever!!! Thanks, Jennifer! Here is  the  recipe for one of  our favorite cookies. This is not the original recipe. I had to make it my own adding and changing a few things.

Oatmeal Icebox Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup organic sugar, or you can use 2 cups sucanat

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups fresh ground hard white wheat

3 cups rolled oats

Cream your butter, coconut oil, sugar and eggs together; add the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Pour into a container and refrigerate. You don't have to refrigerate, you can drop by tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.

God Bless!

getting ready for a little vacation

Well, everyone is counting down. We leave for a little vacation Monday! Everyone is very excited. We will be attending our homeschool convention also in the same week. We have been doing lots of things around here getting ready for it.


For one, I had about seven gallons of fresh, raw cream to make into butter. So far, half of it has been done, so, today, I will finish it. We decided to make 1/2 cup balls this time. Sometimes we make logs and sometimes we put it into cake pans and cut it into sticks.

Remember, I am not a photographer, so these pictures are not the best!


Another thing we have been doing around here is raising meat birds. Eight weeks ago we were given, by my in-laws, 30 Cornish X meat chickens. We had talked alot about trying to raise our own meat source for a while. We figured we would start with chickens. We have, since last Friday, have been feeding them  for eight weeks. They are a fast growing breed so at this age are reading for slaughtering. Friday afternoon we slaughtered half of them and Saturday morning, the other half. It was quite the experience. 


A while back I purchased a DVD entitled "Homesteading for Beginners". It has everything from raising chickens, milking a cow, using the raw milk and cream, to butchering chickens. We learned everything we needed to know about cleaning and processing the chickens. It was very informative. I would highly recommend it. You can purchase it from here or here. 


I have put half in the freezer, whole, and today, cutting the breast out of the other half, freezing the leg quarters and make a stock with the carcass. I am not sure if I will grind the breasts and have it for chicken burgers or freeze them whole for homemade chicken nuggets. Remember, I am not a photographer!!! Here is a picture I took of the chickens the first day after processing them.

The picture really doesn't give them justice. Most of them were in the 4 - 5 lb.  weight range. Some were smaller and a few were bigger. We are very happy with the outcome.


We are learning lots about homesteading and enjoying living it each and every day. One of our big reasons for living the way we do is to teach our children how to live off the land and survive and love and give thanks to the Lord while doing it.


     


     Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
~~Colossians 3:23-24

Here lately we have been canning dewberries! We have gathered and picked close to 4 gallons. We so far have made a dewberry crumble, dewberry jelly, canned dewberries in a light syrup and in the near future, are going to make some delicious dewberry dumplings! I have never made them but my mother-in-law told me a simple way to do so. I am not one that likes dewberries too much. I can not handle the seeds. I do enjoy the jelly and feel as though I will enjoy the dumplings. I can make them by straining the juice off of the berries first and then drop the dumplings into seed-free juice! Here are the beautiful berries we canned just a few days ago.

I have quite a few of the berries frozen but I really like the fact that I can just pop open a jar  and make something very fast without having to wait for the berries to thaw! I can even make jelly with these berries in a jar. I have been thinking alot about  trying to do lots and lots of canning this year. I always can but not to the extint I want to this year.

I feel that if I can put most of our garden in cans, we are guaranteed food! I am always fearful of freezing everything and then down here in the south have some kind of bad weather and lose electricity. You know what that means.....a possibility of losing everything you worked so hard to put in your freezer! 

In about a week, we are going to be slaughtering about 25 meat chickens. I plan on putting most of them whole in the freezer. I don't know any other way. Maybe I am worrying about it to much.  I am wanting to try something I have never done before. Can homemade chicken broth. I usually freeze all of my broth but since I want to CAN almost everything this year, why not can chicken! I am really excited to see how it turns out. Just like the berries, I won't have to wait for the broth to thaw out. I can just open a jar of broth and enjoy!

Wish me luck!

God Bless!

what you might want to bring to a homeschool conference

   




  In less than three weeks, we will be attending our local homeschool conference. This is our third year of attending. We went to the Mid-South Homeschool Convention last year in Memphis, TN. That convention is alot bigger than our local one. For some of you, it might be your first time to attend a convention, so I wanted to share a few things I have learned and what you should bring along with you.
  
     It may vary depending on how many go with you. Our whole family of 7 goes together and so we have to take lots of things with us. Here are some things I take along:


Comfortable Clothing: You will do lots of walking and squatting. Make sure you dress appropriately. 


Snacks: (Especially for the kiddos!)  You don't want to buy food and drinks at the conference. Plan ahead! Bottled water, homemade granola bars and fruit are just a few of the things we bring.


Green Bags (Backpack): The older girls and I sew some cute little carry bags together last year for the Memphis conference to keep all the books and flyers, etc. in while we walked and visited each and every booth. A backpack or one with wheels would also work very well.


Cash: Bring cash. Stay on a budget. It is real easy to spend, spend, spend! Cash works much better than a debit or credit card. It is much easier to stay on budget using cash because you can plan ahead on what your budget will be and be able to stick to it.


Book List along with a notebook and pen: It is always helpful to make list. Each year, I put together a folder with the schedule for the convention. You can go to your website from your local group and print it. I also put together a list of books and curriculum that I am interested. It is so easy to forget what you wanted to look at when there are so many different vendors there. The schedule helps me decide and remember what workshops we want to attend. Sometimes there are two sessions going on at the same time that you wanted to see but had to miss one for the other. Most of the time at these conventions  you can purchase CD's for the sessions you missed. Look for them, they are great!




     I hope I have helped anyone that might be attending a homeschool convention for the first time or just needed a little reminder!


     Good Luck and God Bless!!!

Menu Plan for Sunday, April 22nd - Sunday, April 29th

I have been really trying to stick to my meal plan every week. In the past, it was really hard for me to do so but for the last two weeks, I have been doing good. Here is our meal plan for the upcoming week.

Sunday, April 22nd


Coffee and Granola
Spaghetti, Salad and Homemade Garlic Bread with Cream Cheeses Pound Cake for Dessert
Egg Salad Sandwiches or Open-Faced PB & J sandwiches on Toasted Bread

Monday, April 23rd


Chocolate Kefir Bread - Recipe on next post!
Butter Noodles with Blueberry Coconut Muffins
Italian Cream Cheese Chicken Casserole

Tuesday, April 24th


Cheesy Eggs and Toast
Sandwiches and Fruit
Breakfast Meal in a Loaf - Cooked by the Second to oldest bug!

Wednesday, April 25th


Kefir Pancakes
French Bread Pizza
Beef Tips with Gravy, Brown Rice and Veggies

Thursday, April 26th


Sausage Biscuits
Something leftover in the Frig! (HOPEFULLY!!!)
Chicken Alphabet Soup with Toasted Bread

Friday, April 27th  -  FIELD TRIP TO THE ZOO!


Baked French Toast Casserole with Sorghum Molasses
PICNIC - Hamburgers, Chips and Granola Bars
Noodles and Tomato Sauce

Saturday, April 28th


Coffee
Grits and Eggs  - Brunch
Toasted Bean and Cheese Opened-Faced Sandwiches - Recipe on next post!

Sunday, April 29th


Coffee
Lentil Chili
Chicken Salad Sandwiches in Homemade Pitas

What does your meal plan look like? I would love some new recipes!

God Bless!

Math Lessons for a Living Education

   I have been homeschooling for almost seven years now. When we first started homeschooling, I knew nothing. I thought I would need to purchase really expensive curriculum and alot of it to be successful. I thought the textbook approach was the way to go. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against it, it just doesn't work for us. After almost seven years, I decided to school the bugs using the Charlotte Mason Style. We jumped into it this year and never looked back.

   One of the books I am using with my nine year old son is a book entitled, "Math Lessons for a Living Education" by Angela O'Dell and Kyrsten Carlson. We are currently doing book 2. My son loves this book. It is such a fun book that when I am reading the little story each day to him, all of the bugs stop what they are doing and listen in. We all enjoy this book. 


FROM THE AUTHOR:

     Follow along with Charlie, Charlotte and new baby sister, Ella, as they learn about the wonderful world around them. In this volume, the twins discover the value of money, higher place value, adding and subtracting larger numbers, fractions, time, measurements and much more. Throughout the book, they discover the joy of giving and praying for those less fortunate than themselves. Seasons of the year, nature tidbits and exciting hands-on projects will invite children to dive in and enjoy learning. Childhood is so short and only comes once - why not enjoy the trip?

   Math Lessons for a Living Education is available through Queen Homeschool Supplies for $39.95. They also have Book 1 and Book 3 available. This is a 326 page consumable, spiral-bound book that lays flat so that a right or left handed student can use it. It also comes complete with cut-out manipulatives. Everything you need to teach a complete year of math. 36 weeks worth of lessons!

   I highly recommend this book. I have quite a few friends that were wanting to learn a little about this book. All opinions are my own and this review was completely done to help some friends!

God Bless!