It's A Girl

dreams

It was the night before the first day of school and we were all sitting in the school room. The books were all organized, plans had been made, stickers ready to be distributed, and an array of pencils were ready to be used. As we sat in our misshapen circle the conversation was very focused and the tone was stern.

Aaron and I discussed our goals for the coming school year and what we expected of our children. We explained to them once again the importance of getting an excellent education. Knowing our boys and their aspirations we were able to tailor our talk to their particular dreams.

Joshua was reminded that a good education is necessary for getting into the Air Force Academy. And Asher was told that he would need to work hard and go to college. Getting a good job was crucial to his dream. He would have a family to take care of.

That is yet another benefit of homeschooling. We know our children's dreams and we can help them attain them. When Joshua is whining about math I can remind him of how integral math is to flying in the Air Force. He immediately gets to work. He knows I'm right, but more importantly he knows WE are in this together and we have the same goal- attaining his dream.

It's Official

After 7 years, the boys no longer share a room. We knew this day was fast approaching, but we were still apprehensive. The boys have always spent the last few moments of their day talking and joking. And we have thoroughly enjoyed listening in on this brother bonding time.

With Joshua entering the double digits it has become pretty obvious that he desires some space of his own. Luckily, and surprisingly, Asher was excited about having his own room as well. Now that most of the belongings have been divided; it is turning out to be an amazing experience. I love the smile on Joshua's face :)

A peak into our day...

Today was the official first day of school for 2011-2012! It went very well! Elliana likes to grab my camera and take pictures. I scanned through the pictures she took and thought they were a good glimpse into the reality of homeschooling...

(I took the first four this morning right before we started school)

I love Asher's face...Elliana loves school :)
Joshua doesn't look too happy either..
And a silly pose..
Elliana's pictures...
(she is holding an arrowhead..)
Joshua and I reading in the family room.
Yep, there are moments like these....
But there are also moments like these!!
Lazy bum...

Updates to the school room..

For 8 years I conducted school out of a crate at the kitchen table. When we started thinking about moving a school room was on the list of what we "really, really, really want". I am thankful to have an entire room dedicated to educating our children. I no longer need to lug around big crates :) Although I must add here that location is really irrelevant when it comes to educating our children. They would learn better in an open field than in a school room. It would seem to me that instead of building all these new schools the government should hire more (and dare I say better) teachers. (alright, I am jumping down from my soapbox...)

I have been slowly setting up our school room. I recently found a great world map for the wall and Aaron put up a white board. In the past I looked into getting a white board but was put off by the high price. Aaron was talking to another homeschool dad and discovered an inexpensive solution. He purchased a piece of white paneling from Lowe's and attached it to the wall. We rubbed on some turlte wax and it was ready to go. It works great! And it cost us about 12 dollars :)

Focaccia Pizza with Basil and Mozzarella

I have several pizza recipes that I use regularly but I wanted to find something new that what be special. I found one that fits the bill- Focaccia Pizza with Basil and Mozzarella (from The Food Network). It's a little time consuming but definitely worth all the compliments :)

Focaccia Pizza

Ingredients

Dough:

· 2 cups warm water, about 110 degrees F

· 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 4 tablespoons for greasing the baking pan

· 1 tablespoon dry yeast

· 1 tablespoon honey

· 6 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough

· 1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt

Pizza:

· 18 Roma or Italian plum tomatoes, thinly sliced (can use pizza sauce)

· Basil

· mozzarella

· pepper jack cheese

· Salt and pepper-

- Sausage

- Diced red and green peppers

R Directions

1. Preheat a convection oven to 325 degrees F or a regular oven to 350 degrees F.

2. To make the dough: In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the water, 5 tablespoons olive oil, yeast and honey. Allow the yeast to proof for 5 minutes.

3. Add the flour and salt, and mix with a dough hook on medium speed until the dough is pliable and elastic, about 5 minutes. If the dough is a little wet, you may need to add a little more flour. The dough should be moist, but not stick to the hands.

4. Cover with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 20 minutes.

5. Brush the remaining olive oil on a rimmed baking sheet about 18-by-26-inches.

6. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4-inch thick and prick the dough all over with a fork or rolling docker.

7. Brush off any excess flour and transfer to the prepared baking sheet.

8. Bake the dough until lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Cool.

9. When the dough has cooled, evenly top with focaccia with the tomato slices, covering the entire surface and lightly season with kosher salt and pepper. I added diced red and green peppers and sausage to half the pizza, so yummy!!!

10. Sprinkle with the basil and lightly top with the mozzarella. You should be able to see the tomatoes through the cheese.

11. Return to the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and slightly colored.

We ate by candlelight to make the meal extra special :)

Note: The crust is pretty thick and contains more carbs than one should eat normally, but it is great for a special treat.

Homemade Donuts

I am going to admit something that is very shameful, we have been serving our children Eggo waffles for breakfast. I am normally gone from 5 am until 7 am getting in a workout. So having a healthy homemade breakfast ready for the kids has not been an option. I have decided to right this wrong by making homemade donuts and pop tarts. I am making big batches and freezing them.

Homemade Banana Cinnamon Donuts

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup butter

4 bananas

3 tablespoons milk

1 cup unbleached flour (I always use Eagles Mill Ultragrain)

1 cup flour mixture (Mixture made from equal parts-whole wheat flour, unbleached flour, wheat germ)

4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/3 cup ground oats (to make put oats in blender)

2 tablespoons flax seed

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

-Cream sugar, butter, and egg together. Beat until fluffy.

-Add bananas and milk, beat well.

-Combine flours, cinnamon, flax seed, ground oats, baking powder, baking soda.

-Gradually add the flour mixture to mixer.

-Grease donut pan.

-Add batter to donut pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

I purchased this donut maker (by Wilton) at Meijer. This is a picture after I filled them with the batter. You just need to put enough in to reach the top, or maybe even a little under the rim.

Don't they look yummy! I served them with a little powdered sugar sprinkled on top, they looked so pretty.

To make Apple Cinnamon Donuts use the above recipe substituting 2 pureed granny smith apples for the bananas (2 apples should yield 1 1/2 cups pureed apples). I used 4 apples and saved half of the puree for another batch of donuts.

Elliana liked the banana cinnamon the best.

The apple cinnamon received a thumbs up from the boys! (they liked both kinds but said the apple was the best)

Amazing Chicken Fajitas!

Our new homeschool year is fast approaching (we start up again on Monday!). Our school day starts 8 am and normally does not end until about 3- 4 pm. That leaves little time to make homemade snacks and dinners. But I am determined to feed my family healthy homemade food. The last few days I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen preparing snacks and meals for my freezer. Yesterday I baked 4 dozen cinnamon ripple muffins and today I made 2 batches of homemade pretzels.

I also cut up an entire bag of chicken into fajita strips, divided them into four freezer bags and added marinade (recipe below). I now have four delicious meals ready to whip up in no time! I thought I would share this recipe because it is so amazing! I found it on allrecipes.com and tweaked it a bit.

Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder (or 1 clove, minced)
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken cut into strips
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4- 1/2 cup onion,diced
• 1/2 - 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 1/2 - 1 red pepper, sliced
• 
  

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, chili powder, garlic a. Place chicken in sauce, and turn once to coat. Marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature, or cover and refrigerate for several hours. (or lace in freezer bags and freeze for later)
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add chicken strips to the pan, and saute for 5 minutes. Add the onion and red and green peppers, and saute another 3 minutes.

Note- I used a lot of red and green pepper slices, the more the better!

Slip'n Slide !!!

Joshua received a slip'n slide for his birthday :)

Joshua helping Elliana walk down the slip'n slide (he's a good big brother).
Mom even had to try it out :)

Happy Anniversary!

14 years ago I walked down the aisle and stepped into a life I never imagined I would live. Aaron made everyone dream I had ever wished for come true, and more. When I look into his eyes they are still saying these words...