The other day at the dinner table Nate and I realized that our girls have never seen Star Wars. So we started telling our favorite lines and scenes, and tried to impersonate the different characters (the best of course are Yoda and Chewy). We had a lot of fun, but our kids thought we were a little crazy. On Saturday Nate took the kids out and came home having rented all of the original three episodes. I really don't think I've ever seen more than the first 20 minutes of Episode IV, so that was our family night activity tonight. It was a lot more interesting than I remember it as a kid. My parents had VHS copies of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi that I watched thousands of times growing up, so I'm excited to see Empire Strikes Back tomorrow with the kids.
For our family night treat we ate peanut butter balls while watching the movie. That has become our go-to treat lately because Nikki can make it all on her own while I take a nap on Sunday afternoons. Talk about the fruit of my labors! I know everyone has a recipe for them, and this is the one we use. Sometimes we add the chocolate and sometimes we don't.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, divided
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
Stir 1 cup powdered sugar with the cocoa powder. Mix in all other ingredients. Form into balls and roll in remaining 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Refrigerate any leftovers.
Monday, July 09, 2012
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
School prep
So, I'm finally ready to start thinking about homeschool again. I think I have now finished ordering all of our books. I had really intended to continue a few things through the summer, but I needed a break, and it lasted through the whole month of June and now into July. And I hope the girls will appreciate and enjoy it when we start our routine again. I'm using this post to gather my thoughts and make some concrete plans for the coming year.
I went to two homeschool conferences in May, and I learned a lot. I want to be a little more hands-on with my girls this year than I was last year. I think it has taken me a while to figure out how to eliminate distractions and really focus on school during the day. It is such a different mindset from having them in public school, and I hope I am starting to get it. I know Hannah and Nikki both need me to be a little bit more involved in certain subjects than I was last year. They are getting older and can do a lot of things on their own, but I need to do a better job of being readily available while they are working.
A couple of months ago I bought a kitchen table at a yard sale in our neighborhood, and we put that in the bonus room. The kids weren't really happy that we took up so much of their play space, but come on, they can play a game on the table! While they enjoy doing work on the couch and on their beds, there are some subjects (like math and grammar) that I cannot allow to be done anymore while laying on the couch complaining about how much they just don't want to do it. And since Nikki seems to not be able to complete a math problem without speaking (except I know she was silent in public school!!), we now have separate work spaces for important subjects. I believe that will be a big help.
I've never felt comfortable implementing a time frame for each subject, and that just has to do with the personalities of my girls. If I said that math was supposed to be finished by 10:00 each morning and Hannah wasn't done by then, there is a good possibility she would get really upset and be miserable for the rest of the day. If I set a specific time frame for Nikki she would get bored and frustrated because either she finished early or she just wanted to do spelling before math today. So, I decided to make a list of work that needs to be completed before lunch, and work that needs to be completed before it's time to clean up in the afternoon. For things that we do together, I just start those in the morning after our devotional and then we work together again right after lunch. So those items get completed first before they break off on their own. Hannah appreciates the order of the list, and Nikki appreciates the freedom to complete whatever subject on the list she wants. Hannah can take as much time as she wants on each subject, and Nikki can speed through however quickly she chooses (and then spend the rest of her time correcting it).
This is the schedule we're going to start with this year:
Morning jobs -- (bed, get dressed, hair, etc.)
Breakfast
8 am --devotional (includes prayer, hymn or primary song, scripture study, scripture memorization, and an article from the Friend) We usually read scriptures together as a family at breakfast, but I want to include Nate in our whole devotional as much as we can so we'll add in our scripture reading here too.
8:30 -- History/Science
Music (piano, violin)
Math
Spelling
Logic (Hannah)/Penmanship (Nikki)
Grammar
12 pm -- Lunch
Latin
Spanish
Reading (as a group and individually)
15 minute Room Rescue
I'm not sure if that's really going to work. Last year we did History and Science at the end of the day, and it was just too easy to not do it. So I want to do that in the morning before we separate, but I think I may need to move Spelling and Logic to after lunch. We'll just have to see how the timing works out. I like having them practice their music before starting their math because studies really show that music wakes up your brain. I heard Michael Ballam give a really cool talk on that once. Having reading time at the end of the day is a good motivator for Hannah to complete the other stuff, and then I don't have to tell her to quit reading (except to come clean up for a few minutes).
Now, where does Ryan fit into it all? Good question! :) I seriously considered putting him in preschool this coming year, but we are going to be participating in a homeschool co-op on Wednesday mornings where he will have a little bit of a preschool class, and then Hannah will be doing Classical Conversations on Friday afternoons. While she is there, Ryan and Nikki will be able to play with the other kids who have siblings in class. So, that gives him two days already that he will be involved in groups outside of home. He actually really loves "school work" and was even asking me today to go look in his book to see what he was supposed to learn today. Last year I used a book called Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready, which he loves. Here again, I hope to do a better job with him this year, and I need to do a little more research about some ideas for him. Pinterest is actually pretty amazing for this. My #1 main goal for him is to keep him off of Netflix during school hours. Yes, I admit to taking the awful, easy route last year and letting him watch WAY too many hours of Thomas the Train so I could help the girls. The fact that I can sing the theme song is pretty pathetic. Can I get a nomination for Mother-of-the-Year please?!
I went to two homeschool conferences in May, and I learned a lot. I want to be a little more hands-on with my girls this year than I was last year. I think it has taken me a while to figure out how to eliminate distractions and really focus on school during the day. It is such a different mindset from having them in public school, and I hope I am starting to get it. I know Hannah and Nikki both need me to be a little bit more involved in certain subjects than I was last year. They are getting older and can do a lot of things on their own, but I need to do a better job of being readily available while they are working.
A couple of months ago I bought a kitchen table at a yard sale in our neighborhood, and we put that in the bonus room. The kids weren't really happy that we took up so much of their play space, but come on, they can play a game on the table! While they enjoy doing work on the couch and on their beds, there are some subjects (like math and grammar) that I cannot allow to be done anymore while laying on the couch complaining about how much they just don't want to do it. And since Nikki seems to not be able to complete a math problem without speaking (except I know she was silent in public school!!), we now have separate work spaces for important subjects. I believe that will be a big help.
I've never felt comfortable implementing a time frame for each subject, and that just has to do with the personalities of my girls. If I said that math was supposed to be finished by 10:00 each morning and Hannah wasn't done by then, there is a good possibility she would get really upset and be miserable for the rest of the day. If I set a specific time frame for Nikki she would get bored and frustrated because either she finished early or she just wanted to do spelling before math today. So, I decided to make a list of work that needs to be completed before lunch, and work that needs to be completed before it's time to clean up in the afternoon. For things that we do together, I just start those in the morning after our devotional and then we work together again right after lunch. So those items get completed first before they break off on their own. Hannah appreciates the order of the list, and Nikki appreciates the freedom to complete whatever subject on the list she wants. Hannah can take as much time as she wants on each subject, and Nikki can speed through however quickly she chooses (and then spend the rest of her time correcting it).
This is the schedule we're going to start with this year:
Morning jobs -- (bed, get dressed, hair, etc.)
Breakfast
8 am --devotional (includes prayer, hymn or primary song, scripture study, scripture memorization, and an article from the Friend) We usually read scriptures together as a family at breakfast, but I want to include Nate in our whole devotional as much as we can so we'll add in our scripture reading here too.
8:30 -- History/Science
Music (piano, violin)
Math
Spelling
Logic (Hannah)/Penmanship (Nikki)
Grammar
12 pm -- Lunch
Latin
Spanish
Reading (as a group and individually)
15 minute Room Rescue
I'm not sure if that's really going to work. Last year we did History and Science at the end of the day, and it was just too easy to not do it. So I want to do that in the morning before we separate, but I think I may need to move Spelling and Logic to after lunch. We'll just have to see how the timing works out. I like having them practice their music before starting their math because studies really show that music wakes up your brain. I heard Michael Ballam give a really cool talk on that once. Having reading time at the end of the day is a good motivator for Hannah to complete the other stuff, and then I don't have to tell her to quit reading (except to come clean up for a few minutes).
Now, where does Ryan fit into it all? Good question! :) I seriously considered putting him in preschool this coming year, but we are going to be participating in a homeschool co-op on Wednesday mornings where he will have a little bit of a preschool class, and then Hannah will be doing Classical Conversations on Friday afternoons. While she is there, Ryan and Nikki will be able to play with the other kids who have siblings in class. So, that gives him two days already that he will be involved in groups outside of home. He actually really loves "school work" and was even asking me today to go look in his book to see what he was supposed to learn today. Last year I used a book called Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready, which he loves. Here again, I hope to do a better job with him this year, and I need to do a little more research about some ideas for him. Pinterest is actually pretty amazing for this. My #1 main goal for him is to keep him off of Netflix during school hours. Yes, I admit to taking the awful, easy route last year and letting him watch WAY too many hours of Thomas the Train so I could help the girls. The fact that I can sing the theme song is pretty pathetic. Can I get a nomination for Mother-of-the-Year please?!
Monday, July 02, 2012
Blogging again
Who knows when I'll get a working camera?! I guess I really would like to start blogging again anyway. I skyped with Kellee last night, and it is so fun to talk to her. I got a virtual tour of her new house, which is really pretty. And she looked so great! She did the 28-day challenge from the E2 diet and loosely follows that now. After all of the reading I did at the beginning of the year I got overwhelmed and decided I was hungry and gave up. I don't think that was the right thing to do. I was reading a lot of extreme ideas, but going back to eating whatever with even less homemade stuff than I was doing before was really just the other side of extreme.
So this morning I made a menu plan for the week, including breakfasts and lunches and snacks, which is the only way I have ever been able to really pay attention to what I'm eating. Then I went grocery shopping and came home and reorganized my pantry and kitchen cabinets. That felt really good. Organizing and buying the food. I guess I should admit that I hate grocery shopping. I hate trying to make choices in the store. So much seems like junk, and I hate buying processed foods when I can make things better myself. But the reality is that I can't remember the last time I made my own graham crackers, and I don't make granola bars very often because I usually eat most of them. Most everything else that I usually make has seemed to quit being made, too. So, most of the time I end up just buying the essentials for suppers and fruits and very few other snacks. It really does feel like we never have food in the house, sometimes even after I get back from shopping. What kind of a mother doesn't know how to go grocery shopping? Well, today was a little bit of redemption. We now have good food in the house, including snacks and breakfast food. My last organization project of the day is going to be cleaning out the fridge. Oh boy! I think there is still a paint brush and roller in there from when I was painting the girls' room a few months ago.
We can't believe this is already July! Where has the summer gone? It is passing right by us as we sit at the pool. We have had a lot of fun swimming so far and plan to keep it up! It's seems like every other load of laundry I wash is full of towels. Speaking of which, I think I should probably go put them in the dryer.
So this morning I made a menu plan for the week, including breakfasts and lunches and snacks, which is the only way I have ever been able to really pay attention to what I'm eating. Then I went grocery shopping and came home and reorganized my pantry and kitchen cabinets. That felt really good. Organizing and buying the food. I guess I should admit that I hate grocery shopping. I hate trying to make choices in the store. So much seems like junk, and I hate buying processed foods when I can make things better myself. But the reality is that I can't remember the last time I made my own graham crackers, and I don't make granola bars very often because I usually eat most of them. Most everything else that I usually make has seemed to quit being made, too. So, most of the time I end up just buying the essentials for suppers and fruits and very few other snacks. It really does feel like we never have food in the house, sometimes even after I get back from shopping. What kind of a mother doesn't know how to go grocery shopping? Well, today was a little bit of redemption. We now have good food in the house, including snacks and breakfast food. My last organization project of the day is going to be cleaning out the fridge. Oh boy! I think there is still a paint brush and roller in there from when I was painting the girls' room a few months ago.
We can't believe this is already July! Where has the summer gone? It is passing right by us as we sit at the pool. We have had a lot of fun swimming so far and plan to keep it up! It's seems like every other load of laundry I wash is full of towels. Speaking of which, I think I should probably go put them in the dryer.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Blessed garage door opener
It may seem a bit ridiculous that after not posting anything on my blog for over a month, a working garage door opener would be significant enough for me to break my silence. However, this is the case. We have lived in this house for over two years without having a working garage door. That's right -- I would have to open and close it by hand every time. So, this morning as I backed out of the driveway and pushed a button, you can see why I broke out in song as the garage door closed all by itself.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
9
Sunday, May 13, 2012
He did it!!
So this morning, after breakfast in bed (cinnamon rolls and crepes filled with nutella and ice cream) he sent me on a treasure hunt. And surprise, surprise, I got a Bosch -- with Snickers filling the food processor attachment! He knows me well. :)
Saturday, May 05, 2012
Payback
Kellee will like this. I remember one time asking Dad for a piece of gum, and he said, "Well, okay. This is my last piece, but I'll give it to you." Kellee was standing right there and she couldn't believe it because she had just asked him for a piece of gum and he wouldn't give it to her!
The other day Ryan had a water bottle at the ball field and I asked if I could have a sip. No way. Nate asked him for a drink, and Ryan handed the bottle right over saying, "Of course."
What goes around really does come around, doesn't it?!
The other day Ryan had a water bottle at the ball field and I asked if I could have a sip. No way. Nate asked him for a drink, and Ryan handed the bottle right over saying, "Of course."
What goes around really does come around, doesn't it?!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sixteen
Today is April 30th. It was sixteen years ago today that Mom, Dad, and Granddaddy White died. I actually remember that morning looking very similar to this morning -- it was overcast and then began a light rain in the early afternoon. I was sixteen years old. Can it really be possible that they have been gone now for as long as I knew them?
April 30th is usually a beautiful day for me. On April 30, one year after the accident, our family was sealed in the temple. That turned my focus from a terrible loss to the hope of a bright future. I still feel that hope. Today it would just be nice to talk to my mom. There is a lot I would like to say to her. I would really just like to listen to her, have her hug me. I was thinking of her on Sunday in Sacrament meeting as I sitting next to Hannah singing the alto part to one of the hymns. I wondered if one day Hannah will think of me the way I think of Mom each time I sing a hymn in church.
I really enjoyed Elder Scott's talk in General Conference last month. I thought this part was great where he quoted President Joseph F. Smith: “I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separate from them. … We are closely related to our kindred, to our ancestors … who have preceded us into the spirit world. We can not forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we can not break. … If this is the case with us in our finite condition, surrounded by our mortal weaknesses, … how much more certain it is … to believe that those who have been faithful, who have gone beyond … can see us better than we can see them; that they know us better than we know them. … We live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever. For now they see the dangers that beset us; … their love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves.”
April 30th is usually a beautiful day for me. On April 30, one year after the accident, our family was sealed in the temple. That turned my focus from a terrible loss to the hope of a bright future. I still feel that hope. Today it would just be nice to talk to my mom. There is a lot I would like to say to her. I would really just like to listen to her, have her hug me. I was thinking of her on Sunday in Sacrament meeting as I sitting next to Hannah singing the alto part to one of the hymns. I wondered if one day Hannah will think of me the way I think of Mom each time I sing a hymn in church.
I really enjoyed Elder Scott's talk in General Conference last month. I thought this part was great where he quoted President Joseph F. Smith: “I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separate from them. … We are closely related to our kindred, to our ancestors … who have preceded us into the spirit world. We can not forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we can not break. … If this is the case with us in our finite condition, surrounded by our mortal weaknesses, … how much more certain it is … to believe that those who have been faithful, who have gone beyond … can see us better than we can see them; that they know us better than we know them. … We live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever. For now they see the dangers that beset us; … their love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves.”
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Softball
Hannah had her first two softball games last night and tonight. When I turned on my camera at the ball field last night, I found out I didn't have the memory card in it. Then, today I put it back in, got to the ballpark, and the camera wouldn't recognize the memory card. Ugh. So no pictures. I'm so amazed at how she can look so calm when I know she has got to be so nervous. I'm pretty sure she was shaking when it was her first turn up to bat, but I don't think anybody else would have known. After the game last night, she said that she understood how the game is played a lot better now! I was a little dumbfounded by that, and I felt kind of like we had just thrown her to the wolves. I just didn't know she didn't know how to play! Anyway, I'm proud of her for trying something new.
Monday, April 09, 2012
Easter
Of course, Easter is about so much more than treasure hunts and candy, and I really enjoyed the messages shared at church yesterday. We also got to attend Eliza's baptism on Saturday, which is a wonderful reminder of what our Savior has done for us.
I would try to catch up with my blogging a bit more, but Ryan has been begging for me to play cars with him.
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