Marvelous Pigs in Satin

First week back to home school after break went very well. I’ve begun teaching the Scooter Pies to read because they were barging into Apple Pie’s reading lessons and giving the answers before she could. They are reading pretty well, and for the first time ever, every child in the house can read a verse during family scripture reading. The Scooter Pies’ enthusiasm is good for Banana Cream and Apple Pie, my reluctant children.

For Art, we have been learning brush technique and using watercolors from tubes, but Tuesday’s lesson was free painting. Peach Pie experimented with our new watercolors, but the younger girls begged for a “fun art lesson like we used to do last year,” so we looked through the videos on Deep Space Sparkle Art’s YouTube channel, and they were inspired by a Cozy Cat . They drew and painted their own versions of cozy cats, and I didn’t even have to walk them through any steps. They know what to do with sharpies and watercolor now. I am in love with these cutie cats.

For geography, we read about island archipelagos. We found several on our globe, and then made our own archipelagos with air dry clay.

We built them on some cardboard from the recycling bin.

For Composition, we watched a Writers On Writing webinar from Read-Aloud-Revial done by Jonathan Auxier (author of Sweep:The Story of A Girl and Her Monster, one of Key Lime Pie and my favorite books.) Jonathan Auxier showed many sketches and writing from his own journals and explained how his books have grown from those sketches and ideas. He talked about the hero’s journey motif, common in many books, and taught how to keep a journal that will grow into inspiration for writing. The girls began their own “Hero’s Journals,” and I was thrilled by the ideas laid before them.

I made the mistake of setting up the writing lesson by saying we were going to do something really fun. Banana Cream Pie was so upset by how un-fun she perceived her hero journal assignment to be, that she curled up in a ball and cried and refused to do anything I asked for over an hour. I’m considering prefacing lessons by saying they will be hard and boring. Maybe I’ll be more successful?

Current bedtime Read-a-loud: The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dagliesh

Random funny boy quote:

“Mom! Look at me while I do a tree pose. It took me awhile to master it.”

Random funny girl quote:

Banana Cream Pie: “Can I have one of these cupcakes?”

Me: “Do you mean the cornmeal mufins?”

Banana Cream Pie: “Oh, Never mind.”

Pretty Thing:

Blueberry Pie painted these flowers on rice paper for me for Mother’s Day this year. They’ve just been propped against the wall in my room. One day, I was at the thrift store and saw this frame and just knew it was right for something. I brought it home, ruthlessly removed the Degas print from it, and put the flowers in it. Maybe I should have ironed the rice paper, but I’m scared to ruin it. I’ve hung it in the hallway upstairs, and it is just right. I see it and feel happy multiple times a day.

The Endless Merry-Go-Round of Meals

Usually on a Saturday, I grocery shop and meal plan and a little bit of preparing to make the week’s meals go smoothly.  Since I teach piano until 6pm, dinner is pretty late if I don’t begin it before or have the girls make it.  Last weekend, I did none of that, and this week’s dinners were late and no fun to figure out when I was already tired from a long day.  I was determined not to have that problem this week.

So I planned and shopped, and then enlisted the girls to help me. I couldn’t have accomplished all this without them.

We spent over 3 hours, but we put together nearly all the dinners for this week as well as peeling and chopping many vegetables for meals and snacking.

Peach Pie made 4 loaves of wheat bread. We also made breakfasts: frozen burritos, yogurt, and granola. That way, I get time to study my scriptures in the morning instead of having to make breakfast for everyone.

I also made 8 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. My lovely neighbor shared her recipe with me. I love it because it is lower in sugar than normal, and the cookies taste better the longer they sit in the cookie jar.

Dinner Menu for this week:
Sunday: Pinto Bean Soup and Cornbread muffins

Monday: Green Chicken Enchilada Casserole and Creamed Corn

Tuesday: Summer Sausage & Cabbage & Onions over Rice

Wednesday: Crock-Pot Lentil Soup

Thursday: Lazagna

Friday: Chicken Tikka Masala and Oven Roasted Cauliflower & Beets

Saturday: Leftovers or Pasta with Pesto

My favorite granola recipe from Alton Brown.

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Cookies
3 sticks butter, softened

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 (16oz) can pumpkin
4 cups flour

2 cups quick oats

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt
1 large package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Pre-heat oven to 325

2. Cream butter, add sugars. Beat until light and fluffy.

3. Add egg, vanilla, and pumpkin.

4. Combine dry ingredients.  Stir into butter mixture

5. Drop heaping tablespoons onto cookie sheets.

6. Bake 15-20 minutes.

Makes 8 dozen

Favorite Poem read this week:

How Many, How Much

                        by Shel Silverstein

How many slams in an old screen door?

            Depends how loud you slam it.

How many slices in a bread?

            Depends how thin you cut it.

How much good inside a day?

            Depends how good you live ’em.

How much love inside a friend?
            Depends how much you give ’em.