March Books

I forgot to write down my book list from Feb.  And then I forgot what I read!
Someone- please remind me to stop forgetting stuff!!!  


Before I forget, here's what I read in March:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (fiction)
I really enjoyed this story.  This is one of those books that I would sneak away for a moment to read, only to be found five minutes later!  Fantastic character development.  I guess my only negative thought on this is that it seems to "white wash" over a very difficult time in our nation's history.  But the author clearly makes this known at the end- that she, as a modern day white woman, cannot know the depth of the pain and the hardship of the hired help during that time.  With that said, it is very enjoyable.   It reminded me of my grandmother, born and raised in Louisiana, who was best friends with her maid's daughter.  And all of the trouble that caused- for both of them.
I recommend this book.

One Thousand Gifts: Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp (religious non-fiction)
Oh.  This book ripped me upside down.  It is a beautiful book reminding the reader "in all things, give thanks".   I began this book in February and it took me weeks to finish.  It is one of those books that must be put down and mulled over.  Ann Voskamp writes beautifully.  Full on poetry.  Read this.

Read this.

Adopted for Life Russell D. Moore (religious non-fiction)
This book covers the Biblical foundations for adoption.  It reminds the reader that all Christians are called to orphan care, though our roles may look different.  Moore is an adoptive father and a pastor.  This is a great book!  It was given to us by our adoption agency.


For the kids:

Homer Price Robert McCloskey

Oh-this is a wonderful read aloud!  Get this one for sure!

layers

We are busy getting ready for our first camping trip of the season!  We are heading out to Palo Duro Canyon in west Texas.  This will be our first trip to the canyon as a family, and we are all super excited!

To prepare us for our trip we have been studying some geology- the layers of the earth, rock formation, erosion and rock classification.

In honor of "all things layers" we made pizza, ate some Newman O's, and made colored salt.  I had seen this project on Design Mom last week and I was so pleased to be able to incorporate it into our plans.

First I poured some table salt on a sheet of freezer paper.

The kids then chose a stick of colored chalk.  Holding the chalk sideways, they rubbed up and down on the salt.  

In no time we had colored salt!  It was such a fun activity, and they enjoyed watching the layers stack up.

my veggie panang

I love panang.  It is one of my most favorite dishes to get at Thai restaurants.  Give me veggies swimming in coconut milk and curry, and I will be your best friend.  For life.  Really.

I'm sure there are lots of recipes out there for some form of panang.

This is my version (to my best estimation):

Mandi's Veggie Panang

olive oil (or coconut oil if you want even more coconut flavor), enough to coat your pot
1/2 of a small red onion, chopped
2 med. sized sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 tsp yellow (for mild) or red (for a little more kick) curry
a small pinch of cinnamon
1 C chicken bone broth (or veggie broth if you want to go vegan)
1 can coconut milk
sea salt
half head of cauliflower, chopped
half large red bell pepper, chopped
1 C frozen green peas

Cover bottom of your soup pot in your oil.   On a medium heat, saute the onion.  Add in swt. potatoes, garlic, ginger, curry and cinnamon.  Saute until things start to soften up a bit.  Or until you have your cauliflower and bell pepper chopped (if you cook like me and times can be approximate!).  Throw in cauliflower and bell pepper.  Stir them in and let them get friendly with the other veggies.  Add the broth and coconut milk. Throw in a pinch of salt and the peas.  Bring to a boil.  Once things are bubbling nicely, turn down the heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes or so.  It should start thickening up nicely at this point.  Serve over brown rice, or eat it alone if you are going grain free.

a new past time

Buddy has a new favorite past time.  He likes catching the bees that fly into the house in glass jars.  Usually he just puts a jar over a bee that has made it's way onto the floor, but yesterday he was feeling risky.  He trapped a bug that had been buzzing around the window.  Just like his daddy does.

Here he is, sliding the glass jar down.  At this point he ran to the drawer and came back with a lid.  He slid it under the jar, righted it, and screwed it on!

Success!

I have loved this about him lately.  His wanting to be just like daddy.  The way he passed up all the transformer, bat man, sponge bob sunglasses to choose the plain black ones.  The ones that are "just like Daddy's".  I see it in the little things like this.  The things that don't really matter in the big scheme of things.  But I also see it in the big things.  In the character building things.  The way he wants to work hard "like daddy".  Or how he reminds us to pray before meals ("umm, guys, aren't we forgetting something?").   All of us are so incredibly blessed to have this man in our lives.  A man of integrity, great wit, ability, strong work ethic, and deep love.   In my opinion, Buddy could choose no better person here on earth to want to be just like.

a quiet morning

This morning the kids were way too tempted by the lovely weather to stay in.  Out they went and into the kitchen I went, eager to catch up on making some kitchen staples.

butter and butter milk

butter set aside to culture, and an emergency non-cultured dollop to get us through the morning!

flour

bread
(I didn't think ahead to set out a starter, so this is a yummy quick bread recipe from my friend Cheryl)

yogurt

This evening I'll set out granola and nuts to soak.  Then we'll be well stocked for the rest of the week.

I love quiet mornings spent in the kitchen.
Edie Brickell on Pandora.
Eager little faces, waiting for that first slice of warm bread with fresh butter.

slow and steady

Do you remember that day last summer when we thought it time to take Moonpie's training wheels off?  Do you remember the tears and the frustration?
Just look at my poor baby!  It breaks my heart to see that!

She has been asking for a while now to try again, and yesterday we finally did it.  You know what happened?  She did it.  She did it!  There was no running behind the bike, no wobbly legs.  She just took off like she'd been doing it for years!  We were all so proud of our girl.

This moment, on the bike, was another confirmation for one of the aspects I feel strongly about in child rearing and education.  When a child is ready, they will succeed.  I think back to all of those parent/teacher conferences I took part in when I taught in the public school.  I had the inkling of the thought that the children would get it when they were ready, but that wasn't a popular notion with my parents or the administration.  But now I am confident in this thinking.  Some children need gentle nudges and encouragement, and some just take off on their own, but the fact remains that if you let a child move at their own pace, the success will be easier to come by.
I could have set Moonpie outside for the last year forcing her to ride- and she would have been miserable in the process.  But this way, allowing her to trust her own judgement and her own intuition, she proudly conquered what she set out to do.

Slow and steady.
In her own time.

letterboxing

Earlier this week we picked up a buddy and went letterboxing.

We headed over to Washington on the Brazos (the birthplace of Texas) because it is close, free, and there are tons of letterboxes hidden all over the park grounds.

I learned of letterboxing this summer from a couple of friends that had been doing it for a while.  They told us about it before we left for our road trip up to Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately, we were only able to hunt for one letterbox on that trip and hadn't picked up our journal since.

Moonpie putting our first stamp in our journal.  She found a compass on the trail
and was pretty excited about that treasure!

Letterboxing is a nation wide scavenger hunt!  People hide boxes all over and then leave the clues to find the box on the letterbox website.  The letterboxes are small containers containing a journal and a stamp.  We have our journal, stamp and stamp pad.  When we follow the clues and find the box, we open it up and stamp our family stamp into the journal they have left behind in the box.  We also put our name and the date we found it.  Then, we take their stamp and stamp it into our family journal, including the location and the date.

stopping for a snack break.  yes, he's wearing a pajama shirt.

This week we found a letterboxer that left 4 boxes.  Her boxes had handmade stamps in them and followed along with the book The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie DePaola.  She even put excerpts from the story on her clue sheet so I could read them aloud at each stopping point.  Her boxes were somewhat of a challenge to find.  I had to climb under a low-lying cypress for one.  I have the scratches to prove it.

Moonpie and her friend  looking over the Brazos River

Interested in letterboxing?  Here's how it's done:

• find a journal for your family to use
• find a "family stamp"- one that represents your family.  Our stamp has four owls on it.
• get a stamp pad and pen
• keep it all together in a letterbox bag
• throw in a couple of zip-lock baggies just in case the ones in the boxes you find are trashed
• go to the letterbox website and type in the area you want to hunt.  You can even search for specific parks (like I did this week).  If you find a match, clue titles will pop up.  You click on one and then you will receive directions.

sweet friends.  i love this picture!

The fun of letterboxing is the adventure of it.  The clues we have followed have led us to places in parks that we never would have gone to without it.  It is age appropriate for everyone in the family and really just a fun, free way to spend a good time with each other.

***have older kids?  try geocaching!

on corn and contentment

Cucumbers and tomatoes from last year's garden.

It is time to get going in the garden.  I can't believe I forgot to start my tomatoes and peppers.  I mean, what was I even doing in February?  Besides not starting my seedlings?  Our ag extension sells tomato and pepper plants as a fundraiser for scholarships, so not all is lost, but I was really looking forward to this year being a cost free garden.  That all of my seed saving last year would have paid off this year.

If I look back, I know where the forgetfulness started.  It began with getting my seed catalogs in January.  I saw all of those beautiful pages of heirloom, non-GMO corn and I began to feel ungrateful.  I wanted to be able to plant that corn.  I wanted to be able to offer my family and friends corn that has not been tainted by modern technology.  But I don't have the space.  So I became ungrateful for what I do have.  All of that discontent thinking led me to put the garden on the back burner.  It became all or nothing in my mind.  How foolish.  How ugly.

So maybe I can't plant corn.

I have a home.

So maybe I can't plant corn.

I have the money to buy organic frozen corn at the store.


So maybe I can't plant corn.

I have a healthy family.  Even though they have occasionally consumed GMO corn.


And obviously this list goes on and only reveals my stupidity.  My inability to be joy-filled with what God has given me.  Like life and breath, and over and above all- grace.

My inability to open my arms and whole-heartedly accept what He chooses for my life.

So after a month of refining, of getting the things that I know in my mind to be settled and planted firmly in my heart, I can think about the garden again.  And even though I forgot about planting those tomato seeds in February, I was reminded of some important truths.  I was busy planting seeds of gratitude, I suppose.  So much in my life vies for the spot where these seeds have been planted.  Lies take root and grow like weeds trying to choke out my joy, my thankfulness.  The garden of the soul takes more maintenance than my vegetables.  And when one of those weeds takes hold and pulls me down, I wobble up only through the grace of my Father, the Good Shepherd.  The One who leads and prunes and piles grace upon grace.

defending the fatherless

taken from allgodschildren.org

Have you read about the situation in Ethiopia in regards to orphan care?

The Ethiopian Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) has announced a proposal to decrease the number of adoptions they will process and approve—even by as much as 90%. They are planning to accomplish this decrease by limiting the number of approved cases to only 5 per working day. This change is currently set to begin on March 10, 2011.  From All God's Children


Please take a minute to read  Ethiopia: A Call to Action with this in mind- there are 5 million children in Ethiopia waiting for a family.  


5 million.


you can read from some mama's waiting on their Ethiopian children:


here and here

while we're talking reveals...

I'm not sure why these "reveal" subjects have taken me so long to get to.  I have to admit to you that my husband is super fast at getting things done.  He doesn't sit around with an unfinished project for long.  Turns out I, on the other hand, don't mind letting things hang.  At least in this space!

Remember this picture...from December?  Me all sequestered up in the front seat of the car, unawares of all my people on the other side?  

The contents were intended to make something better out of this mess below:

This is the back room of my house.  It is connected to our kitchen.  When we bought the house this room was actually a back porch.  John built me some walls and it became our laundry room/ office/ pantry/ mud room/ sewing room.  It is a busy place and stuff tends to pile up and get dirty.  As seen above.  Yikes.  That makes me cringe!

So one fine day in December John said "let's go to IKEA today and take care of this hot mess".  Ok, not really.  He would never use the phrase "hot mess".  He's probably offended right now that I would even pretend like he does.  But he said something to that affect, and we were off.  We bought what we needed and the very next day I was sitting here:

It's like one of those Maury Povich episodes where the "guests" go from "Freak to Chic", wouldn't you agree?  I love this space now!  My sewing machine and computer can now live in perfect harmony with one another (just like ebony and ivory).  No one's vying for the coveted front and center space!

That floor to ceiling shelf is completely customizable.  We opted for 3 shelves and these wonderful pull out baskets that store all of my fabric (that I am totally going to use... one day).

The shelves above the sewing machine house my herbal studies books, gardening guides and craft books.  Before, all of my books were stacked on top of my dryer.  I spared you that "before" shot.  You're welcome.

It also stores my Tom's peanut jar that my great-grandmother once used as a paint can.  Most of the buttons inside came from John's grandmother.  They have since been added to by thrift store and estate sale purchases.  And of course- there is my love flamingo that Moonpie made me.  That girl is so sweet to me.

Here is a gratuitous close up of my machine.  If this were the movie "Australia" she'd be in the backyard pouring a bucket of water over her head, a la Hugh Jackman.  It is just that gratuitous.  

And a close up of the "country garden" reader I picked up at a local antique store.

This is my space where I connect with all of you.  Where I wipe down muddy children.  Where I wash more clothes than I knew we had.  Where I get to create.  A spot of my very own (that I gladly share with the other three members of my family).

the house reveal {finally}

Do you remember last fall when we undertook the big task of painting the exterior of the house?  It took under a month, but for some reason, I haven't posted the afters.

I wanted to start with the before.  The very beginning.  When we first moved in.

This is after we moved in.  I can tell because there are plants in the yard and stuff on the porch.  Oh, and the forest green screen doors and screens had been removed from the front doors (yes, we have 2 front doors) and windows.   By this point we had owned the house for about five months but been living in it for 3.
We looked at lots of houses on our search for our home.  We were determined to find a home that was under what we could afford and needed work that wasn't too extensive.  Some of the houses we looked at felt like giant sheds.  The floors shook when we walked and everything was apartment grade.  The first time we walked into this house, we were sold.  It was in worst shape than we were hoping for, but the way the light came streaming in through the windows and filled the space allowed us to see the possibilities.

Our first priority was the inside of the house.  At the time Buddy was 6 weeks old and Moonpie was 2 1/2, so there was very little I could actually do.  John spent every weekend working long hours while the kids and I sat on the porch.  He had lots of help from family and friends- making the improvements all the more special.  I love that I can walk through the house and think "Max painted this room" or "this is where Don and Mitch hung the recycled bead board".  It's pretty neat.

After 25 years of being a rental, the most recent being a very sad situation with lots of police involvement, we were pleased to offer the house a chance to be a home again.  It had been so neglected. I remember when we first moved in, we never heard birds, saw bees or butterflies.  It was a sad, sad place.

We have been here for four years now.  We are still working slowly- one day we will replace those kitchen counters!- and our big improvements still include the help of friends of family (like the roof replaced by our old friend last fall).  We are happy to have the outside finally looking how we want it to look!  Let me introduce you:

pay no attention to all of the dead plants!

We love it!  The teal doors still make me happy every time I walk up to them.  Such a beautiful color!

And as pleased as we are with the outside, we are most happy about the feeling inside.  It is comfortable, peaceful and warm.  It feels more like home than any other house that we've ever lived in.

Here's to old houses with stories to tell and the privilege to add to that story.

sister {with benefits}

Sister and me in Napa last fall.  She has bangs now.  Which is rad because I can quote Napolean Dynamite when I talk to her, "I like her bangs"- spoken as Pedro of course.

Have I mentioned that my sister has landed a super cool new job working for Modcloth corporate?  So while she's up there in San Francisco working hard and whipping fannies into shape, I get to sit back and reap the benefits.

Mwa ha ha ha.

Yes please!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
edit:
The Bad-
I am not allowed to ask for my sister's discount.  She just informed me of that.  What is the point of having a sister working all the way out in California if I can't even get a discount on awesome dresses?!?

The Good-
She always gives me her hand-me-downs.  So next year I should be looking pretty awesome.  Until then, I'll just be sporting my mom jeans.  Fantastic.

homeschooling {moonpie}

*this post picks up my series on how our day works. for the beginning go back to part 1, part 2, part 3.

a photo by Ryan Price capturing our sweet sissy

Like I mentioned in part 3, Buddy's day, after circle time we all head to the table for Bible study (look back to part 3 for the curriculum we use).  After Bible, Buddy grabs his supplies and we begin working. I call this time "guided learning" because, for the most part, I am guiding his learning during this time.  While Buddy and I are working, Moonpie begins her independent lessons.  Moonpie loves workbooks, especially Explode the Code.  So she starts her time doing a couple of pages out of her current book.  

After that she moves to her copy work.  We use a copy work book based on animals- her most favorite thing.  This makes copy work more bearable for her.  Let's just say she doesn't love it.  I however do!  I feel like copy work is a gentle way to incorporate reading, handwriting, spelling, vocabulary and grammar.  The more she experiences properly formed sentences, the more likely she is to form them correctly herself.  I allow her to stop at any time in her copy work.  I don't want her to feel bogged down by it.  She generally works to the first period of the paragraph and then moves on to independent reading.  By this time, Buddy is usually ready to move onto blocks.  But if I'm I still working with him, Moonpie has some free time.  Which she generally spends drawing.

When I am ready to work with her, I check over her work.  If there are any mistakes in her ETC, I usually just point out one and discuss it with her.  Then I have her fix it.   Next I look over her copy work.  I ask her to show me which letter or word she feels is her very best.  Then I tell her which one I think looks great too.  I usually put a big heart next to it.  She likes that!  Then I may point out one thing that needs working on.  Like a capital letter in the middle of the sentence.  We discuss why capital letters don't go in the middle of the sentence.  Then we move on to guided learning.  

moonpie loves to cook.  she helps with most every meal, and often likes to make up her own recipes.  when i ask her how she knows how much to add of each thing, she tells me she uses her "baker's eye"!  love it!

Moonpie's guided learning consists of reading, grammar ( a few times a week), and math.  Right now she is reading on her own, but is lacking endurance.  And a lot of time, desire.  Reading is still work for her at this point, and she doesn't like that!  So during reading I choose a reader that I would call a challenge book.  She reads it with me listening and helping.  Then we may do some word work activities or sometimes we just move on.  I try to feel out where she is and how she is feeling.

For math we use the Singapore math program.  She really likes the pace and I like the conceptual teaching.  This is our first semester to use SM, and I would recommend it at this point.  

Up to this time, we have done more "real life" math.  She helps me cook daily.  She knows how to read an analog clock.  She is becoming more familiar with money.  Those kinds of things.  However, she was showing some signs that it was time to move to more of a lesson format in math.  And I needed help!  I am great at playing games to teach math.  But I'm not so great at teaching (or even knowing myself) the concepts behind a lot of math.  So I looked for something that would help us with that.  So far, I have found that in SM.

On the days we do some grammar work, I use the book First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise.  This is read aloud to Moonpie.  There is a lot of memorization work in the book and some written work- but very little.  I really like this resource.  It helped me remember to teach Moonpie our address and phone number.  Because for some reason I had failed to do that!  I also like that I don't have to do any planning for this.  I pick it up and read the script.  So easy!

moonpie in the garden, helping me prepare beds.

After her seat work is done, we have some free time.  This is usually spent outside for the kids while I fold laundry or start on lunch.

After lunch we read from our current literature selection and then start with history or science.

For history I just follow along with the Story of the World series.  This takes the guess work out for me.  Like I've mentioned before, I am not super strong in history.  This series helps me know what happened, when.  The readings out of this book are very short.  I just mainly use it as a springboard.  I then gather other resources based on whatever we are studying.

For science, we mostly do a mix of anatomy, zoology and botany.  These are the things my kids are interested in and our library is full of books on these subjects!

Two areas I would like to be more consistent in are handiwork and a true nature study.  Not just being outside- because we do that a lot!  But being more consistent with their journaling.

That's it for our day.  I'd say in total, homeschooling takes about two hours of our day.  The rest of the day for Moonpie is spent playing with her brother, creating with paint, clay, pencils, or fabric (she is super crafty), and being outside.  At this point in her life, this seems to be a good balance for her.