Lovely Weekend

Had such a fun time at Sonia's this weekend.  She is a great hostess.  Everyone made memories watching the Superbowl, eating great food, playing at the park, playing football, swimming, and attending a concert! So very fun...we all made memories.  I was watching the kids play at the park with their cousins. We are lucky to be back here in Southern California with them.  The kids were playing pirates and everyone had an important role.  Izzy was delegating jobs to them all...she told me to be the protector and I had to carried the big sword.  Scotty impressed me with his attention to details when it came to design of the playground equipment.  He noticed that the slide and the climbing wall were really the same piece just flipped over...impressive!  And of course our Luke seems to ALWAYS make a new friend where ever we go.  He and his buddy dug some elaborate tunnels that all interconnected.  I loved watching all the adult cousins playing football and remembering when they were young.

The boys and I spent the night and in the morning we headed over to the Y so the kids could swim and we could drink in the sunshine.  I count every second together with Sonia as priceless.  She is my bestie and I thank God for her friendship.  I can talk to her about ANYTHING and I love her as much as my sister.  Got back to the house just in time to have lunch with Esther and Barbara Coffman (an absolute pioneer in the homeschooling world and a wealth of information on parenting and marriage). It was a treat to be able to visit with her!

We met Nancy and Tia, Veronica and her kiddos at the Mariners Church in Irvine for the taping of Jana Alayra's newest DVD and it was awesome.  We were in the front and I'm certain our kids will be on the DVD....as close as we get to being famous! :)  Luke of course made another new friend there and talked with her they whole ride home in the car! So much for homeschooling kids being antisocial!! HA!

After the concert we met at the Irvine Spectrum for supper before heading home..not much traffic and we could use the carpool lane....

We are blessed!

relaxed learning

I think I'm going to used "relaxed learning" instead of homeschooling.  I think it fits us nicely. We have been doing fun things in the last few weeks.  It feels like the kind of school experience I've been dreaming about for the last few years.  Sunshine, movement, family, conflict resolution, reading, playing, cooking, sewing, reading, adding, carrying, conjugating, reading.....:)

"A child educated at a school is an uneducated child."~ George Santazana

Christmas Time

Bugdeting/Simplifying

With the new year drawing close, I have our family's budget in mind.  Having 6 mouths to feed I think I need to start buying in bulk.  So this past week I've been researching and crunching numbers.  It seems that Walmart's store brand beats out places like Costco and Sam's Club for dried goods like beans, rice, pasta,and baking supplies. 


Here is a new recipe I found for Laundry detergent that costs 5cents a load:


2 cups Borax
2 cups sodium bicarbonate (cleaning strength baking soda)
1/2 bar of finely grated Zote soap (you can sub any bar soap)


Only 1 T. is enough per load!


For my dishwashing detergent:


2 cups Borax
2 cups sodium bicarbonate (cleaning strength baking soda)


Use 2 T.


For sparkling dried dishes, fill the little place you would usually pour Jet-Dry with vinegar instead...It works great!!


Starting in the new year I plan to break my weekly chores up differently to try and save money and time.


Monday-Laundry
Tuesday-Shopping
Wednesday-Baking ALL good for 1 week and freezing things.
Thursday-Cooking for the week
Friday-Deep clean house, prepare for Shabbat
Saturday-Shabbat
Sunday-Lord's Day


For Baking day:


5 yeast loaves bread
2 pizza dough
3 quick breads (pumpkin, banana, zucchini, nut)
24 corn muffins
24 apple muffins
3 dozen no-bake cookies
4 dozen oatmeal cookies
2 quarts Homemade ice cream
Pre-make 5 dozen pancakes (boys pull from freezer and pop in toaster)


For Cooking day:


Soak/Boil rice, pasta, beans to have on hand.
Two different large pots of soup (divided and frozen).
Chop and prep all veggies.
Anything to make nightly prep easier.

Hope to make a dent in our grocery money by homemaking things instead of buying the quicker options. And if I buy the bulk things at the beginning of the month, I'll stay out of the grocery store and not buy last minute things I don't need.

Staying connected with good friends

So we have finally connected Luke with his best friend Zach in Kennewick.  Zach has a computer in his room and the two of them spent the afternoon "playing" games together.  Luke snuggled into his bed with my laptop and you wouldn't know there was a screen keeping the two apart.  It is a blessing the two can stay connected.  Zach and Luke both have a brother with high functioning autism.  I believe Zach and Luke share an enormous capacity for patience and compassion. The two share similar frustrations, too.  I'm so glad Luke has found such a friend so early in his life.  Because they are both home schooled, it will be a great incentive to finish up schoolwork to have a play date with each other...:0) not to mention that his mom is one of my all time best friends forever...I missing her greatly at the moment..but we, too, have plans to make our yogi tea and sit and talk like the good old days...although I'll miss her neighbors plenitude of garden goods and the out grown clothing..it will be just as good as long as I get a glimpse of a naked Abbey running around in the background :) I love the Brooks and I'm thankful for Skype to keep us together..oxoxox

Better Than A Hallelujah Amy Grant

My name is Eva and I'm a www.stumbleupon.com addict..

My friend Marie-Eve mentioned in one of her blogs about this site.  I check it out! BOOM!! I'm hooked..a homeschooling paradise! You go from quotes by Nietzsche to art history to buttons that make farting noises!! We also checked out huge toothpick sculptures that we are going to try and make.  Move over math and reading...we are going to submerge ourselves in toothpicks and Elmer's glue!! Can not wait for Monday!


In other news, Sergio is sick. Always the last to get stuff..Fever and sore throat.  Thankfully he has tomorrow to sleep in and relax..poor guy!

Isaac made some major progress in sharing his feelings today.  While watching The Polar Express, he told me that the part when the conductor punches the children's tickets makes him want to cry because they all learned what they needed to learn...pretty big stuff for a kid who "shouldn't" (because of autism) be caring about how others feel. Earlier this morning he was telling me how lucky he feels to have brothers..he said he always has a friend to play with.  These children are teaching me more than I can ever teach them..

Oh, another fun thing today, I got to talk with my Mom, Aunt Debbie, Macy, and J.R on Skype.  Can I tell you how much I love THAT..Macy looked and looked! I miss her so much.  I love technology!

Matt Maher - Hold Us Together

Mexican Lasagna

Tried a new recipe last night and it was a huge hit.
~Mix a can of refried beans with a large jar of salsa.
~Boil a package of lasagna noodles.

~Spread small amount of salsa mix in the bottom of 13x9 baking dish, then a layer of noodles, another small layer of salsa mix, noodles, 1/2 cottage cheese, sprinkle cheddar and mozzarella, noodles, salsa sauce, noodles, 1/2 cottage cheese, sprinkle Cheddar and mozzarella, noodles, last of sauce, top with mozzarella.

~Bake for 45 minutes until bubbling...HUGE HIT WITH THE TROOPS!

3 years post heart failure...THANKSGIVING

Every Thanksgiving these feeling well up in me now..Thanksgiving 2007 Sergio's heart started to fail...

That Thanksgiving in the hospital was probably the roughest, emotionally, of all days for me. The children were all spread apart..and here we were in rainy Seattle in a hospital facing a major giant. But I remember how God made provisions for us and how He made that Thanksgiving one of the best I ever had. First, my grandparents lived close to the hospital and visited everyday..they brought us a pumpkin pie. Then the Mormons (God love em) came and turned the gloomy waiting room into a glorious feast for the families left there over the holiday...I went to thank one of the older ladies and couldn't make it through without crying (crying now as I write this). She held me for a long time and told me she had been in my very shoes and knew what some turkey and mashed potatoes can do for the soul...there was only one TV channel working in Sergio's room that day..and the one movie that was playing was The Holiday..my all-time favorite holiday movie...I climbed into that hospital bed with Sergio..I had a full tummy and my favorite movie and a husband I thought I was going to lose...but for a moment..it was the perfect Thanksgiving...

Ingrid Michaelson - Maybe (Official Music Video)

Homeschool woes..

It was one of THOSE days!

You know the ones where you actually call the public school registration office to request papers to send your children away for 6 hours a day..oh, it was tempting. Then the Lord placed a phone call to me through a friend who reminded me that this is not the path I chose but is the one He chose...so I'm ready to mount the steed again in the morning...

Shepherding children is not for the weak!!

Sara Groves, "I Saw What I Saw"