Our time in Mexico-ECC

Okay, so we weren’t actually in Mexico, but we definitely learned about it (and Central America)!  I just thought I’d share with you some of the adventures we had. 
Here’s the bible verse we memorized for the last week.  The top one was Vincent’s copy work, practicing his new handwriting skills.  The bottom one was the next day’s dictation of the verse.

Here’s our flag wall, where we will hang up all the flags of the countries we learn…Vincent is coloring them and writing facts on the back about the symbolism in the flags.  So far, we have the USA and Mexico.

Here are some of the art projects we did…we made suns out of air-drying modeling clay (we have yet to paint them) and tissue paper flowers.  These were so fun!


And here are some of my favorite notebook pages Vincent made for science…we had been learning about deserts.

Okay, I’m not really sure if a girl would have drawn a tarantula eating a bug!  *giggle*

The next one is my favorite…
And this one is so cute.  It says "Many desert people now travel by car but still keep camels."  That’s a camel in the back of a truck. 

We finished reading our first missionary biography of the year, too.  It was a very good read, and we are looking forward to the rest of them!

And what’s Isaac usually doing during school?

Oh, and in other news, I’ve officially started my fall baking. 

Wordless Wednesday: Smile!

Mexican recipes

I thought I’d post the recipes we have tried from Mexico that we liked…well, actually, we have liked all of them so far!
The first thing we had this week was Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder (click link for recipe).  This was an instant hit with myself and hubby.  I don’t think it really knocked Vincent’s socks off, but he ate it anyways…he’s not really a big soup person.   And Andrew (aka Moose), in typical Andrew-fashion, took a few bites and said "All done!"  I’m not really sure how that kid is continuing to gain weight.
The same night we had the Corn Chowder, I was browsing some of my favorite blogs, and saw a recipe for enchiladas posted by Pioneer Woman.  They looked really yummy, and not too difficult, so I said, "We’re having those tomorrow!" and we did.  These were a huge hit with *everyone.*  That recipe is definitely going into the family cookbook!
I had some leftover meat mixture and sauce from the enchiladas, so I mixed those together with some shredded cheese.  For the next day’s meal, I cooked up some pinto beans and some rice.  We used the leftover enchilada meat and sauce mixture with those to make our own burritos.
Last night, I made Chicken Lime Soft Tacos, and those were another hit!  For desert, I made Mexican Wedding Cakes (which we make for Christmas every year, anyways, but it was fun!)  Leftovers are practically non-existent in the house this week, and those that are here, don’t stick around very long.  I am so pleased with how this has been going!
Here’s a recipe we had for breakfast yesterday (very yummy!).
Chilaquilles
6 small corn tortillas
1 small onion, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped (I left this out, though, not too many bell pepper fans here)
6 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper (I only used 1/2 tsp)
2 T vegetable oil
1.  Stack tortillas and use a pizza cutter to cut them into bite-sized pieces. 
2.  Break all the eggs into a bowl and add the salt and pepper.  Use a fork or whisk to beat the eggs until they are frothy.  Set aside.
3.  Put half the oil into a frying pan and put on stove on medium heat.  When oil is hot, add the onions and tortillas.  Cook and stir until both are slightly browned.  Add the remaining oil and raise the temp to med-high.  When the oil is hot, add the peppers.  Wait a minute and add the tomatoes.
4.  Stir and cook until the veggies are soft and the tortillas are light golden brown and crispy.  Add the egg mixture and continue stirring until the eggs are cooked.  Serve right away.
Tonight I plan on making Tortilla Soup (will post the recipe later if it turns out good).  Next week, I am planning on plain old beef tacos, beef carnitas, King Ranch Chicken Casserole, Jamaican Jerk Chicken, and Pelau (from Trinidad and Tobago).  I also want to make Mexican Hot Chocolate, Guacamole, Pico de Gallo, and Tres Leches Cake.
I love to cook, and this is so fun, learning new recipes!  This will be an interesting school year, for sure!

ECC is going great!

Sorry I haven’t updated in awhile!  Between school starting and adjusting schedules with that and Isaac, we’ve been too busy for me to mess with uploading photos.  LOL!  So this is kind of a catch-up post.
Weeks 1 and 2 we learned all about maps and globes.  Latitude and longitude.  Different kinds of maps, how to read maps, what kind of info maps can tell us.  We peeled an orange and tried to flatten the peel to see why flat maps are so distorted.  We also memorized the names and locations of the continents and oceans.  At the end of the 2nd week, we made this cake.

We also re-visited John 3:16, and colored some sheets that had it in different languages.  We learned that we were going to be studying and praying for different cultures and people groups around the world.  We would also learn about various missionaries and Christian heroes.  Vincent made a chain paper doll, and Andrew made a chain of hearts. 

We started weeks 3 and 4 off right here in the USA.  At the end of the 3rd week, this proud mama gave Vincent a blank map and and alphabetical list of the states, and he placed each one correctly without any help!  I was just beaming with that one, as I thought he would balk at it.  We learned an Omaha Indian song and sang the Eentsy Weentsy Spider.  We started reading the book of Matthew in the bible (Matthew is the focus this year…the Great Commission and all that).  We also started reading a missionary biography about Cameron Townsend and his missions in Mexico and Central America.  Very interesting reading.  We are learning about desserts for science, and we made Navajo sand paintings.  Here’s Vincent’s:

We just bought colored sand from Walmart and painted glue in a design, and sprinkled away!  Beautiful!
Oh, and I colored in on a map all the states we have been through/to.

Still have quite a few to get to, don’t we? 
We just finished week 5.  Weeks 5 and 6 are Mexico.  We are still in the dessert for science.  All week long, I have been having fun learning new Mexican recipes to try, and we have all been having fun eating them!  I will continue next week, although I will probably add some Carribean stuff, too.  We have been playing a game to help us learn all the countries in North America, as well as the major islands in the Carribean.  We’ve only played it twice and Vincent’s already bored because he already knows all the countries.    We’ve learned some Spanish expressions, and we’ve learned a little about the Mexican culture and people.  We’ve especially gleaned a lot by reading about Cameron Townsend.  We will learn more about Mexico next week, and then we will "fly" to Canada.  (Yes, Vincent even has a passport!)  Oh, yeah, Vincent’s been learning his cursive this year, too.

And here’s a couple silly shots.  Andrew’s learning to be goofy.  LOL!

And Isaac learned to smile!!!

Okay, that is a *really* cute last picture to leave y’all with!  This was a really long-winded post (whew!), and I’m really really going to try to keep current here!

Getting serious...

...about de-cluttering, that is.  Well, for the moving sale, anyway.  We are going to try to have our moving sale this weekend.  But, the weather in the forecast for Friday and Saturday does not look good, so we are praying for a change in weather.  In the last couple of days, I've got my kitchen, pantry, mudroom, foyer, dining room, and living room completely combed-through, de-cluttered, and re-organized.  I even managed to vacuum the floors tonight before the boys went to bed.  It's definitely feeling pretty nice in here.

Tomorrow, I will work in our upstairs rooms.  I should be able to get those done in one day, since there's not much to cover.  If hubby's off from work (still not sure, I haven't talked to him yet), he will tackle the basement (that's the biggest clutter spot right now.  Then, together we will do the front porch, where we have begun collecting things that we have packed and are moving with us, but we don't need right now.  God willing, this house is going to lose some serious weight this weekend.

In other news, the Moby wrap I mentioned buying a few posts down is working out *really* well...I REALLY love it, and Isaac is starting to as well.  Today was the first time he fell asleep in it, and it was nice just being able to do things without his fussing all afternoon.  Now, I cannot wait to take the boys to the park!  Who'd have thought I'd be saying that with 3 of them?!  Ah, they're good boys!

OH!  LOL!  And, the hormone thing is getting much better.  Thank you to all who have been praying for me and who have sent words of encouragement.  It means a lot, and has helped so much!

Up to our "ears" in corn

Ha ha it's a joke!  Sometimes I really crack myself up!  Okay, okay,  I know, I'm sorry...

Seriously, hubby came home last night with a HUGE box of corn-on-the-cob.  A buddy from his work grows it organically, and we got over 80 ears for $30!

Here's a bunch we blanched and are waiting to go in the freezer.


These we are going to leave in the husks and put them right in the freezer.



These are what's in the freezer now, and why everything else is waiting.  



The cobs we left the husks on can be thawed, soaked and then put right on the grill.  Yummy!

A new school year

We were supposed to start ECC next week, but we are having our moving sale at the end of that week, so starting the school year then wouldn't be the best.   We have everything we need already, so we decided to start today and then take next week off.  We were too excited to wait another 2 weeks!  LOL!  We are off to an awesome start so far and I cannot wait to see the fruit this year produces!

We started the morning off with an easy cereal breakfast.  Baby Isaac was asleep, and after breakfast, Nick had to run some errands, so he took Andrew with him so that Vincent and I could have a quiet first day.    We started off learning about a book we will use this year called "Window on the World."  We also started learning cursive today as well.  That went over lots better than I thought, and he's doing a good job already!  Then, we picked up where we left off in math and English.  Vincent filled out his passport application to be able to "travel" around the world this year, and we started learning about maps for Geography.  For science, we learned about what environments are, and Vincent started his science notebook.  For music, we started listening to Wee Sing Around the World.  Lastly, Vincent picked up where he left off for reading...he started his McGuffey's 5th Reader today.  And I think before bed, we will find a book in the book basket to read aloud. 

Andrew is also way more interested in school than he was last year.  He and Daddy came home before we were finished, and he climbed up into a chair at the table and wanted to be a part of everything.    Next year, I will get him the preschool package from My Father's World.  He already has the toddler toys and has absolutely loved them.

Sleep, excitement, and too much emotion

I can't believe I remembered how to spell the word sleep, let alone even remember what it is!  My little guy has decided that his time to be up is between 11pm and 4am.  Yowsers!  With Nick back at work and the other 2 boys to take care of, I'm exhausted.

I did have a happy moment, today, though.  Nick said I can go ahead and spend some money at the baby store!    I got a couple of swaddle wraps that will hopefully help Pork Chop (our nickname for him!) sleep better when the rest of us are sleeping.  I do have to work on keeping him up more during the day, though, too.  I swear, if I let him, I think he would sleep all day long.  I have to wake him up every few hours to nurse.  I must not be keeping him up long enough, though, and that's going to change real quick!  I also got a Moby wrap.  Even though this is my 3rd baby, this is the first I'm wearing at all.  It will take some time to get good at wearing the wrap, but I REALLY like it!  It will especially go really good with my nursing smock to make out-and-about nursing super modest.  It will also be good for when I *need* to be up and about doing things...right now, that's Isaac's 2nd favorite time to fuss.  (If you don't know his 1st favorite, go back and re-read about the sleep situation.)

In other exciting news, I have had a really bad emotional day.  My hormones have obviously taken another plummet...must have been during nap time when I wasn't paying attention.  I've been able to fall asleep during nap time for the first time all week.  I was actually doing pretty good before then.  I had gotten the same lack of sleep as I had the last few nights, but I woke up feeling well-rested.  Me and the boys went shopping, came home and had lunch, and all 3 boys went to sleep for their naps.  So I laid down and fell asleep for an hour.  When I woke up, I felt more tired than I had in a LONG time.  I also felt sick to my stomach and my c-sec scar hurt.  Five minutes after I sat up, I was crying, for no reason whatsoever.  No big deal, just what Nick likes to call my hormone dump...it happens after having a baby.  Half hour later, though, I was still just tearing up for NOTHING.  I picked up and then hung up the phone at least 5 times.  Nick didn't need the stress.  He was at work and there was nothing he could do about it.  Why should he have to try and trudge through his day knowing his wife was an emotional mess at home where he couldn't be?  But then again, maybe he *could* be home.  Maybe he would hear what's going on and rush right home to comfort me.  Back and forth, back and forth between rational and irrational thinking.  Guess which thought won out?  Let's just say NOT the rational.  I picked up the phone and made that shameful crying phone call to my hubby.

He was very, very nice about it.  I just have to throw in right here that I have the absolute best husband in the entire world.  While he didn't come home like I thought he would at the time (darn it!) he was still able to be there for me when I needed him.  Like he *always* is.  He is totally my "Jesus with skin on."  He has called back twice to see how I was doing.

Okay, this was going to be a short post.  Wow, I really ramble when I'm tired!  I hope I didn't bore you all too terribly.  If you made it this far, could I ask any of the prayer warriors who feel compelled to just pray for me during this time?  One good thing is, I have had some natural progesterone cream recommended that I ordered yesterday and should be getting soon.  I am anxious to see how it helps.

Yikes, I really have to go now.  We have been watching the Olympic opening ceremonies and I lost track of time...need to get the munchkins to bed!

New baby update! :-)

Isaac was born on July 16, at a whopping 10 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long.  Oh, and he has red hair.  I love it!  He is such a little sweetie pie, and my best nurser yet.    Here is a picture of him the day he was born.  I will try and post a birth story soon.

In other news, Vincent finished 2nd grade back in July and we will be starting 3rd grade on Tuesday August 19, using ECC from My Father's World.  We already have the curriculum, and just have to buy a few basic school supplies.  We are both very excited to get started!   Dh went back to work this week, and I was very tempted to just start now, since Isaac's sleeping so much during the day right now, but I held myself back. 

I am hoping to get back into some sort of routine here soon, so stay tuned for progress on that bit of our life. 

This week's menus 6/23/08

Monday
Breakfast:
Cereal
Fruit
Lunch:
Cheese Quesadillas
Chips
Grapes
Dinner:
Crockpot sloppy joes
Homemade buns
Chips
Raw baby carrots w/ ranch dressing

Tuesday
Breakfast:
Breakfast burritos
Fruit
Lunch:
Peanut butter & honey sandwiches
Baby carrots w/ ranch dressing
Dinner:
Leftovers

Wednesday
Breakfast:
Eggs
Toast
Lunch:
Leftovers
Dinner:
Spaghetti w/ Crockpot sauce
Salad
Cheesy garlic rolls

Thursday
Breakfast:
Muffins
Yogurt
Fruit
Lunch:
Vegetable soup
Crackers w/ yogurt cheese spread
Dinner:
Chicken pot pie
Salad

Friday
Breakfast:
French toast sticks
Syrup
Fruit
Lunch:
Parmesan chicken nuggets
Sauce
Chips
Fruit
Dinner:
Crockpot lasagna
Salad
Cheesy garlic rolls

Saturday
Breakfast:
Cereal
Fruit
Lunch:
Leftovers
Dinner:
Leftovers