Extraordinary Ordinary Life

Who knew teaching reading was so controversial?

2013-05-23T16:35:00.000-04:00

People, I have run the gamut of beliefs as far as schooling is concerned. I won't go over them here because frankly, I'm exhausted from talking about them. There is a shift in thinking going on in my head - I started out as a stressed out, frazzled mom with the notion that my son was just not getting it and would always be behind in school. At every turn your child must do this or have this

Menu Plan - 5.19.13

2013-05-18T23:13:00.000-04:00

Remember last week when I talked about trying out this once a month grocery shopping thing? I've never really paid too much attention about how often we go through certain things - for instance - coffee (K-cups). I assumed the boxes I bought would last us for a while but it has only been a week and a few days and we are almost out so I am going to have to figure out how much we

Week in Review - Nature and Mother's Day

2013-05-18T13:04:00.001-04:00

This week we did the basics - you know reading, writing and arithmetic but we were also able to get out a lot. We went to the state park as a family on Monday. And on Wednesday we had a field trip to study our local habits. There is a raccoon up there - can you see it? My sister and I were also able to take my stepmom and Mamaw to a neat artists home and

Winner - Ring the Bell Movie

2013-05-18T12:02:00.001-04:00

Thank you all for entering my give-a-way. Here is the winner: Nesca Thanks again to everyone!

This week in my little garden

2013-05-16T15:29:00.002-04:00

This is where my radishes reside. There are peas in the back too. She is helping me pull some radishes. He is helping me plant some green beans. The blueberries are coming on. More planting. My blackberry bushes are doing well. Peas are in the back and I planted pepper plants in the front. More peas in the back with some pepper plants and some tomato plants.

Intentional Family Outings - The state park

2013-05-15T01:14:00.001-04:00

Remember when I made a new goal - Intentional Family Outings? We have done two of them. Here is a recap of our most recent one. We chose to go to a state park not too far from us. We packed snacks, water and our lunch. We stopped often and looked at the leaves and trees and flowers. My husband even had us do a few minutes of silent walking so we could hear the sounds of the forests and

Lettuce Wraps

2013-05-13T21:49:00.002-04:00

I don't know why I haven't made these before because they are easy and delicious and pretty healthy too. Lettuce Wraps Ingredients: 2 teaspoons olive oil 1 pound grassfed beef 1 tsp. of ground ginger 2 tsp. of onion powder 2 tsp. of garlic salt 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes Salt and black pepper 1 head Boston lettuce, leaves separated, cleaned and dried

Menu Plan - 5.12.13

2013-05-11T23:09:00.000-04:00

I have tried so many different things when it comes to our grocery shopping (and budget). I've tried extreme couponing. I've tried avoiding the grocery store. I've done menu planning and cooking from scratch. I've joined Costco's and Sam's. It is kind of like me to try and try and try until I find something that works. My goals are to buy as much natural or organic food as I

Week in Review - School Edition

2013-05-09T23:45:00.002-04:00

I did not do a Week in Review last week - shame on me. Here is this week's with a little of last week's mixed in. First my 3 almost-4 year old: I think he was just stacking the blocks rather than doing the puzzle, but whatever. I keep trying to get him to make snakes to make letters from play dough - but it is hit or miss. We did cup stacking for PE one day and he loved it!

Our Journey with Dyslexia Part II

2013-05-08T23:12:00.003-04:00

Part I It was finally summertime and we had finished kindergarten at the Christian school we sent our son to. There was a graduation but I was only half-hearted about going because I knew we were not going back there and I knew the teacher thought I should hold my son back to retake kindergarten again. We were very excited about our decision to send our son to a hybrid school. This was a

A New Goal - Intentional Family Outings

2013-05-06T18:50:00.000-04:00

Here is the thing about having 4 children, we don't do anything or go anywhere unless there is some sort of a plan which is against my nature because I am more of a spontaneous, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl. I have recently decided that we need to explore this beautiful nature that God created. My husband and I sat down with a monthly calendar and we first filled in the prior

Menu Plan - 5.5.13

2013-05-04T23:03:00.000-04:00

Breakfast: Blender Batter Waffles Eggs and bacon and toast Yogurt and toast and fruit OAMC French toast sticks (for the freezer) Muffins - Using variations from the Master Muffin Mix from Home Joys with more variations Lunch: PB & J, fruit and veggies Leftovers Mini pizzas and carrots Beans and Rice and fruit Supper: <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0

Family Friendly Movie - Ring the Bell DVD Give-a-way!

2013-05-04T12:27:00.002-04:00

I have another family friend give-a-way for you - the movie Ring the Bell! About Ring the Bell: Ring The Bell shares the story of a slick, big city sports agent Rob Decker who seems to have it all. But on his latest mission to sign a high school baseball superstar, Rob becomes stranded in a small town where the simplicity of life—and the faith of the people—stand in stark contrast to his

How To Stock your Pantry - Part I - Spices

2013-05-03T00:25:00.003-04:00

The way I do my menu planning and grocery shopping is by keeping a stocked pantry. One of the most important ways to make cooking from scratch yummy is to use spices. With spices you can take plain old tomato sauce and make it into pizza sauce or enchilada sauce or spaghetti sauce or ketchup or even homemade BBQ sauce. Lets talk about the spices you should have in your cabinet and where to

A Winner for the Kid's Jonah book

2013-05-02T11:08:00.000-04:00

I loved loved loved all of your suggestions for your favorite children's book. I am going to look up the ones I haven't heard of - so thank you for taking the time to enter! The winner of the Jonah book is: Bonnie said... Still Boxcar Children is her favorite kids book. I don't have Bonnie's e-mail so if you see this Bonnie send me your e-mail and if I don't hear from you in

I might have never known

2013-05-01T23:05:00.001-04:00

I wrote about our Journey with Dyslexia last week. I think as mothers with intuition we have a feeling about our children but sometimes we just don't know what to do about it. If you live in America you know this machine that we have here - get up go to school, go home, do homework, keep doing that until you are around 18 then do it again for another four years or so until you get a degree to

Think on These Things

2013-04-30T21:57:00.001-04:00

You know what - the world is sometimes a dark and scary place. And I tend to lean on the side of fearfulness so it takes me a lot of work to ignore the bad and think on "good things". Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the

15 Weekly Goals

2013-04-29T23:22:00.000-04:00

Last week's Goals: Personal Make a Daily Dozen plan - 12 exercises to do nightly - on Skimble Memorize my Bible verse - write it down, stick it on the fridge and practice it! Start a Shutterfly book for the boys birthdays coming up in June. (Not done!) Homemaking Continue experimenting with dehydrating Make yogurt and cream cheese Do a freezer cooking session with two friends (

Week in Review

2013-04-29T14:13:00.000-04:00

Life At the beginning of the week we took advantage of the free Ritter's frozen custard cone! My girl loves to pamper me (some days) and I was reading stuff to my oldest while she was giving me a pedicure. I do really live the life. We are taking swimming lessons and it is going pretty well. My friend and I got together for a freezer cooking day and this was our mess.

Menu Plans - 4.26.13

2013-04-27T23:23:00.000-04:00

Tomato sauce leather - and how to rehydrate

2013-04-26T08:06:00.001-04:00

I have really been into dehydrating lately. Everything is pretty much an experiment at this point. One thing that was a success was tomato sauce leather. I took a can of tomato sauce (obviously you could use homemade) and put it on my fruit leather tray of my dehydrator. I dehydrated it until it was no longer sticky on top. I peeled off the leather and cut it into strips and stored it in

Our Journey with Dyslexia Part 1

2013-04-25T00:12:00.000-04:00

Source It started when he was 2 years old. I would take walks with him almost everyday and everyday I would tell him the grass was green and the sky was blue. The next day we would take a walk and I would ask him what color the sky was and everyday he would not remember. I know two is early but we worked on colors for a long time. So long in fact we joked he might be colored blind.

"Healthier" Bread Machine Donuts or Doughnuts - whatever

2013-04-24T09:27:00.001-04:00

My kids love donuts. I love donuts too but you know - they are not the best for you. I adapted a recipe with a few healthier ingredients - try it - they are pretty delicious. If you don't have a bread machine you could do this in your mixer as well (or by hand if you really want to go old school). I slightly adapted a recipe from Food.com and here is the result: Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups

Weekly Goals

2013-04-22T23:31:00.001-04:00

This week's Goals: Personal Make a Daily Dozen plan - 12 exercises to do nightly - on Skimble Memorize my Bible verse - write it down, stick it on the fridge and practice it! Start a Shutterfly book for the boys birthdays coming up in June. Homemaking Continue experimenting with dehydrating Make yogurt and cream cheese Do a freezer cooking session with two friends (this is

Week In Review - Life and School

2013-04-21T14:12:00.000-04:00

This week went by and I hardly remember it. Good thing I take pictures! School We were doing All About Reading with my daughter. We borrowed it from a friend and she needed it back so we are doing something else right now. Science is by far the favorite around here. I use Apologia's Zoology 2 and then add in whatever fits with that week's lesson. Here is another