I bought the deluxe set of Hooked on Phonics. It was $80 or so on ebay for grades K-2. Not bad I thought and I am really happy with it!

If you homeschool, this is absolutly the reading program to get. The deluxe system has more books for reading and the workbook is the most vital part.  I haven’t even used the cd/audio parts, I do these with the kids and just say the sounds for them.

It really is a great product, and if you want to look at purchasing one, email me and I will send you the username of the lady I got mine from, it is the older version but more than half the price of the new one.  Totally a great buy!

They also have an infant version and a toddler version.  I am of two minds about this. First I do not usually do any school stuff with the little ones. I figure they have plenty of years of school. However, kids like William do not need to learn letters and stuff so much as they need to learn to sit.  To be quiet. To listen and follow directions.

He and Julianna want to do school work like the big kids, but don’t have the ability to keep up obviously. So I am thinking about getting these for them, as a way to practice sitting, following directions and such. William already knows the letters, B, D and W.  lol.  He learned those on his own at some point.

Vincent is doing well, I am pretty tired still.  I am going to try and take some current pictures of all the kids and maybe do a post on each kid, talking about how they are, and what they do.

I have been spinning alpaca and I love this fiber. I want to blend some with some beautiful lamb fleece I have in a bag. My fleeces were so beautiful this year!

born: 01/10/10

8 lbs 5 oz

21 inches long

Dreaming of dinner.

Lets see, how did I get her to give me my dinner again?

You WILL give me my dinner *Jedi Arm Wave*

Hmmm, that darn strong minded Mama…

Thick oriental accent - You will give me my dinner now or I will take it by force!  Do not question Ninja Baby!!!

Oh NO!  That just made her bring the new diaper, I hate the new diaper, now I’m gonna be cold!

OH NOW I remember!

(No baby was actually made to cry for this picture series, he’s yawning

From a parenting newsletter I get via email - www.babycenter.com

Your 3-year-old now

Preschoolers often work out complicated emotions in their play with animals, dolls, blocks, cars, or other playthings. After a traumatic doctor visit, for example, your child might line up all her teddy bears for shots. If she witnesses a car crash in real life or on TV, she may repeatedly smash toy trucks together.

Disturbing as this may be, don’t interrupt right away. Your child is assimilating the new experience, and play is a safe way to do so. It might help her take the fear out of the situation or make her feel as if she’s in control of the scenario.

You might want to join in the play if you notice one particular theme being rehashed over and over. Make a comment that invites your child to think through the next step: “Wow, those bears are getting a lot of shots. Are they sick? Do you think they’re happy or sad?”

If your child has nothing but violent themes in her play, you might look at what she’s seeing on TV or the computer, or consider whether she’s been exposed to violence in real life. At this age, the evening news, cartoons, or movies can overwhelm a child.

Oh.My.Gosh!!!!

Now this all seems innocent and all but What the heck?

You see, young master William does do a very repetitive play thing like this.  It is just like what they are talking about.  It’s pretty weird too in my opinion.

He likes to spin stuff.

What is he acting out?

He spins cups on pencils.

He spins whisks by the ring on the end on his finger.

He spins strings of beads.

He spins his shoe by the shoelace.

And hundreds of other things that he spins, whatever he can find.  I need to buy him a top for Christmas…I think he’s big enough to do it.

Is that weird or what?

Ah well, maybe he’s going to grow up and be a plate spinner.

So, this bread thing….is addictive.  I find the idea of baking several times a week at this point…worthwhile.  Now I am a seasoned bread baker, I make excellent regular commercial yeast breads and they are very, very, tasty!  I have always been drawn to the coarser peasant type breads in our world’s history, but I never knew how to make them.

I’m learning!  This is the sourdough magic that is making it a fun project for the kids AND me.  Do you realize, that the kids are learning about bacteria and micro biology.  History, culture and mathematics?  They are learning to follow instructions, and even about the scientific method.  What a great project for home schoolers!

Aside from that, what about the bread??? Friday has become soup day, and we’ve taken up the soup thing several times a week at this point.  First of all with the new 2 hours of driving I have to do to get Beau to work, I can make the soup and let it cook down while I go get him.  The boy helps watch it, or I can just whip it up when I get back.  There is less mess and it’s something different too!

Fridays here are vegetarian, on account of we abstain from eating meat on Fridays according to the Catholic tradition and requirement. So, when I saw this recipe months ago on Father Z’s blog (a very prominant blogger) I wanted to try it.  It took some time to get around to it, but the abundance of BREAD - well it goes great with the soup eh?

Father Zulsdorf creates and blogs occasionally about beautiful dishes he prepares, according to the occasion and what was on sale that week.  I really enjoy those posts, so I thought I would add those here to my blog, and the good Father will undoubtedly understand that imitation is indeed the best form of flattery.  His dishes are always presented so beautifully, and I can’t always mimic that, I need new dishes for one lol.

Still, as he is fond of saying on his blog I say “But Father But Father!”  You don’t have these..

Alas he is too far away to share with, which is a bummer because I think he would REALLY like this bread with his soup, and some frommage blanc too eh?  Excuse me, was I drooling?  Sorry bout that.  The back one browned just a bit too long.  Ironically, the darker, browner crusts on these breads make a totally different flavor than on the commercial yeast breads we all have tried.  Dark is good!

These were made a few days ago, and were excellent.  We tried again yesterday and got these - Boules!

Now the soup, well the kids don’t like soup much so they eat a lot of bread and some of them dip the bread in the soup lol.  The littlest one Julianna eats it all with great gusto!  William will eat it if I feed him, and the girls are getting better about trying new things.  They are all getting used to eating soup.

The soup was  SO good, I love the flavor of leeks, I had never eaten any before.  I also sauteed some brussels sprouts, bok choy and some leek together, and added a dash of soy sauce.  It was good, all new things I had never eaten before.

My Mother always made potato soup with some milk, and so I added some, seeings how we have it on hand.  Father would approve lol, he likes to use what he has, or is on sale.

With the goats, milk is always available.  I have even sent the boy out with a cup once or twice….yes it is a freedom to never ever ever run out of milk, or eggs.  I also avoided using much of the green part of the leeks, because little children automatically reject anything green around here….so my soup is quite white, but had an amazing flavor.

Vegetable stock costs not just an arm, but also a leg and maybe a major organ so I made some, and froze it in quart containers. All of this should be coarsely chopped, as you strain it out later.

Carrots, onions, one whole bunch of garlic, one bunch of celery,salt to taste,1/2 tea red pepper flakes (this gave a really nice subtle peppery taste) rosemary, and a bay leaf.

Throw this in two - four gallons of water and simmer well for one hour, strain vegetables out, and then I restrained through the milk strainer.  You can also just leave the bits left in, they will be good.  I used this instead of chicken broth so it would be vegetarian.  Can I add that if you have some older slightly shriveled veggies that this is a great way to use them instead of throwing them out?

So, I salute Father Z, thanks for the recipe and all the great ideas for something NEW.

So Elizabeth has been growing a pet according to WildYeast’s instructions.

It always amazes me how much a kid can learn if you leave them alone and let them.  As you know, a simple lunch at Panera so far has taught the kids about french culture and history.  Did you know that the traditional breads of France are now only making a strong comeback from extinction?  Apparently the quick rise type breads that we are all used to, kind of took over there, and the older breads, that had very slow rise times, and the beautiful flavors…baked in brick fire ovens fell to the wayside from around the 50s to the 90s.  Anyway, the kids have learned what yeast is, and how it grows, eats and (blush) toots to make bread rise.

Yeah, I know but honestly that is what is happening, and they are right about that lol.  Anyhow the yeast gives off gas which makes the bread rise.  The flours glutens relax and stretch, giving the dough a way to retain this shape.  It’s darned neat is what!  So in our quest to learn to make baguettes, which are quite the ordeal to do correctly, we discovered we needed a starter, so Elizabeth started growing one from the above method.

It blossomed into fruition today all over the countertop as it exploded it’s container lol.  It was only supposed to maybe double…if we were lucky.  It tripled in like 3 hours.  Precocious starter I guess

So, tonight we fed it double itself and hopefully we will have enough starter to make some bread tomorrow.  Happens to be Friday which works out well, because in the Catholic tradition, we do not eat any meat on fridays.  A great soup day!

Here are the recipes for the stuffed mushrooms, and also the chicken and wild rice soup.  I hope you will enjoy them if you try making them.  I also highly recommend trying the starter recipe above it worked much better than the two or three that failed before we found this one

Stuffed Mushrooms

1/2 pound of clean cremini mushrooms(or another type, but I don’t like the plain white grocery ones), as large as you can find.
Wild rice, about 1/2 - 3/4 cup cooked.
handful of almonds diced very fine.
garlic
olive oil
butter
dash or two of dill
1/8 cup or so of white wine

remove stems, and chop very very fine.  Saute in 1 Tbs olive oil and 1Tbs butter (more if needed)  Add one or two teaspoons minced garlic and one or two teaspoons finely minced onion.  Continue to saute, add the almonds and dill.  Pour the wine in and saute a bit longer, everything should be cooked in about 5 minutes.  Add the rice and combine well, continue to saute for a minute or two longer.  Salt to taste

Place the caps on a pie dish and put a tiny cube (1/8 inch) of butter in each one, and a few here and there in the bottom of the dish.  Place the stuffing in each cap and top with a bit of cheese.  I had some asiago, but I think any stronger flavored hard white cheese would be good.  Gorgonzola, frommage blanc or brie would also be excellent.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Chicken and wild rice soup with mushrooms. (you may need to half this for a normal family)

1 pound sliced baby portabellas
1 med - large onion
3 chicken breasts - diced
2 - 3 cups prepared wild rice.
1/2 flour
1/2 butter/olive oil or a mix of the two
1 cup cream
6 cups fresh milk (yes Michelle, our pails floweth over lol)  I love my goats, that milk makes the BEST cream sauces, in fact you can easily keep out the cream!

Saute the onions in a bit of butter or olive oil until translucent and set aside.  Saute the mushrooms as well, adding a small amount of garlic, salt and a splash of white wine as they cook, set them with the onions.

Saute the chicken well, sprinkle with dill and set aside.

Now melt 1/2 cup butter or use olive oil or a combination of the two in the skillet/pan.  add flour a bit at a time and brown well for 3 - 5 minutes.

Place in a clean sauce pan and start adding milk while whisking very well to prevent lumps.  Add the cream and chicken and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer a few more minutes then serve with fresh bread.

Many of you may not know my deep dark secret.  I’m going to tell you now.

I am not the uncultured red neck I make myself out to be.  I am a highly cultured red neck, but I hide it well most of the time.

In college I got the equivelant of a minor in French and French History.

Mais oui, je parle Francais…un peu.

So, with everything upside down, and inside out lately I have kind of fell back to this interest, with the kids and we’ve been eating wonderfully fattening french foods and meals.

Oh, if only I could get decent baguettes.  Well, we’re working on that, you’ll hear about it later, our first attempt was acceptable, but not good enough yet.  Well, as good as Panera so not bad…but still.

I have been exploring soups, and find that while I am waiting for it to cook that other stuff jumps in the pan and gets created.

Tonight -

L’aperitif  un vin, Savionon blanc- only a teeny glass for me.

Baked Brie, with sauteed mushrooms.Le Brie, Le pain, Le Champignions ah-le pas a trois. (The brie, the mushrooms, the bread, the dance of the three)

(Now you just have to excuse that I had wine in a martini glass um kay?)

Cremini mushrooms stuffed with wild rice. -Le coupe de foudre (Thunderstruck - love at first sight..eh not usually used for food lol)  Le moment supreme…l’objet d’art n’est-ce pas?(The climax, the unveiling of the great work of art…don’t you think?)

The best part about these, besides the taste is that we only need about a half dozen for me and Beau because obviously the children wouldn’t touch this with a ten foot pole if they were on the brink of starvation.  (not that Beau and I minded eating them)  Nous sommes les beaux esprits. (We are highly cultured and intelligent)

Avec Plaisir… (with pleasure)

Even if the dish is chipped. I need new ones I reckon, still… Haute cuisine ici.  (Gourmet cooking here…literally high cooking)

Et Le fin. (The end)

Chicken and wild rice soup….with crappy french bread.  sigh.  Something is lost there,but it was still all very good.

I have plans for chocolate blackberry crepes, but never seem to have the energy left for them.  Perhaps for breakfast?

I may post these recipes.  In actuallity they are very simple to make and not that time consuming.  Dinner took Teresa and I about an hour and 15 minutes to make.  The effect was worth it.  ah…the mushrooms…heaven in a pan.

On était complètement calés!

(We were stuffed)

On était complètement calés

William had his 3rd Birthday, I suppose the other kids got rather neglected as I don’t think I mentioned their birthday.  I try to kind of make a big birthday for one kid each year, they take turns.

They all get presents and cake, but once each year I make a special cake, and they all help.  This year it was William who got the big cake and it was sure fun to make!  Most three year old boys really like certain characters from movies or TV but mine really really likes….

Tractors!  So we made a John Deere Tractor cake for William on his third birthday and it went quite well with his present which was a John Deere Tractor, with front end loader of course.

First you start with one boy (or girl) and you make the cakes and bake them.

The regular treats are given out, we are a licking the batter off family.  I don’t know if I would do this if we ate store eggs, but we’ve never had a problem with our own…

The special Birthday treatment starts with mixing and making the cakes.  William had a great time working the beater and helping clean off the excess afterwards.

Great fun all in all.  A very special Birthday doesn’t have to cost a lot!

Once the cakes are baked, I cover my cutting board with foil so that I can put the cake on it for a nice presentation.

The requirements for William’s cake as three loaf pans and a casserole pan full of brownies.

You could of course make the cake on it’s side which makes the most sense and is easiest.  Of course not in this house, as we always feel the need to do it the hardest, most challanging way instead lol.

So we started by making a table to slip under the engine block, we needed a second little one to go between the two back tires.  This first one is a Huggies baby wipe container (washed of course) and trimmed so that it won’t show.  I also used a small pint freezer container I had, trimmed in the same way.

Doesn’t look like much yet, but I assure you with lots of frosting and huge brownie wheels it will look great.  Things got a little hairy and I missed taking some of the pictures in between this step and the finished cake.

But, here you go, one John Deere Tractor cake for a very pleased and happy 3 year old.

I free handed the back wheels, and the center is made from a CD that was coated in frosting.  The small tires were cut using a biscuit cutter.  I used skewers to help hold it all together.  I actually added a straw covered in black frosting later when one of the men in the family mentioned that it needed  a smoke stack to be a proper tractor.

Picky picky, boys and their toys.  Total cost for the cake was about $10, but that’s less than one would have cost to buy to have the bakery lady write Happy Birthday on a store cake anyway.

His total cost was about $40 for his cake, and toys.  My point here, is that is quite a lot, but not much compared to what people will spend or feel they have to spend.  As I get older I realize that a lot of the pomp and circumstance we put into holidays and special occasions is for US not the kids.

Boy + Tractor Cake + Toy Tractor = Happy Birthday.

On the girl end of things, we have different priorities.  I have recently decided that come what may, I am going to learn how to knit socks dang it.  And fast too.  I want to be one of those knitters who can turn a pair off in a week easily.  I’m on my way.

I based the pattern on another I found, and made it suitable for babies.  Changed it around quite a lot and now we see the finished product which I have named “Ju Ju Beans” because they were made for Julianna and this is her nick name.

I do have it available for testing if someone wants to try it out, but the pattern will probably be reserved for the hopfully upcoming issue of Spindle and Wheel.

Cute eh?  Especially with those shoes lol, and the color of the yarn, perfect. And best of all, they stay up great!  These took me about 6 days total, knitting a bit in the morning, and  abit in the evening.  So, very fast!  The pictures, I made the nice backgrounds with Dominic’s help.  He showed me how to find brushes that are free for personal and commercial use.

Cool huh?  He’s a smart ‘un that’s fer sure!  One last parting shot -

I have 12 - 24 month size made, and I am working to make it available in other sizes.  I really love the way it turned out though.