Thursday, August 30, 2012

Please Pray

Hi Everyone,
Just now I received a call about my niece, the little one that I talked about earlier this month.  She is not doing well at all today.  They have had to resuscitate her twice today, four times this week.  I am just asking all of you to please pray for her. And to pray for guidance for the doctors. 

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Thank You
Jeannie

Our Homeschool Curriculum

This year we are using My Father’s World as a core for all three of the kids.

Kindergarten-Jacob

Bible- My Father’s World-AWANA click to find an AWANA near you.
mfw Kinder
Phonics- My Father’s World
Math- My Father’s World
Science- Adventures- My Father’s World From Isabella’s Curriculum.
History- He will sit through the History lessons given to Isabella.
Latin-Song School Latin
 Song school Latin









2nd Grade-Isabella

Bible-My Father’s World Adventures-AWANA click to find an AWANA near you.
mfw 2nd
History/Geography-MFW Adventures
Science-MFW Adventures with a little of my own added.
English-Primary Language Lessons-MFW
Spelling-Spelling by sound and structure-MFW
Math-Singapore Math 2a and 2b
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Writing-We may add Cursive First this year.  I want to straighten up our oldest in his hand writing so we will be using this for him. (pray for me:). So, I may include her as well, while she works on her spelling.
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Latin-Song School Latin along with Jacob
Song school Latin


High School-11th grade-Zach

mfw High
Bible-MFW Ancient History and Literature-this program is recommended 9th-12th.  This was a good fit because he had already done 2 years of U.S. History and will do World History and Government next year.

History-MFW Ancient History and Lit.
Language Arts-MFW Ancient History and Lit.

Science-DIVE Physics and Chemistry This is recommended for 9th grade, Dive is much more advanced than the public school and so to make sure he is ready for Chemistry next year, I wanted to really work on it this year.  This is one of the reasons I love homeschooling.  When a child is lacking in one area or another, we don’t just glaze over it and hope he catches it later.  We stop and spend a little more time refining their skills, before moving on.  P.S. He did DIVE Biology last year and loved it.
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Math-DIVE Algebra 2
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Writing-Cursive First, which is ironic.  We are actually doing this last in his school writing experience but sometimes it makes sense to go back and make things right.

Foreign Language- He has one year of German.  We are still trying to figure out what he is doing to finish up his second year.  He may even do another language the next two years.

I hope you all have a great school year this year, whether you homeschool or have kids that go to a school.  God Bless you all!
Jeannie




Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Review of Cream Cheese Banana Pudding


My husband’s childhood comfort food is Banana Pudding.  Every time he visited his Grandparents there was banana pudding.  So, you know anything tied to grandma is going to stick with you.  After we married she still made it every time we came.  So, I started to make it for him on special occasions.  I would layer the vanilla wafers, vanilla pudding, bananas and cool whip. 

After about 15 years of making it this way my husband pointed out to me, that Grandma made the pudding with a meringue on top instead of the cool whip that I had used, for 15 years.  Ugh!  I don’t know why I never noticed.  So, I finally started to make it right. 
This year for his birthday I was planning on making his favorite when I ran across this delicious version of Banana pudding.  They had me at “Cream Cheese”.

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Do  I make it this new wonderful way and risk disappointing him?  Or do I make two?  Well you know that I made two, because as you all know 2 are better than 1.  He did like the cream cheese version also but he loved, loved, loved his grandma’s version.  She died just a few years ago and we really miss her.  It was like a piece of her was here for his b-day.

I found this recipe on one of my favorite recipe blogs
Country Mama Cooks she has great ideas.  She had hers in individual bowls which was very cute.  I just didn’t have the bowls.  So, I used our trifle bowl.

Below is Country Mama’s recipe:

Cream Cheese Banana Puddin' Ingredients
  • 8 oz container Cool Whip(thawed)
  • 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
  • 3 oz cream cheese (softened)
  • 1 box Nilla wafers
  • 4-5 bananas
  • 5.1 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix
  • 2 1/2 cups milk
Cooking Directions
  1. With an electric mixer blend the sweetened condensed milk into the softened cream cheese.
  2. Then fold in 1/4 of the Cool Whip.
  3. Now make your pudding using 2 1/2 cups of milk and refrigerate for 30 min.
  4. In a large bowl or 6 individual serving dessert cups, layer vanilla wafers,pudding, bananas and cream cheese mixture.
  5. Repeat and put the rest of the Cool Whip on the top .
  6. Garnish with Nilla wafer crumbs and refrigerate until ready to serve.

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My review of this: this one was gone before the traditional one and I loved it.  My family loved it too.  I would suggest that you try it.  Enjoy! 
God Bless
Jeannie


Friday, August 24, 2012

Review of Homemade Crock Pot Yogurt


This week I decided to try this.  My friend Kara has told me a few times that she makes Homemade Yogurt in her oven and it intrigued me, but not enough to try it.
A couple of weeks ago I found on Moneysavingmom.com a recipe for Yogurt made in the crock pot.  The directions looked simple enough so I gave it a whirl.

Oh, my word!  So easy!

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Homemade Yogurt in the Crock Pot Recipe
  • 1/2 gallon milk (Whole milk will make the yogurt thicker, but any milk will work.)
  • 1/2 cup plain unflavored yogurt (Any kind with live active cultures will work. Be sure to save a half cup of this batch of homemade yogurt to use as a starter next time!)
Pour the half gallon of milk into your crock pot and turn it on low. Cook it for 2 hours and 45 minutes (set the timer to remember to turn it off!) After 2 hours and 45 minutes, turn the crock pot off and let it sit down 3 hours. Spoon a small amount of the milk into a small bowl and add the half cup of yogurt to it. Mix together thoroughly.

 Dump this mixture back into the milk in the crock pot and mix it around well. Put the lid back on your crock pot and wrap the crock pot with a large beach towel or blanket (make sure the crock pot is unplugged and turned off!). Yes, I know, it sounds a little ridiculous to wrap a crock pot with a beach towel, but I did some research online and it seems that the experts recommend this step as it helps keep the heat in the crock pot and allows it to cool more slowly.

 Let the beach-towel-wrapped crock pot sit for 8-12 hours (or overnight). After 8-12 hours, it should be thickened. Spoon yogurt into jars or plastic containers and refrigerate a few hours before eating. This will keep for one to two weeks in the refrigerator. Be sure to save a half cup to use as a starter for your next batch of homemade yogurt.

   I do agree that it is pretty thin.  But I normally use it for smoothies, so it works great for that. I did see somewhere that you can add Powdered milk to the initial mixture and it makes it thicker.  You can also strain it with a cheese cloth, as they do with Greek yogurt.

  Today, my daughter added some homemade strawberry jam to the yogurt and she really liked it and it tasted good. One tip after you wrap it up put it in a place that you will see first thing in the morning.  I woke up and almost forgot that I had done it.  This was so easy I hope some of you try it out. 

  Jeannie












Thursday, August 23, 2012

Our New Giant Play Pin

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I just love this thing!  When we went to visit my family a few weeks ago.  Mike, my husband was home with the teenagers for a week and a half.  One of those days Mike bought this trampoline.  We have not been able to have one for 10 years.  About 11 years ago we purchased one and the older kids loved it.  I started and in home day care and could no longer keep it for insurance purposes.  So, we finally got another one.  What a great investment.

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The kids just play and play on that thing.  The best part is, that I took these picture right out of my kitchen window, just above my sink.  Like I said it is our giant play pin.  The kids play in my sight and stay in one place, just like the very short amount of days that they were in an actual play pin.

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I’ll have to get some picture of the big kids playing on it too.  They still love it.  Hope you are have a great day enjoying one of last days of Summer.  I see leaves falling already here in northern country.

Jeannie

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

How To Be A Good Advice Giver


Our Pastor spoke on a great topic this Sunday.  It was on giving good advice.  He talked about how each of us has the ability to be a counselor inside of us.  Many of us are great counselors and don’t realize it.  When friends come to us with an issue in their lives, seeking advice we become counselors.  Whether or not we are good counselors depends on how we handle the situation and what advice we give. 

  • First we need to become women of integrity.  In order to give advice that the listener will respect, we need to live a life of integrity.  Practice what you are preaching.

  •  The second is probably one of the hardest for gossipus as women, confidentiality.  Yes this is gossip.  We all work very hard not to gossip, in fact I don’t think any of us would say that we are a gossip, but how many of us have said something, me included, like “Oh! You need to pray for so and so, did you know that her husband cheated on her”.  Well there you go, Christianized Gossip.  Not only do you spread gossip but you also lose all of your credibility as a source of good advice.  You are no longer a trusted friend.

  • The next one is being timely and tactfulThis is learning to wait on God for his timing and His words.  We tend to rush in and say totime much, to soon and possibly using the wrong words.  We want so badly to make things right in our friend’s life that we go for the quick fix.  Little chunks of truth will be more easily taken, than burying them with a dump truck of truth all at once.

  • Then we have to develop good listenership,talking this word was, I think created by our pastor, but it does seem to fill the need for a word here.  Good listenership is using the ears of the wise.  A wise friend will listen to both sides of the issue before giving advice.  Since most of the issues we as women encounter are related to a relationship, there are always two sides of the story.  We all love our friends, but they, like all of us are self-centered creatures.  When a friend tells you of her troubles, either ask to hear the other person involved perspective, or put yourself in their place before giving the advice.

  • Next is Understanding, being empathetic to that person.  Realize the perspective they are coming from, it may not be the same as yours.  I have always been a “pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get over it” kind of girl, but I can’t give that advice to all of my friends.  They may not be wired that way and their previous issues may be preventing them from “getting over it”.

  • Finally, learning to give advice with sincerity.  Are you really helping them if you just sympathize and shake your head, telling them that everything is going to be alright.  No, sometimes you have to be frank about the situation and in love tell them that possibly they are not being helpful to the situation.  Then gently set them straight.  Helping people to change and setting them on the right path should be our goal.  There are times when I choose not to go to a certain friend when I had a problem, because I knew that I would receive from them what I wanted to hear.  I don’t want to hear what I want to hear, I want to hear what I need to hear. 

I hope that you will be as blessed as I was by this information.  The six qualities and the ideas were from my pastor, I did however add to it to make it fitting for us as women.  We are unique creatures you know.  Have a wonderful day in the Lord.
Jeannie

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Corn Dog Muffins


A couple of weeks ago I made these corn dog muffins.  My family really liked them.  I found the idea here.

IMG_1916 Corn Dog Muffins
These are so easy.

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Here I had 2 boxes of Jiffy mix, made according to the instructions and I added 1 cup of Cheese.

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I put them into the muffin papers(I purchase gobs of muffin papers just after Christmas on clearance, just for my family) in the pan.

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Then I cut hotdogs into quarters.

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And poked them into the center of each muffin.

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So, these are regular sized muffins, but while I was at my mom’s house we tried these in mini muffin tins.  The mini muffins are perfect because you can dip them into ketchup or mustard a little easier.  So give that a try.  Hope you enjoy these.
Jeannie

Monday, August 13, 2012

It has been so long!


Hello to everyone.  I feel like it has been ages since I have been able to get to my computer.  I apologize for just dropping off of the web.  We had an unexpected trip that we had to make. 

I went with my two little ones to visit my family.  You see April 16th I had a sweet little baby niece born prematurely and with a birth abnormality.  She is still today in the hospital.  Her biggest issue right now is that she can’t yet breath on her own very well.  She will have surgery later for the abnormality.

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She is such a little cutie!!

My mom and my other two nieces were going to come here to visit us last month but with some tough decisions and all of the stress my brother and sister in law did not want the girls to come.  I really felt that we needed to go there and support them in every way we could.  So, as days past and God opened up finances and time we decided that we could make the trip.

After about a week and a half Mike and the two older kids came also.  We really feel blessed that we were able to make the trip. 
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My mom and Allie our oldest.
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We did have a little fun, we stopped at a Christmas store on part of the trip.  Doesn’t Zachary look so enthused?  He is not one that likes pictures.
Thank you all for continuing to visit and a big shout out to Russia.  For the past few weeks my highest number of hits have been coming from Russia.  God Bless you!
Jeannie