CHAP!

We went to the CHAP convention on Friday, which was great!  I got some great deals and saved some on our curriculum.  I also was able to learn about some neat stuff, understand the laws for homeschooling in this state a little better, and see some curriculum instead of just reading about it on the internet. 

We will be doing a different phonics program last year.  The one we used this year was great, but I am not as impressed with their course for next year, which was going to put us out $180.  Instead we are going with a book that only cost $24 but looks great.  I have a friend who uses the same program and is very pleased with it.  It will fit in with the rest of our Charlotte Mason-style curriculum better too! 

I got Narnia on CD for $22, and you can too!  Here is the link to Good Steward Books.  This is the Focus on the Family production, which is supposed to be really good. 

We are sticking with RightStart Math, which has been great.  Getting it at CHAP enabled me to save 10% and get free shipping:)

So it was exciting, and my mom survived taking care of five kids!  Next year we want to find someone else to take care of them so we can take her along and sucker her into buying some fun stuff:)

We have four days of math and about 14 days of reading left and we are done with our first year!  We will only be taking the month of June off probably and then moving into more a year-round schedule, but I am excited for a break!  I'm still going to do some review with Pnut, especially math.  She wants to read everything so I'm not worried about that.  She is enjoying these math lessons more so that is nice.  She seems to be enjoying school, and I think she will like adding in more subjects next year.  I just need to find something to do for Pilly that keeps her a little quieter.  She had a book, but she decided to do like 10 pages in one day to finish it.  I also don't know what I'll do with LB next year.  He is taking morning naps still, but by July, he probably won't still be doing that.  He is a super-sleeper, though, so you never know!

The computer doesn't want to load pictures so I can't show you the pictures of LB being spoiled.  The girls had to go up to clean their room, and he got to stay down to eat a cookie.  I wanted to eat a truffle, and I can't do that in peace with that vulture around! 

That's all for tonight!

Dennis the Menace

It does frighten me how much he resembles Dennis the Menace sometimes:

He probably has a slingshot in his back pocket.

Roses!

We took a bike ride to the playground this morning, and stopped to check out the roses:

Aren't they lovely?  It is so nice to just walk by them as the smell is so strong!  The girls loved running around and seeing which ones were out already.  LB was less impressed.

Would you believe we were the only ones at the playground?!  The sky was very overcast, but Accuweather said it wasn't supposed to rain today.  It did sprinkle just a bit when we got there, but it stopped quickly so we stayed.  The girls didn't really play on the playground, they wanted to ride their bikes on the tennis court:

LB thinks he is big stuff coming down that ramp by himself without crawling.  He is so funny when he gets to the bottom...you know he is impressed he didn't fall down! 

Crepes!

It has been such a long time since I have posted a new recipe.  We have been so busy and kind of just in a cooking rut!  Today, heh heh, I was feeling a little lazy.  Do you know the problem with not buying bread so that you force yourself to make your own?  You have to actually make it.  And that is work, friends.  So I didn't exactly feel like making bread today, and Pnut had been wanting to try this crepe recipe we saw in Food Network Magazine.  So we did!  It is super easy and tasty!

4 eggs
1 c whole milk
1/2 c flour
1 T sugar
1/8 t fine sea salt

Put everything in the blender and blend.  Heat a skillet on medium-low heat and melt some butter to coat the bottom of the pan.  Pour 1/4 c of batter in and let brown for about a minute.  Loosen edges with a rubber scraper and then flip.  Let cook for about a minute on the other side.  Make sure you butter the pan each time.  This will make 8-9 crepes. Sounds like a lot, but they aren't super filling since they are so thin.  I'm sure we could have each eaten two.

We put peanut butter and jelly on our and then sliced fresh strawberries.  I wrapped them up and sprinkled a little powdered sugar on top and sliced them in half.  Pnut and I really enjoyed them, LB licked all the stuff out of his but didn't eat the crepe, and Pilly claimed to not like it.  I think she didn't like her strawberries falling out the other side.

The recipe recommended a 10 inch skillet.  When I tried that with the prescribed amount of batter, it never firmed up enough to flip.  I'm not sure how you would spread anything on them without it tearing either.  I tore one of these.  We used a 7 inch skillet, and I didn't think they were too thick, but I'm no expert.

Thumbs up from the boy:)  (I didn't even notice that when I took the picture.)

The girls went for another bike ride today.  I asked them if they wanted to go for a short ride or a long one; they chose long.

They went for 2.25 miles!  That is a long ride!  (I found this cool site called www.runningmap.com where you can track out routes to find how long they are.)

The carnival is setting up at the playground, and they have camels!  We were amazed; they are huge!!

Overall, even with my laziness, it was a quite lovely day!

Wordless Wednesday-First Haircut

Some Facts

• My hair looks rather like a poofball with all the humidity.
• The girls took a 40 minute bike ride this morning.  Then they took an awesome nap.  I loved it.  
• We went to a softball game tonight, the team is off to a rough start of 1-3, but we know they'll come back!
• LB finally started to play at the games instead of just sit on the blanket.  Now he digs in the dirt and throws rocks and tries to run into the parking lot.  Great.
• I was told I am not allowed to watch the latest episode of Once Upon a Time tonight because my husband has to watch wrestling.  Lame.