Recipe Stash - Savory Sweet Potato Kugel

I've been bookmarking online recipes for a long time.  Some of them I have tried, but many of them just sounded good and I have never tried them.  This year one of my goals is to try at least one recipe from my bookmarked list each month.

Earlier this month I had two very large garnet yams in my pantry that I wanted to use.  I found this recipe that I had bookmarked and we tried it.

Savory Sweet Potato Kugel :  I used 2 very large garnet yams, 1 cup ground beef, 1/3 cup chopped onion, 1 cup corn, 2 eggs, and about 1 and 1/2 cups cheddar cheese.  It completely filled my 9X13 pan.  Click the recipe title to see the actual recipe.

It was good.  Most of the kids liked it and Jeff even said he would eat it again if I served it.  This is one recipe that will stay in my list, since we get a couple sweet potatoes a year and I like to serve them to my family members at least once, but several of them don't like plain sweet potatoes like I do.  The Savory Sweet Potato Kugel leftovers were good reheated in a frying pan with some butter.  I also saved the sweet potato water like the author of the recipe suggested and cooked rice with a few raisins for my breakfast the next day.  It was very good and didn't need any sweetening.

Quinn's 1st Birthday

Wow!  Wow!!  Wow!!!
Can you believe it has been a whole year since Quinn was born?

Yesterday he had his usual breakfast of cheerios.

Happy 1st Birthday, Quinn!

 We went to church in the morning and Quinn took a nap in the afternoon, waking up in time to go outside and enjoy the warm weather.  It was over 70 degrees and we wanted to make the most of the nice day before another cold front came through overnight.  For supper Quinn had winter squash and crackers, while the rest of us had chicken nuggets and fresh tropical fruit salad.

 

Fresh Tropical Fruit Salad

After supper we sang happy birthday and ate cake.  We had a choice of cupcakes or gluten free brownies with strawberries and whipped cream.  The kids chose cupcakes and Jeff and I ate the brownies.

Quinn decided cake is good.

I ate it all, Mom.

 After we had cake and Quinn had a bath it was time for presents.  Quinn wasn't interested.  He wanted to play with a ball that he found on the floor instead, even though Jeff tried to entice him to check out his presents by rattling them and making them make noise.

 He finally came over to check out his presents and he thought maybe they would taste good.

He was ready for bed by the time he finished getting his presents.

A Child's Love

I just love it when my children come up to me and want to give me a hug and kiss just because they love me.  The sweetness of their love warms my heart and helps make my day.

Coming up K5 Learning Review

K5 learning has an online reading and math program for kindergarten to grade 5 students.  I've been given a six week free trial to test and write a review of their program.  If you are a blogger, you may want to check into their open invitation to write an online learning review of their program.


*This post is one of the requirements for doing the review.

K5 Learning has an online reading and math program for kindergarten to grade 5 students.  I've been given a 6 week free trial to test and write a review of their program.  If you are a blogger, you may want to check out their  open invitation to write an online learning review of their program. - See more at: http://www.k5learning.com/review-k5?sid=23462#sthash.rLk6U5Zv.dpu

K5 Learning has an online reading and math program for kindergarten to grade 5 students.  I've been given a 6 week free trial to test and write a review of their program.  If you are a blogger, you may want to check out their  open invitation to write an online learning review of their program. - See more at: http://www.k5learning.com/review-k5?sid=23462#sthash.rLk6U5Zv.dpuf

K5 Learning has an online reading and math program for kindergarten to grade 5 students.  I've been given a 6 week free trial to test and write a review of their program.  If you are a blogger, you may want to check out their  open invitation to write an online learning review of their program. - See more at: http://www.k5learning.com/review-k5?sid=23462#sthash.rLk6U5Zv.dpuf

Pictures From Christmas -2013

Christmas Eve:  Jeff and Quinn with some last minute wrapping, which led to:

 The stockings were stretched from one side of the room to the other.  That was fun.  My brother and his family joined us so we had 15 stockings.

Christmas Morning:  I think we got everyone while opening stockings.

Football Helmets

Kent has a football helmet that he made out of paper plates.  It has been a source of contention lately, because Clark thinks it is cool and he wants to play with it.  Clark will go to Kent's room and take it and Kent will get mad.  They are both wrong, but trying to get Clark to leave it alone and Kent to stop getting mad at him wasn't working out very well.  I suggested that Kent should make a football helmet for Clark and maybe that would solve part of the problem.  He set to work with Clark making a helmet.  Clark was very excited and helped color the paper plates with blue and orange crayons.  He likes the Denver Broncos.  The result was a very excited Clark and now he has been wearing his helmet around the house for all kinds of play.  Clark having his own helmet hasn't stopped him from liking Kent's helmet and trying to play with it, but the incidences have greatly decreased.

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Shelf Space

We decided to re-purpose our very useful shelf that we have had in our kitchen area.

We thought we would put all the kids on display.  That didn't work very well though since they have trouble standing still for a long time, so we continued on with the original plan.


I wanted a better school shelf for the things we use most days.  Since most of our instruction time takes place at the kitchen table or in the living room I wanted to keep everything close, but organized neatly.  My system last fall wasn't seeming to work the best for us and still look orderly.

We moved the shelf to the half wall by our kitchen table.  Then I put our school books and binders on the shelves.  The white basket holds some stickers and our camera.  Behind the door are coloring books and crayons.  The shelf above the white basket has a few cookbooks and feltboards.  The top two shelves are at the ceiling so they will probably only be used for decoration purposes.  The blue basket is where the kids put their completed lessons and after I correct them I return them to the basket for them to correct or put them in my drop-box for them to put away.  Kent and Katy each have their own space upstairs for the books that only they use and all our curriculum for the year that we aren't currently using takes up a shelf in the gameroom.
This was our first week back to school since Thanksgiving and so far this system is working well for us.

Now, I need to come up with a new resting place for our library books.  I'm thinking their new home will be in the front dining room, which is seldomly used for dining.


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Highlights from Last Year -2013

The top viewed posts from 2013:

1.  The series about Toddler & Preschool Box Ideas
2.  Thoughts I had about Motherhood
3.  38 Weeks
4.  I took a day and sewed November Skirts
5.  Quinn's Birth Story



A Quick Look back from the year:

1.  I wrote about my childhood memories from Maple Syrup Season.
2.  I wrote about Clark in Don't Blink
3.  I interviewed my children and added to my Knowing My Children category
4.  During the ice storm I wrote about Peace in the Storm
5.  We spent much of December working on Handmade Christmas

Knowing My Children - Kent 2013

How old are you?  "nine years old"

What is your favorite subject in school?  "That would be...there's one part in science I like, but probably the most favorite part right now is mystery for reading."

What do you like about it?  "because I can help solve mysteries"

What is your least favorite thing about school?  "That would be...math sometimes.  I don't really like space that much so it's part of science."     Why?  "because I don't want to go to space and float around like that.  I don't like math because I don't understand everything.  I like to figure it out on my own and not ask for help."    Does that work out for you?  "Well, not really."

What is your favorite color?  "Green, I have a few, but my most favorite is pretty much green."

What is the last book you read for fun?  "Mandie and the Invisible Trouble Maker"

What is your favorite food?  "birthday cake"

What is something you like to do?  "watch football!"

What is your favorite article of clothing?  "Socks, I guess, I don't really like any of them.  One of them I thing is weird though.  You wear it all the time unless you change it."

What is something you do not like?  "watching the Denver Broncos lose in a football game"

What do you like to do with Daddy?  "play Halo"

What do you like to do with Mommy?  "watch a movie"

What do you like to do with your siblings?  "play card games"

Do you like hugs or kisses?  "um, hugs"

What is something you are thankful for?  "I am thankful for Daddy."

Is there anything else you want me to know about you?  "I like the number 9 and the number 3 and the number 27, because it is made of 3 9's."

What do you want to be when you grow up?  "a football player or a soldier"

What do you want for Christmas?  "A Halo Lego set or a pet dog (which probably won't happen)."

Knowing My Children - Katy 2013

How old are you?  "eight"

What is your favorite subject in school?  "reading"

What do you like about it?  "I like to read."

What is your least favorite thing about school?  "math"      Why?  "because it is hard, especially third grade math"

What is your favorite color?  "red"

What is the last book you read for fun?  "um...I'm working on it.  It's Winnie the Pooh's Stories for Christmas."

What is your favorite food?  "hmm...still thinking...chicken legs"

What is something you like to do?  I like to draw pictures and write stories, especially about horses."

What is your favorite article of clothing?  "This horse shirt."

What is something you do not like?  "chores"

What do you like to do with Daddy?  "play games like a matching game or skip-bo"

What do you like to do with Mommy?  "color"

What do you like to do with your siblings?  "play hide and seek and tag"

Do you like hugs or kisses?  "both"

What is something you are thankful for?  "The pilgrims since they had the first Thanksgiving."

Is there anything else you want me to know about you?  "I like horses."

What do you want to be when you grow up?  "a writer"

What do you want for Christmas?  "The Molly movie"

Knowing My Children - Kaomi 2013

How old are you?  "six"

What is your favorite subject in school?  "reading"

What do you like about it?  "I like to read interesting stories."

What is your least favorite thing about school?  "Math"      Why?  "cause it's way too hard for me"
How come you do it really easy then?  "Well, I don't know."

What is your favorite color?  "blue"

What is the last book you read for fun?  "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

What is your favorite food?  "birthday cake"

What is something you like to do?  "play with Quinky"

What is your favorite article of clothing?  "all skirts"

What is something you do not like?  "having to work"

What do you like to do with Daddy?  "play games with him"

What do you like to do with Mommy?  "read a book"

What do you like to do with your siblings?  "play games"

Do you like hugs or kisses?  "kisses"

What is something you are thankful for?  "my family"

Is there anything else you want me to know about you?  "I like to read and eat and color."

What do you want to be when you grow up?  "a cowgirl"

What do you want for Christmas?  "a rocking horse"

Handmade Christmas

We have been very busy this month making Christmas presents.  I have been enjoying spending one on one time with each one of my children and my husband as we complete the projects of their choice.  I wasn't sure if we would be able to get everything done on time, but I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  My goal for the kids is to have their projects completed by Saturday.  That means we only have three days to finish.  I think we might make it.  We have been busy hammering, stirring, painting, gluing, building, stuffing and sewing.  I'm unable to show you any actual pictures of products due to their secretive nature, but I did get a couple of action shots.

Knowing My Children - Felicity 2013

How old are you?  "thr-eeee"

What is your favorite subject in school?  "learning about God"

What do you like about it?  "It will make us happy."

What is your favorite story?  "The Mary and Joseph nativity"

What is your favorite color?  "pink"

What is the last book you read for fun?  "One Wintry Night"    -She just looked at the pictures.

What is your favorite food?  "Peanut butter and jelly and bread"

What is something you like to do?  "play with dolls"

What is your favorite article of clothing?  "wear dresses"

What is something you do not like?
"I don't like the book The Twelve Days of Christmas, it's boring."

What do you like to do with Daddy?  "play cars"

What do you like to do with Mommy?  "do projects"

What do you like to do with your siblings?  "be nice to them", "play cars and trucks with them", and "read stories to Quinn"

Do you like hugs or kisses?  "hugs...and kisses"

What is something you are thankful for?  "cake"

Is there anything else you want me to know about you?  "I don't like all of this choices.  We can do some of those tomorrow.  Okay?"    -She was talking about these questions.
"I love having a birthday."

What do you want to be when you grow up?  "a princess"  Anything else?  "I love reading books, and I love going to the playground, and I love finding animals at the zoo."

What do you want for Christmas?  "I want...hmm...I like a watch for Christmas."

Knowing My Children - Clark 2013

How old are you?  2 1/2

What is your favorite subject in school?  "ctivity box" (activity)

What do you like about it? "train "ctivity""

What is your favorite story?  I like most stories, unless they are long.

What is your favorite color?  "black"

What is the last book you read for fun?  truck

What is your favorite food?  "tacos"

What is something you like to do?  "play trucks and football"

What is your favorite article of clothing?  "shorts"

What is something you do not like?  "pants"

What do you like to do with Daddy?  "go in Daddy's truck"

What do you like to do with Mommy?  "work on me projict"

What do you like to do with your siblings?  tackle Kent, play with Lissie, play in the car that the girls can push me around the house, give hugs to everyone

Do you like hugs or kisses?  hugs

What is something you are thankful for?  "helcopors"  (helicopters)

Is there anything else you want me to know about you?  I'm learning to go potty.

What do you want to be when you grow up?  "have a beard"

What do you want for Christmas?  "helcopor"

Ice Strom Pictures 2

On Saturday, December 7th, after the ice storm my brother and his family came over to enjoy playing outside with us.  I didn't get any pictures of their older boys, since they weren't around when I was out taking pictures.  We also took Quinn outside for his first picture in the icy white weather.  He was interested in it, but wasn't to keen on sledding on a cookie sheet or sitting on the ice.

Quinn, Jeff, and Ben

Jeff and Quinn

Quinn sledding on a cookie sheet

Zach

Lisse and Jojo watching out the window

Samarah and Quinn

On Sunday we had a worship service at our home, since church was canceled.  We had one family who tried to come, but struggled to walk out of their driveway and decided it was safer to stay home and not fall and potentially get hurt.