Taking back my kitchen...

Seems that in the last six months it has either been too hot or I have been fighting too many Romans to spend much time in the kitchen. Well thanks to Tammy I can now make butter and cheese at home and since the Roman empire fell (and we finished that book... did I mention that??! lol) I reclaimed the kitchen! We had a wonderful breakfast spread... the candles were a nice contrast to the rain outside. Nice and quiet.





Of course about 30 minutes ago we realized that we totally forgot it was Fast Sunday.

Practical acitivities

Practical activities... I always get asked how we manage to run a house, homeschool, and run a business all at the same time... well sometimes you just have to stop and chop carrots, clean garages and bake. Sometimes we just have to take some days off from our regular school week to get these things done... this week was one of those weeks.

Grandpa keeps bringing us carrots... and potatoes but mostly carrots. I think this is the last batch since he's been putting the garden to bed. Don't get me wrong, we love carrots... and stew with carrots and carrot cake and everything carroty... but we have lots of carrots! lol.



Look! I can park in there! For the first time since... well EVER! LOL we purchased this house when I was pregnant with Sam! It wasn't full of much, trash mostly and a few things in the donation pile but I had to take a picture of it as a reminder that my van DOES fit in the garage!

We baked sugar cookies this week too... more about those later... they aren't dressed yet!

Folks have been asking...

so I thought I would give a few updates about Harmony House. Things were wonky but now they seem to be trying to smooth out. The first days and weeks were about finding the right staff and helping them learn all they could about Waldorf, now it is about getting them enough training to plan their classes. It was also about finding the right balance for my family - they are not used to being without me and I won't lie, I will be glad when this contract is over, but I think it is good for them too. The children are learning to bond with Erik and mind him without having me there to back things up. At first I was gone in the mornings and that wasn't working so well, for the family or the teachers. The teachers were relying on me too much for their teaching and the children were really missing me. Now we've got an afternoon schedule going that seems to be working better, between that and Emily helping us we'll be in a much better spot.

Thanks to all who have sent us personal emails of encouragement - we have enjoyed them all.


Blessings!

Quizno's a better SUB?

As a busy homeschooling family we are out a lot and often need to grab a quick meal out if I am not totally on top of it in my kitchen before we leave (yes! we have days like that! I WISH I had my Bento hat on better!) one of our favorite places to eat has always been Subway because for the most part you can get a pretty healthy meal... I have to say after their current campaign, I am done. Karen from our list sent this along this morning and I was shocked. They have in one contest excluded over 2 million children!

To find out about their contest, visit this link http://www.subwayfr%20eshbuzz.com/%20kids/contest.%20aspx

The fine print for the contest reads:"Contest is open only to legal US residents, over the age of 18 with children in either elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted."

Comments can be made at: http://www.subway.%20com/Applications%20/CustService/%20frmCustomerServi%20ce.aspx

Now I realize that in many states homeschoolers are considered private schools and I also realize that their grand prize is intended for a school's fitness program, however their wording is not great and they could have easily come up with a suitable alternative for homeschooling families that could have included them.

So now we will be enjoying Quizno's a lot more... they taste better anyway.