girls

All posts tagged girls

What I do when Everyone is asleep but me!

Published November 4, 2013 by Angela

I really enjoy my quiet time when my girls are all sleeping and I have the house to myself for several hours. Yesterday it was laundry and cleaning. This morning, 6 loaves of homemade banana bread. My house smells amazing!

Ingredients

Ingredients

Normally I use pre-mixes when making anything, but I have been getting back into the habit of taking my time cooking things, whether it be dinner, snacks, or desserts. This bread was a hit with my girls; it was super-moist and delicious. I did not have walnuts, and since I did not feel like going to the store at 6am, I used the sliced almonds I had on hand instead. The girls said it was a nice change that made it better!

The finished bread, soft, warm, and the butter melts right in!

The finished bread, soft, warm, and the butter melts right in!

This is definitely a recipe I will use again, it was super easy, I had everything on hand (yeah, yeah, yeah, except for the walnuts) it was quick and the clean-up was easy. Continue reading here for the recipe Read the rest of this entry →

Let’s try Plan C

Published October 30, 2013 by Angela

The homeschooling Plan A didn’t work out too well for Erin and I. Plan B was an utter failure. So today I am implementing Plan C. I think I have figured out all of her tricks, excuses, and games, and I got two steps ahead of her.

I have to say, she is an extremely smart 7th grader, who spent the last 3 years of public school being bullied and fighting with me daily about going to school. I have talked to more teachers, counselors, mediators, police officers, and truancy officers, only to be threatened with jail, fines, and paying $50.00 every day my daughter didn’t go to school.

Hence, she said this summer “Mom, if I go to school I am going to be harassed, and bored.” So here we are. Homeschooling. She is also doing very, very well considering she is getting going everyday on her own (my work schedule currently offers me no other options). At night we do her math and science together, and anything she didn’t understand.

The problem became she was not doing simple assignments that I knew she was more than capable of doing, telling me she didn’t understand it, but also didn’t remember what it was she didn’t understand. Clever, huh?

So her new rules are if she has any questions, she has to write them down for me so I can read and understand what she is asking. For every assignment she completes, she will get 15 minutes of supervised computer time. For every assignment she doesn’t complete when I know she could, she will lose 15 minutes, even if she is currently at zero. (This girl loves to play plants vs. zombies).

I told her I will help her 6 hours a night if necessary, as long as I know she tried her best.

I also told her I love her, that she is smart, funny, clever, beautiful, talented, and important and she and I together can do this.

So here’s to crossing my fingers and hoping this is the motivation she needed.

Too Funny! (and no one would get hurt!)

Too Funny! (and no one would get hurt!)

The Joys of 4th Grade Parenting

Published October 29, 2013 by Angela

I do not know how I forget about this with each child passing through 4th grade.

I forgot again this year, until I heard it.

That squeaky-high-pitched-dog-bark-inducing sound of “Hot Cross Buns” on the recorder. Yep, it’s that time of year where the kids have to practice. Every. Single. Day. With this being my last of 4 girls to be in 4th grade, it is a relief to know I will not have to buy anymore recorders. I couldn’t even begin to count the number of lost and broken recorders that required a new purchase.

With that being said, I do enjoy my girls learning how to read music and being interested in playing an instrument. Soon enough, this too will be another memory of things my girls did but won’t do anymore.

Kind of sad, really.

Yummy Marshmallow Pillows

Published October 28, 2013 by Angela

This cold weather has put me in a mood for baking, which is normally so unlike me, this early into the “holiday” season. With the oh-so-many varieties of Jet-Puffed Marshmallows out this time of year, I couldn’t resist buying up a few bags 🙂 Fruit-flavored (and shaped), stackable plain or chocolate brownie flavor, the classic toasted coconut, and even gingerbread and pumpkin spice! These also make a great healthy, low-fat snack right out of the bag (always use caution with young children and marshmallows of any shape or size, a very dangerous and very real choking hazard!)

Yummy low-fat snacking

Yummy low-fat snacking


 

I bought some canned biscuit dough, rolled it out, tucked in a couple chocolate brownie marshmallows, and sealed them shut. After they were baked, according to package directions on the biscuits, I put a touch of butter and sprinkled some sugar on them. This is not necessary though as these are a yummy, pillow-filled sweetness all by themselves.

 

Seal them up good!

Seal them up good!

You know what marshmallows do in the microwave, right? Well, they do that in the oven as well. So make sure your edges are sealed, sealed, sealed. I probably should have taken pictures of my first batch that expanded and leaked all over the place 🙂 Put down a piece of parchment paper on your baking sheet for easy clean-up if they leak. My kids loved the leakers as much as the ones that held their pillow shape.

Hollowed, marshmallow sweetness!

Hollowed, marshmallow sweetness!

“Why Of Course You Can Skip School Today”

Published October 26, 2013 by Angela

As long as I get a cupcake out of the deal! Yes, I did let Erin skip her 3 Co-op classes today at a local church, so she could go to Joann’s Fabrics and Crafts to learn how to decorate Halloween cupcakes. She is doing good on getting her homeschooling work done, and since her other sisters who go to public school always seem to get to do something, I figured this was a good opportunity for her to do something as well.

 

Devil's Food Chocolate (of course) Jumpin' Jack Halloween Cupcakes

Devil’s Food Chocolate (of course) Jumpin’ Jack Halloween Cupcakes

The 2 hour class really only lasted about a 1/2 hour, and she pretty much used the teacher’s supplies so now I have a lot of extra frostings and decorations that I bought to make more cupcakes. I swear my kids have been eating two cupcakes a day!

And I want to yell at them for being so wound up. I guess I should be yelling at myself 🙂

Cabin Fever, In October :-(

Published October 22, 2013 by Angela

My girls seem to be bickering in their “it’s-cold-and-winter-and-we’re-stuck-in-the-house” attitudes, and it isn’t even November. Which means it’s time for me to get creative.

My girls get bored. Quickly and easily. I can take them to the craft store and get them anything they want, and after a couple hours, they are done with it. So my new strategy is taking them places that have been around their whole lives but they have not experienced yet. Unfortunately I get bored even faster than they do, so I may have to travel some distances to get them out of their element.

I have a feeling I need to get settled into what could likely be a long, cold, winter season with a smile on my face and bells on my shoes.

No, literally. It would likely take that much to get my girls to smile with their attitudes right now 🙂

 

This about sums it up! :-)

This about sums it up! 🙂

Was I wrong? Probably. Do I care? Probably Not.

Published October 19, 2013 by Angela

OK. I have to fess up to the fact that I tried (OK, I’m still trying) to buy my way out of trick-or-treating this year. Before you think I am a horrible Mother who is denying her girls memories that they will have for the rest of their lives etc. etc. let me explain a few things about Halloween for us.

In Michigan, there are 3 things that always happen on Halloween, some years in various combinations. 

1) It is hand-numbing cold (literally)

2) It is raining cats-and-dogs (almost literally)

3) It is snowing (snow-on-the-ground-your-lawn-is-now-white-snowing)

Now, I do not like being cold, ever. And neither do my girls. Or wet from rain. Again, that applies to all of us. I won’t even begin telling you how I feel about snow. They are also all under the impression that they have to have costumes that are about $50.00 each. Times 3 girls, and the make-up and accessories they need, we are looking at a couple hundred dollars. There are also not many neighborhoods anywhere near us where a lot of houses are giving out candy. Most houses are dark, with families out trick-or-treating themselves.

So my clever idea? I told them each they could get three bags of any kind of candy they wanted. 3 bags! EACH! I would also give them each $30.00 cash that they could spend on anything they wanted. Books, crafts, toys, anything they want. How could anyone turn down that deal. 3 bags of candy!! They would never get that much trick-or-treating.

Well, they did. I am still working on it, but they are bugging me to go get Halloween costumes tomorrow. And they are already predicting snow for next week.

Maybe I should just suck it up and go trick-or-treating, but I can already hear them complaining because they are cold, wet, they’re tired, their legs hurt, and they aren’t getting candy that they like.

Do you go trick-or-treating every year? Or do you have another tradition? Or do you just ignore Halloween all together? This is my favorite time of year, believe it or not, as long as I am inside looking at it through a window in a toasty warm home 🙂

 

 

Halloween Candy