It Was a Daisy of a Morning!

Just before dawn a tiny bit of rain fell. Just a shower. Enough to dampen the parched ground, to revive thirsty plant life. As the sun shone on a new day, this is what I saw as I looked out my kitchen window:

Right in my very own front yard. Planted by The Creator Himself. Just for me (or so I like to think!)

Isn't God good? To bring my very favorite flower right to me. I hadn't asked, I hadn't expected. It had never even occurred to me that daisies might pop up right there in the middle of where we romp and play. They were not there yesterday. Really. They sprang up overnight. Amazing!

Such a gift! Thank you, Lord, for all You give.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:16-18 NIV)

The Hidden Art of Homemaking - Chapter 10

This book study has been in a holding pattern, but I'd like to go ahead and quickly work through the rest of the chapters. If you'd like to read my thoughts on earlier chapters, click here.

Drama

From the title of this chapter, you would think we'd be discussing phrases like 'try-outs' 'memorize your lines' and 'lights, camera, action!'. But, no. The phrase discussed is 'read, read, read'. Read, you ask? YES! Nothing brings to imagination to life better than reading out loud together quality literature. Stories that inspire, spur you on to great things, overcome all odds, climb the highest mountains, cross the deepest seas, go where no child has gone before . . . (cough, ahem, cough). . . Ok, so I'm being a little dramatic (pun intended!). You get the point.

We have always read to our children. The fact that I can recite One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish in my sleep to this day is proof of that. But investing a bit of yourself into the reading out loud adds so much more to the experience. When baby #4 came along, I found a book by the title "I'll Love You Forever" --  a wonderful book that takes you through all the stages of growing up and how Mother loves you through them all. The mother character sings a special lullaby each night, all through the years, and so as the words to the song are repeated throughout the story, I created my own little tune (inspired by a friend), making the story "come alive". Now my own daughter reads/sings it to her little ones.

When we began 'officially' schooling our children, I started the tradition of reading out loud at lunchtime. A tradition we have kept up, off and on, for 21 years now. I choose chapter books, children's literature, books that are fun and/or informative. Books that spark the imagination or challenge us to better character. As the children sit and enjoy their lunch, I read out loud. It is far more interesting for them when I consciously vary the tone and pitch and meter of my voice. Am I coming upon a tense and suspenseful section? I try to lower my voice and slow down the rhythm for full impact. Are we jumping into something exciting and unexpected? I will speed up my words and raise my voice, and then pause for them to take it all.
I have a couple of friends who are very good at accents. I have some work to do before I can master the British accent, or the Brooklyn accent. I can add a touch of flair with a crisp, Northern US accent or a bit of Southern Drawl. My rendition of a Swede brings giggles from around the table, but that's ok. I don't take it personal. 

We have had seasons of read-aloud time in the evenings with Dad.  Our evening devotions as a family are centered around taking turns reading out loud from our Bibles. The spoken word brings people together. Storytelling has long been a way of one generation passing down history and character and life lessons to the next. 

Some of our favorites through the years (there are so many!) have been:

Mr Popper's Penguins

Winnie-the-Pooh

Little House Series
The Narnia Series

Understood Betsy

Treasure Island

Swiss Family Robinson

Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates

Henry Reed

The Moffats

Ben Hur

Pilgrim's Progress

Ten P's in a Pod

The habit of reading aloud together opens up whole new worlds, and naturally pulls our children, even ourselves, into the wonderful world of make believe, without movie cameras and pre-printed scripts. It's amazing this tool God equipped us with - the brain.

You just might meet up with a young miss who's donned a pretty bonnet as she is crossing the prairie in a conestoga wagon:

 

Or a brave young cowboy roaming the range, keeping law and order in a rough and tumble town.

So, rather than flipping on the television, or getting lost in a video game, consider snuggling up on the couch or gather around the dinner table and enjoy a good book together. You never know where it may take you!

Menu Plan Monday - 6/4 to 6/10

Hello, Everyone! I'm baa-aaack!

Last week was the beginning of my Grocery Month, so the freezer is still stocked pretty well and the pantry has all we need for the time being. I enjoy life in the kitchen during this time - the hard work at the beginning of the month is over (the menu planning, the BIG shopping trip, the FULL cooking day, etc.) and we are not yet near the end of the month when reality hits and I find out if I over-estimated (rarely happens) or under-estimated (sometimes happens) or if I was spot-on with my estimations (does happen from time to time!)

This is the list of meals I prepared/assembled/accounted for a week ago (I'm rather an old-fashioned girl, pencil and paper for me, thank you very much!):

It's posted on my frig. Each time we use a meal, we mark it off. Last week we used up burgers, lasagne, sausage & kraut, chicken spaghetti, a pizza pak and a container of sloppy joe.  I sometimes fill in each meal on a monthly calendar, but with so much going on this summer, I think it will be easier to have a master list of main meals and then fine-tune it at the beginning of each week.

Now, what's on the menu for this week?

Monday:        b'fast-breakfast burritos
                      lunch-tuna salad
                      supper-tacos, mexican rice, pinto beans

Tuesday:       b'fast-oatmeal, banana muffins
                     lunch-mac&cheese
                     supper-chicken/broc/rice casserole

Wednesday:  b'fast-cereal
                     lunch-funny faces
                     supper-crockpot goulash

Thursday:     b'fast-ww toast
                     lunch-sloppy joes
                     supper-Omelets & potatoes

Friday:         b'fast-baked oatmeal
                    lunch-sandwiches
                    supper-homemade pizza

Saturday:     b'fast-cereal
                    lunch-Every man, woman and child for himself!
                    supper-Graduation Celebration!!!
                               (BBQ Chicken & BBQ Beef sandwiches)

Sunday:       b'fast-bagels
                    dinner-salads and/or leftovers


linking up over at orgjunkie.com

A Short Break

Hello Everyone. It's been quiet here, I know. I'm stepping away from BlogLand for another week, then I'll be back. See you in May!

Menu Plan Monday - 4/23 to 4/29

Welcome to my life - for real - Esther whipped up this delicious dessert for me to serve to guests. I thought "this will make a great blog post!" so started snapping pictures, typed in the link with the recipe we used for inspiration - and instead of clicking the 'save' button, I apparently published this barely-started post. So, if you are wondering, where's the menu plan? or how did the pie turn out? You may now enjoy the rest of the post!

Monday - Chicken & Rice Soup,   Chocolate Espresso Dream Pie for dessert
Tuesday - venison, mashed potatoes
Wednesday - deli sandwiches
Thursday - pasta bake (carry-in dinner following funeral at our church)
Friday - pizza
Saturday - lentils & brown rice


And now, for HomeEc 101 - Dream Pie Dessert (we used this recipe as our inspiration) - this is a terrific recipe for beginning cooks, it is quick and easy and quite impressive.

We used 2 1/4 c milk (divided), 2 tsp instant coffee, 1 envelope whipped topping mix, 2 small boxes chocolate instant pudding, and a pre-made graham cracker pie shell.

 I stirred the instant coffee into the milk and then Esther mixed the whipped topping in a large mixing bowl with 1 cup milk until it formed formed peaks. She added the pudding mix and the rest of the milk, beating on low til mixed, then on high a minute or two.

 We spooned the filling into the pie shell and chilled for several hours.

 I had every intention of photographing the finished product, beautifully on a dessert plate for you to see, but, well, it's gone. Nothing left. You'll just have to believe me, it was beautiful and delicious and rich.

For more great recipes and menu ideas hop over to MenuPlanMonday at OrgJunkie