O Lazy Daze

I am tired. I want to sleep. I am starving. I want to eat.

We have been doing "school" but I haven't been motivated enough for the pictures. The favorite part of my day is being outside watching the kids digging for bugs and making mud pies. (Minus the muddy footprints on our carpet leading to the washroom :) )
Today we were outside and the kids were running in and out of the trees, chasing each other and belly laughing. The other day all three were holding hands walking down a beautiful small road. I have so many handfuls of flowers from the girls I no longer have any idea what to do with them all. These are just a few things lately that have made my heart smile and grow.

Today we had some visitors. Our friends Shirley and Lasta. Shirley is involved with Teen Missions (I believe she is the treasurer) and Lasta is living with them from Indonesia. Whenever I see Shirley it reminds me of the selflessness of humankind. I suddenly don't care that the house hasn't been picked up, the grass needs cutting and we don't have a big new house. None of this matters. I see and hear about the places Dave and Shirley have been and it definitely puts things into perspective for me. Sometimes I need that. I want to raise the children to be thoughtful and I want them to have meaning. Deep meaning. Nothing feels quite like giving out of the goodness of your heart. I really do hope that in the future we will travel as a family and help people around the world.

PREGNANT AGAIN!!!

I haven't posted in a while because I am so tired. We are pregnant again and very happy!
In this picture I am telling the girls the news. Look at their faces. Haha. Cohen is indifferent. Amelie is amazed. Ricky is well...giving the same reaction we have gotten from most people. ARE YOU CRAZY?? Just after this picture they are showing us how big my belly will get. Of course they remember Roo. Amelie wants a boy and Ricky wants a girl. We shall see!! YAY!

Right Start

We did some math today.
Right now Amelie is learning place value. She really enjoys math. Ricky is playing with the tiles. She likes to make houses and bookshelves with them. We have been doing math more frequently lately. It really feels good to sit down with them and put all of my attention into it. I can't believe how bright Amelie is. As soon as I teach something she gets it. Ricky is very creative. Much like her daddy. We haven't taught too much to her yet because she is still a bit young. She does a bit of math but I don't want to burn out her love of learning.

We went to a zoo like place on the weekend. The kids can walk amongst the goats and hold a big snake. They love it here.
I chose this picture because it is just priceless. :)

A Family Visit

Aunt Bridget and Grandpa came for a surprise visit. Bridget made Ricky's new dress. Since she is obsessed with dresses it was a perfect gift!
The kids love it when family comes for a visit.
They heard the lovely news!!

A Good Start

This was our yummy breakfast.
All Organic which we all know makes it taste a million times better!
Cereal sprinkled with a nut and raisin mix, flax seed meal and some delicious black berries.
When we have a breakfast like this it starts out our day wonderfully. Try it! I dare you!

Our Bread Recipe

• Here is the recipe for the bread we made. The only thing we did differently is changed the vegetable oil to apple sauce. It makes approx 6 loaves. Enjoy!!! We did!
  
• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 1/2 cups warm water
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 7 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup flax seed
• 1/4 cup cracked wheat
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups bread flour

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. In a large bowl, mix remaining 3 1/2 cups warm water, honey, molasses, oil, eggs and lemon juice. Mix well. Add yeast mixture and stir.
2. Gradually add 5 cups whole wheat flour beating well after each addition. Add the flax, cracked wheat and sunflower seeds, stir well.
3. Let stand for 20 minutes, until mixture is very light. Stir in salt and the rest of the flours until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
4. Knead 10 to 15 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Put into a greased bowl and cover, let rise in the oven with light on until doubled, about 1 hour.
5. Punch down and shape into 6 round balls. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.
6. Form into loaves and let rise covered in oven until doubled. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) 25-35 minutes.

Our Butterfly Release

We have been taking care of caterpillars/butterflies for about 3 wks now. We ordered the caterpillars in the mail. We fed them and watched them grow. They then turned into pupae. We anxiously awaited for the butterflies to emerge. On Mothers day the first 3 did. Since then more have emerged and they have been fluttering their wings to straighten them out. Two were ready to be released. Since today was a nice sunny day I thought we could set 2 of them free. I brought the 3 oldest outside with the aquarium and camera. I put the first butterfly into Amelie's hands for take off. All the while I am taking pictures. The moment arrives. Our first butterfly has taken off. We all watch in wonder and awe until...

a bird swoops down and starts attacking the butterfly. I start yelling Oh Oh Oh. The girls are shocked. The butterfly lands in the grass and the bird is frantically pecking trying to get him. I run out and save the butterfly. He/she is safely put back in our aquarium. What started out as a beautiful experience quickly turned into a disaster.

I am happy for the educational experience it provided us though. I am just happy that we didn't have to sacrifice our butterfly for them to learn that!

Looking back it is quite funny!

Making Bread

yesterday we made our first loaves of bread together. They turned out wonderful! The best part was kneading the dough. The girls learned about measuring, time and most importantly...love. The best part of the bread is putting our hands into the dough and making it ours. Oh and maybe eating the warm bread just out of the oven. At least Cohen thinks so!

VOTE

Our homeschooling curriculum magazine is asking for pictures to be sent in. They are hoping to have a nice pic for the front cover as well as some pics on the inside. We can send as many as we want but I would love some imput. Which one do you think would make it onto the cover? I have many more to take because we have until the end of July.
The caterpillars are now pupae! We are just waiting for them to emerge. When they do I am sure we will have a lot of pictures!

Fun Outside