Spaghetti and Meatballs

Kylie, this post is specifically for you.



To entice you to come home, just for a little while!



You have been eating so well in Alabama, we are afraid they may have talked you into going to live there.

And we couldn't have that!



So don't even try it Allisons!



Tonight we had THE most delicious Spaghetti and Meatballs Kylie. MMMMmmmm!

It was a three way dinner with Emily making the spaghetti sauce from the cookbook you left behind in my kitchen. (You didn't want that one back, did you?)

Jordan rolled these beautiful meatballs, recipe also courtesy of your cookbook.

Me, I made some scrumptous pasta with my pasta maker Dad bought me for Christmas.

And I have to say, "you don't know what you were missing out on".



Oh I forget to mention the parmesan cheese sprinked on top.



So don't think for a minute that we will give up the fight!

Mumma's Soup

It's a known fact around here that everybody loves Mumma's Soup.

I can't take credit for this soup originally, because my Mum reads my blog. :-)
It's made up of all good things and when I make it, I feel like a really good Mum.
There can be up to seven vegetables in it and put with some homemade bread, it's so nutritious and yummy.

We love it!



As you know, Tom has been here this week for Tafe, and left today.
After he got here on Sunday, he asked if there was any "Mumma's Soup".



It's still summer here, for goodness sake. We don't eat soup in summer, do we Mum?



But yesterday, I made Mumma's Soup for my son and fed it to him today for lunch before he left for his home, with freshly baked bread.



He's not into compliments much, my son.
He should be.
He's grown up listening to Ken saying, " MMMMMMmmmm" all his life.

But he's not!



As we sat eating lunch, there was a short silence and then Tom says,

" I've been dreaming about this".

Any Mum knows that this is a compliment and yes, it warmed my heart.







Even sent home two frozen containers of "Mumma's Soup" wrapped in bubble wrap for him, so he could stop dreaming!

I smell a BOY

There's a boy in the house.

I can smell him.

Not in a bad way, he smells pretty good.
But there's a certain "deoderant" smell that boys have and leave around, and its here at the moment.

Tom is visiting for three days while he's at TAFE this week.
And, it's going to be regular.
He'll be here at least once a month, for a few days.

I get to feed him, and he might even let me wash some clothes.

God IS Good

Well, I do know that God is good, all the time, just like the song says.

But sometimes we are left floundering, wondering what He's doing.

I was reminded of His goodness in church this morning when the speaker told a little of the difficulties in his life and how he had often wondered if God was good to him.

He spoke of Joseph and the difficulties he had, ( thrown in a pit, sold as a slave, wrongly accused, put in jail), and yet the way Joseph had been transformed to show forgiveness and grace to his brothers. He even went so far as to tell them that "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God".

After all Joseph's brothers had done to him and all he'd been through, he still trusted that God had been a part of it and had a plan.

I like that!

I want to have that trust (always) and show that grace (always).

Window Boxes

I really want to share some of the beautiful window boxes that we saw when we were OS last August.

The shutters help make them look so cute.

I couldn't help myself, I took lots of these window shots and they really were all over the place.

The ones in Switzerland, were the nicest!

One of my favourites, don't you love the pink shutters?

I decided that when we came home, I was going to have window boxes too!

But I haven't managed it yet.

I'd really like to print out my "flower box" photos and hang them up decoratively in my home to remember them.

Happy Birthday Honey

Some of your favourite things.....

Hope you have a great day .

I love you!

Thanks for working hard to take care of your family.

We love you.

Enjoy your chicken nachos and pavlova. :-)

ALONE

Yes, I'm alone.

It doesn't happen ofter and when it does, it's normally for a very short time, perhaps an hour or two.
But this morning, my family left very early to drive to Sydney, to go to the cricket. It's at least five hours, depending on traffic, so they were away around six. They are staying the night in Sydney and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon.

What to do?

It would be nice to pop over to spend time with Mum and Dad, but they're about 1000kms away. So are my brothers. Kylie , who was with me last year when the family went to the cricket, is in Alabama. Can't spend time with her.

Shopping? No. Not a big shopper.

Clean the house? Boring, when I've got the day to myself.

Sleeping? Now that's a thought. Tom didn't arrive till almost midnight last night, and we did stay talking for at least an hour after that, and then I couldn't actually get to sleep for hours, and then one child who thought i was her father, shook me awake to leave at around 5.30am.......sleeping feels like a good idea, but i should at least wait till after midday for a nap.

Visit a friend?

Now that's a good idea.

Can always sleep later!

Jordy Pordy Pudding and Pie

Jordan.......We love you! Happy 13th birthday!

NONAL she was soooo cute! Still is!

For some reason, when Jordan was about this age she called herself "Nonal" . What was that all about? It was really cute at the time. Glad she grew out of that! Kaity still calls her "Pudding"even now. Wonder if she'll still be a "Pudding" at 40? Probably.

Things about Jordan......hmmm well you all know she loves to read and write, she also likes dogs, cats, reading, small children and babies (who doesn't in the Haase family), cucumbers, carrots and capsicum (all raw), reading, the great outdoors, walking, drawing, reading and her very favourite.... Narrations! (maybe not her favourite, but she can write some great ones).

Jordan........The next Bindy Irwin

Sleepy Jordan

Jordan with my cutie 2nd cousin

We hope and pray that you continue to grow into the woman of God that He has planned for you to become. Thank you for being such a special part of our family. We love you!

A verse for you for your 13th year.....

Proverbs 4:25-26

Let your eyes look straight ahead,

fix your gaze directly before you.

Make level paths for your feet

and take only ways that are firm.

Birthday Presents

Two of my friends have birthdays on two consecutive days. Yesterday and today.

I wanted to buy them each a pressie to show them that I care about them and appreciate them.So, came up with an idea for both that varied a little but included some of these things.

I had a couple of these and thought I'd recycle them.

One friend is a bit of a gourmet cook so I knew she'd like this.



I needed to grind some wheat for myself and had these little bags, so ground up some extra and filled them with some fresh, wholemeal flour for them. (No Helen, not by hand :-))

Who can resist these?

When we were in Italy last year with Kylie :-), we had these unbelieveable Pesto Pizzas. I have been on the hunt ever since for a great recipe. And I recently came across this recipe which is too scrumptous! So bought some fresh basil and blended up this to pop in also. Added a box of nice crackers aswell.


Gourmet birthday bags! I think they liked them. (I liked them)



I need to put my thinking cap on for Jordan's Birthday on Monday. She'll be 13!

World History

Joy asked me what I was using for World History Part 1 this year. Thought I'd share some of the great books we will be reading. I'm excited!

Yes, we will use all of the Sonlight course, Core 6 for History and Bible and Literature. I love Sonlight in that it's all sorted out for me, and the books are a great read. There's also great suggestions in the back that you can or cannot use regarding vocabulary, cultural literacy questions, nature study questions, ideas for narrations and comprehension questions. If someone has already thought through all these things, then I'm not going to waste brain power by redoing what's already been done.

I'm just not an ideas woman....a much better follower of instructions. :-)

Here's a few of them that we'll be delving into.

The main source for History is "The Story of the World" by Susan Wise Bauer. We'll cover her "Ancient Times" and " Middle Ages" books this year, and then her two next books "Early Modern Times" and "The Middle Age" next year. They are so readable and not textbooky.

Some others that Sonlight uses are from the series by Genevieve Foster and include "The World of Columbus and Sons"and "Augustus Caesar's World". I love these, they are so interesting!

We also work through "The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History". This is colourful, interesting and has links to the net aswell. Very easy to understand. Oh, and I realised that there's more of these covering The Stuarts, The Romans and Knights. I want them!

Well that covers the History component of Core 6. I'll try to post about the readers/read a louds and Bible another time.

If only school had been this way for me (and my older kids in the early years). I'm just thankful to God for His leading in this area in the last few years. School is MUCH more interesting than ever before (and relaxed).

Bible Study and Scones :-)

Don't you love getting with friends, reading God's Word and discussing it? I do.

What about warm scones, fresh cream and jam? Yep, have to admit, it's a weakness. Today I combined the two and went to my KYB (Know Your Bible ) group to nourish my soul, and took along morning tea, to nourish the body.


KYB has been a part of my life for a long time. I love it. It encourages daily homework, has lessons built on the Word of God, and lets me get together with other women to encourage and share. I've been to groups in Toowoomba, Bourke, Condobolin and now Dubbo. It's lovely that some in the group here in Dubbo have been in a group with me in Bourke as well. This term we are studying the Psalms.


So, how to make the scones? Well here's a super easy recipe from an old friend, that has worked out everytime I've made them, and are usually a hit. (As long as not too many friends are on a diet) :-)



SCONES


Turn oven onto 450f (239c)

Prepare a tray, by greasing and flouring and putting in the oven for 5 minutes before you put the scones in the oven.

Ingredients


3 cups of Self Raising Flour
3 Tablespoons Icing Sugar
1 cup of Cream
1 cup of Milk
1/2 cup of Sultanas



Method



1.Put all ingredients in a bowl. Mix lightly with a knife.




2.Turn out onto a floured bench. Lightly bring all ingredients together with your hands. Knead very gently and briefly. Gently pat into a mound about 3 cms high. Dip your cutter into the flour and cut out the scones. Put them on the hot tray close together, but not quite touching. Cook for 12 minutes



Serve with cream and jam and don't eat too many.

First School Day 2010

I thought that this was as good a time as any, to start blogging. First day of school for 2010!
As I sat down this morning, and the girls were working independantly, I was overcome with gratitude to God that He has allowed me to be here with my kids each day, homeschooling them for the last ?????about 18 years. I was thanking Him also for my husband Ken and the way he works hard to provide for our family, so that I can stay at home with our kids. (Thanks Honey).

I'm down to my last two students, Emily (14) and Jordan (13 ,next week). We have a busy school year (as usual) and I'm excited because for the next two years we are covering World History. I don't remember alot of history from when I was at school, so I thank God for second chances in life.
Subjects we'll be covering include Bible, History, Math, English, Science, Spanish, Art, Typing, Literature and Piano. Curriculum we are using this year include Sonlight, Mathusee, LLATL, ACE, Apologia, and Rosetta Stone.

I don't know how well I'll be keeping up with my two busy blogging daughters (though one has slowed down whilst sailing The Carribean). It'll be a hard act to follow!