Week 9: A little bit of old, a little bit of new

I wanted to start today's post with a sweet thought (see quote below). I think that sometimes we get caught up in the "bad parts" of the stage we are in, that we don't realize how quickly time goes by and we might be missing out on the "good parts." 
Being a mother is not only the greatest gift (after having Jesus as my Savior and finding the love of my life), but it has been a great teacher to me.

"You will never have this day with your children again. 
Tomorrow, they'll be a little older than they were today. 
This day is a gift. Breathe and notice. 
Smell and touch them; study their faces and little feet and pay attention. 
Relish the charms of the present. 
Enjoy today, mama, it will be over before you know it." 
                                                                                ~ Jen Hatmaker

Homeschooling

~ Circle Time: It was great, although, I confess, we didn't do every single day this week.  We either got busy, went to town, or took longer naps.  But when we did have Circle Time, we had lots of fun and K is definitely thriving.
~ Potty Training: K has been wearing BIG BOY underwear daily and had maybe 3 accidents all week! He is doing so much better at letting us know when he needs to go.  We have a timer to remind us to encourage him to go if he hasn't gone by then.  It used to be set to go off every 30 minutes, then we changed it to every 40 minutes, but now, it's set to every hour.  He's even going both to pee and poop in bathrooms at stores and restaurants!  He's doing awesome! He still wears a pul up at night, just in case, but this morning, his pull up was dry!  I am beyond proud of him.
~ Scripture Memory: K is doing excellent in memorizing the Word of God.  He really enjoys it, too.  We were at Kohl's the other day and I found a small picture album (see picture below) on Clearance for $1.49, so I put in each page the Scripture verses that he has learned so far and I will keep adding more as we learn/memorize more.  We still have the verses on the wall at home, but this is a great idea because he can take them anywhere, even in the car when we go to town.

~ Chinese and Spanish: I have made small posters with the numbers (0-10) in Chinese (pinyin and characters) and Spanish to put on the wall so K can look at them often and not forget them. Plus, it makes it easier to practice (repeat out loud) during Circle Time.

~ Number Train (Families): I have explained how we work on it in another post, but I have not added the names of the families (zero, ten, twenty, ... one hundred) to help K recognize the number words, too.  It is actually helping a lot.  He can count up to 70 now!

~ Bible Reading: K is starting to want to read the Bible himself every night before bed, instead of us reading it to him.  I never thought that he'd be doing this so early (he's only 2.5 years old!). Precious.  Thought I'd share.  Sigh.  Sniff.

This is one of our new activities (from Pinterest, of course). He loved it!
I wonder if it'd work if I used the letters of the alphabet....

I made these for Bible Study this week and they turned out great! It is one of Pampered Chef's Fall recipes. The only three changes I made to the recipe are: 1) I used vanilla extract instead of almond, 2) I used real cherries instead of maraschino cherries, and 3) I used coconut oil instead of canola.  I got great reviews from this recipe, so I am definitely making these for my Fall Pampered Chef show in a couple of months.

This is the artisan parmesan bread I made for the first time. According to my husband, it is the most delicious bread I've ever made (and I've made lots of different kinds of bread). Let me know if you are interested in the recipe.

K was here. Hahaha!

I tried making sushi last night for the first time ever! We found a cheap sushi kit at Barnes & Noble and have been collecting all of the ingredients little by little. Finally, all we had left to buy was the shrimp. It was pretty good for the first time. I'm sure it was a lot cheaper than at a restaurant and it wasn't that hard to do.  Next time, I'll marinate the shrimp and buy smoked salmon and cream cheese.  I need to order a Julienne peeler from Pampered Chef, too! It'd make peeling carrots and cucumbers a breeze.

Homemade Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (YUMMM)

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)

1 cup raisin

Preparation

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Prep Time: 20 min       Cook Time Time: 08 min

Variations

Bar Cookies: Press dough onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Store tightly covered. 24 BARS. VARIATIONS: Stir in 1 cup chopped nuts. Substitute 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or candy-coated chocolate pieces for raisins; omit cinnamon. Substitute 1 cup diced dried mixed fruit. HIGH ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Increase flour to 1-3/4 cups and bake as directed.

Yield 4 DOZEN

MY VARIATION

Follow the instructions above, but I made 5 changes.

Change #1: Instead of using 1 stick and 6 tablespoons of butter, I used 1 stick of butter and 6 tablespoons of coconut oil.

Change #2: I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free rolled oats.

Change #3: I used white wheat four instead of all purpose flour. Next time, I'll use unbleached, organic all purpose flour.

Change #4: I used aluminum free baking soda.

Change #5: When the recipe instructs you to mix the flour, baking soda, etc (all dry ingredients), I mixed in 1/4 cup of raw unsweetened cacao powder.

You can always add stuff like chocolate chunks, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, pecans, almonds, flaxseeds (ground or whole), or even M&Ms!  Whatever strikes your fancy.

And you can always substitute the 2 eggs for 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds and 6 tablespoons of water.  Mix them in a bowl and let them sit for a few minutes to "gel", then use in the recipe instead of 2 eggs. The ratio is 1tbsp ground flaxseed in 3 tbsp of water to replace ONE EGG.

The following videos are of Baby Girl sitting up tall, playing with her ball.  She is using her brain so well as she passes the ball from one hand to the other, how she handles it, and how she problem solves.  This is actually one video, but it was too long, so I had to breaking into two parts.  Enjoy!

THINGS I WANT TO TRY SOON

I am a Pampered Chef Consultant, so I am always coming across and
trying new recipes (and purchasing great kitchen products).
Fall is upon us (thank God!), so many recipes involving apples, nuts, pumpkin,
and sweet potatoes are surfacing yet again and that is wonderful!
Fall is my favorite season of all!

APPLE NACHOS!!! Who would've thought?! Yumm!!!

Baby wearing while dancing flamenco! What an incredible picture! Gotta try this for sure!