Work Day

A few times a week, at our evening meal, we read a chapter from the book, "Created for Work". It's a great book that encourages young people be hard workers, get their hands dirty, follow directions, think creatively, respect authority, and happily complete their duties in a timely manner. Our goal is to train our boys (and girl) to think the right way about work, be hard workers, and do it without complaining. So, we try to consistently expect our children to do age appropriate work that contributes to the needs of the family. Our general philosophy on work and children is that they will not get paid for their work. We are working towards instilling in them that doing the work is not about getting money in return it's about doing their part to keep the family and our day running properly. We tell them all the time that no one pays Dad to mow the lawn or fix things that are broken and no one pays Mom when the toilets need to be cleaned, clothes need to be washed, and dinner needs to be cooked. Neither should they expect to be paid to take out the trash, make their beds, and pick up their toys. 

However, there are some jobs that we put in the above and beyond category that require an unusual amount of time, diligence, and effort to complete. The picture above was a pile of weeds that Aaron had pulled from the front yard.

Martin, Jonathan, and Rosalie spent a couple of hours collecting gumballs out of our back yard and putting them in bags.

Aaron spent about 6-7 hours pulling weeds out of our front yard.  He did half of it one day, and the other half the next day. He did not want to quit until he was done, but had to eat dinner and get to baseball practice. I was so proud of his hard work and determination to get the job done!

Rosalie worked at a considerably slower rate at collecting the gum balls than the other two boys did, so when they were done with their bags ... they helped little sister with hers.
It was a good day(s) of hard work!

Girl's Night Out

We ha a very busy Saturday morning and afternoon playing at a park for several hours and spending time with good friends. She fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep when Rich got her out of the car and laid her down on the couch. I tried to wake her several times, but she was just not having it!

So, we took advantage of her long nap by going out on the town for a girls night out! The boys stayed home and watched "The Hobbit". Both Martin and Aaron read the entire book in preparation to watch the movie once it came to DVD.
Rosalie and I had a little snack at Panera Bread and enjoyed some fun one on one time together. I am so thankful for this joyful girl of mine!

Best Gluten Free Pizza Ever

I have been trying unsuccessfully to make gluten free pizza for months now. I've used recipes from other blogs that claimed to be the best pizza crust ever with terrible results. My husband would tell me that it tasted like strawberry shortcake with pizza toppings instead of strawberries. So, I decided to use a recipe that I had been using (successfully) for bread and turn it into a pizza crust. The above picture is what the crust looked like after I pre-baked it. It looked fantastic!

It was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside just like a pizza crust should be!

I am so thankful that my husband can once again enjoy pizza night! I've included the recipe and the process.
If you do try out this recipe, please let me know how it works out for you. Leave me a comment here on my blog or send me an email!

Recipe:

120 grams Tapioca Flour

119 grams Brown Rice Flour

48 grams Potato Starch (not flour)

2 tsp xanthum gum

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

3 egg whites

3/4 cup warm water

1 packet of yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar

Use a scale to measure out the flours/starches. Mix all of the dry ingredients together.

In a small mixing bowl combine the warm water, honey, and oil. Add the yeast and allow time for the yeast to activate and become foamy. (about 5 minutes)

In the meantime, beat the egg whites in your mixer for about 1-2 minutes until peaks form. Once the yeast mixture is ready, add the wet and dry ingredients to the egg whites along with the apple cider vinegar and mix with the beater attachment for about 4 minutes scraping down the sides as you see fit.

Preheat oven to 170 degrees and then turn it off.

Divide the dough in half and spread the dough evenly on two pizza pans. (each pizza will be about 10-12 inches in diameter)

 Wet your hands with water so that the dough does not stick to your hands. Once both pizza doughs are spread out to about 1/2 inch thickness place both pans in the warmed oven for about 30 minutes.

Remove both pans from oven and make holes over the entire crust with a fork.

Put the crusts back in the oven, and then turn the oven on to 350 degrees and bake the two crusts at the same time. Keep in the oven for 16-17 minutes. About half way through baking crusts switch the crusts to the opposite racks. (so each crust has equal amounts of time on the bottom rack as the top rack)

Once the crusts are done, you can top them with your choice of toppings.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees

Bake for 3 minutes and 30 seconds then push the pizza off the pan and directly onto the oven rack and bake for about 3 more minutes.

If you have any questions about the instructions please let me know and I'll be happy to answer them!

More Fun with Friends

We met our dear friends, the McDaniel's(from our living on campus days) at Blue Jay Park last week. I am so thankful for this sweet family! Shannon will always be very special to me and I love her sweet children too! We spent many hours outside together watching our children, talking, and encouraging each other. She has always been a great encouragement to me and I always wish that I had more time to spend with her. She is a busy homeschooling mom, just like me, and she doesn't live a few houses down from me anymore. So, we have to carefully plan out time to get together.

These two have been BFFXL's since they were 2 years old!!
(Best Friends Forever Extra Large)

It was a chilly day at the park - but it was a great day of reconnecting with special friends. We'll have to do it again very soon!

A Play Date at the Farm

We have gotten to know a wonderful family not too far from us that run a very small family farm. They have 2 boys that are around the ages of Martin and Aaron and we love getting together with them especially when we can go to their farm and enjoy the farm life with them! They have several goats, a calf that was just born in December, a couple of dogs, and chickens. We finally got to meet their sweet little calf, Cinnamon, last week. Oh, how sweet she is!

She was a little timid at first, but she warmed up quickly and began to follow Rosalie around.

While Rosalie and I were getting acquainted with Cinnamon, the boys were setting up their bases for their war game. 

For awhile, Rosalie had no idea that Cinnamon was following her around ... she was surprised when she turned around and saw the calf right behind her!

We are so thankful to have these wonderful friends and are so thankful we get to roam among their chickens, goats, and calf while we are there. It's so much fun!

(I wish I had a picture to share of the boys ... but they scattered almost immediately upon arriving and stayed busy until we left)

Family Night by the Fire

It took awhile to get a good fire going - most of our wood was damp. We finally got a good fire going, though and we had a great night!

Some of our neighbors joined in on the fun too!

We roasted hot dogs - and had a our meal outside. It was so much fun! I usually make hot dog buns, but the decision to roast hot dogs was too last minute of a decision for me to make them ... and then I forgot to put them on the list. But it just so happened that I had made fresh flour tortillas that day - so we improvised and used those instead! And they LOVED it that way. They liked it much better than using hot dog buns! We had so much fun eating outside and enjoying the spring-like weather! The children had already spent the entire day playing outside - so this was a great way to end the day!

Cloth Diapers for the Baby Dolls

I promised a while ago and just didn't have the time to do it, but I finally did it! I made cloth diapers for Rosalie's baby dolls. I made about 9 of them. It only took about an hour. They were super easy to throw together and I had lots of scrap materials and supplies left over from my real cloth diaper making days.

Now she can get plenty of practice changing diapers!