Our Big Ride ~ Ashland Watershed and a Stop at the GreenLeaf

So I have been very busy!  There has been little down time at all.  My sweater (my last real post, lol) is hardly getting worked on.  Luckily during Daisy's flute lessons I get some widdle time!

Before I ride... do I look skeptical?

But, last weekend, Tony and I took an amazing bike ride! I am hoping to do (at least) the 60 mile bike ride for Ride the Rogue this year (Gulp, I just noticed when I was setting up the link there is no 60!  It is either 70 or the century!), so Tony said we needed to start training.  He has other crazy plans like riding up the side of a mountain, which I will gladly support him in.  I don't think I am that crazy... maybe?  Hmmm, I wonder what the t-shirt looks like? I am going to check out the photos from past rides and see if people look like they are having pain or giving birth.  I guess I am crazy.

Anywho...

So here we are half way to the destination.  In other words about a 1/4 of the ride in.  We had to stop because my phone kept going off and had to make sure everything was ok!  It was.

 We made it to Ashland!  At this point it is about maybe 18 or so miles in.

One must always get a reward half way through a bike ride like this one.  And this was a perfect second breakfast!  Oh my goodness!  Gluten-free Eggs Benedict was on special at Greenleaf.  It was brilliant.  The egg yolk was so orange and perfct.  It was such a work of art.  I can't even begin to explain how gorgeous those eggs were.  I still dream about those eggs... but I digress...  If you are ever in Ashland, you should check them out.  They also have brilliant directions on how to wash your hands in the loo. 

So, Tony was afraid we wouldn't get as far as he was hoping.  So he said we needed to go a little bit further.  His idea of a little bit further was up the side of a mountain.  He tricked me!  Either that or he was trying to kill me.  Of course, if he was trying to kill me, he probably wouldn't have fed me first.  So there we are up there, me kissing his sweet face, after we made it to the watershed reservoir!

And here I am flying down the mountain.  It was scary!  I was going so fast.  I had images of falling off, being hurt and not able to take care of my gaggle of beautiful children.  So, brakes on the whole way down!

We made it home, sweaty, a couple hours later.  It was amazing!  The only problem?  Tony's goal was 40 miles.  We did 39.35 miles.  Foiled!  Of course he went and rode 17 more the next day!

So today, we took a short ride, we have Cub Scout things we need to get ready for.  So only 14.11 miles today.  I just love these Saturdays when the weather is so lovely.  It really is a wonderful time for Tony and I to get some time together doing something we love.  It truly is such a blessing. 

Busy busy busy

You know the weather is good when I don't post.

{yarn along} April 24, 2012

It has been awhile since I shared on a yarn along and so you have not seen my progress on my reward.  I don't know why I hear Jafar in my head, "Your reward... your eternal reward."  It really isn't a bad thing!  Maybe because I am feeling a tad guilty making something for myself out of this amazing yarn... not much, just a little.  And yes, you heard me giggle.

I was worried when I started this project I would get overwhelmed and start hating it.  Luckily not so far.  The Tea Leaves is so well written that is makes it a joy to knit up, even this big!  I haven't gotten sick of it yet!

I am taking it a bit slow, so I imagine I will have it done in the middle of summer when it will be too hot to wear it.

Oh and I am looking forward to Tin Can Knits releasing their new book, Handmade in the UK.  Have you seen it?  It looks AMAZING!  My daughter Lily (who turns 16 today) are really looking forward to it!

Oh and reading!  I am finally reading The Book Thief.  I really liked Call the Midwife, but it got really dark, so I am taking a break.  Of course this is a novel about WWII narrated by Death, so maybe trying to escape something dark by reading this is not such a good idea...  Hmmm, I might need to rethink my logic.

Spring has Sprung

Well, I really didn't mean to disappear.  It was only about 10 days, although just posting a video really doesn't count much does it?

So I have been very busy, as you might imagine.  My husband is teaching me to play the guitar.  I am not very good, but I am enjoying it.

I have been making lesson plans and talking with teens about school.  This always seems to happen at the end of the eight grade.  Time to reevaluate and talk about why we homeschool.  I was better prepared this time than when Rose said she wanted to "try school."  I really ought to write a post about this sometime...

Trying to use cloth diapers again, since Sweet Pea is about ready to be potty trained it might be more feasible...

I decided after the tragic events in Boston last week, that I would do 52.4 miles, in honor of those that were injured and lost their lives at the Boston Marathon.  Since biking is a bit different than running, I decided I would double the length of a marathon so as to make it a proper honor.

The weather is changing here and the sunshine feels like gold.  We have been plugging through our lessons so that we might get more time outdoors.  You never know when the rain might come back, after all, it is still only April.

Besides painting our apple tree, we have been trying to keep Sweet Pea from picking every flower in the yard.

"Sweet Pea, don't pick that flower."

Innocent look.

"No pick the flower?"

"Nope.  Don't pick the flowers."

Then she turns on me!

We have been busy with altar server training, school, music lessons, teething, reading amazing books, and just loving our life.  When it is 70 degrees outside, even a bad day can feel like a blessing.

I have also been doing a lot of thinking.  Which can be good and can be bad.  Hopefully these times of reflection sitting in the sun are leading me in the direction God wants for me and for us.  A little more structure, a little more time to explore, and a lot more joy!

Hoping your spring is proving to be fruitful and joy-filled as well.

A Valedictorian Speaks Out on Education

Sweet Pea's Granny Hat

I finally (this was a Christmas present, lol) got pictures of Sweet Pea in her granny hat.

Kitty!!!

This is really such a cute hat and so fast to whip up.  You can find my notes, etc here: Sweet Pea's Granny Hat.

The High School Experience

I recently got involved with a conversation on Facebook about homeschooling high school and whether or not they need a diploma.  I always get "involved" in these things.  Sigh.

Anyway, one true comment that was made and I thought I ought to share with you is that if your child has plans to join the military a GED will NOT be enough.  I do know this for a fact.  Your child will have to have some college credit if they get a GED and plan on a military career.

I am not one to recommend a military career.  We have been there.  My advice, other than choose Air Force, is always, "Be an officer."  If you are going to be officer you need college anyway.  So there you have it. 

I mentioned, what seems like a million years ago, my three greatest concerns when I was starting this path of homeschooling my teens through their high school years.  They were:

1. Would they learn enough without totally destroying their love of learning?
2. Could they get into college without a diploma?  and...
3. Would they miss out on the high school "experience?"

I almost feel like it is silly to even write about the high school "experience."  But back of so many years ago, when I first started homeschooling I always assumed I would stop homeschooling at high school and send my kids off.  As the time grew closer I became more and more sure that was not such a good idea.


I am not saying that all people should homeschool.  Some should not.  And if you have a strong family life at home and you are an involved parent the high school experience can be better.  But, the truth is some of the most dangerous places in the USA are our schools.

I am not talking about school shootings and such.  I mean, yes, that is always a concern that we as a nation and world must work to stop, but it is not very likely to happen to your child.  All high schools are filled with drugs, sex, and bullies.  Things that happen in high school often scar us for life.  I was lucky to be able to go to a small private high school.  I was saved from a lot of the things that I started seeing in middle school.  My daughter was even exposed to sexual conversations as early as 4th grade!

Not only are these things a reality but watch the film Waiting for "Superman" .  The school system as we know it is not all it is cracked up to be.  Anyone who tries to change it is often laughed off or gotten rid of.  Most kids in schools today are put onto paths.  Often depending on where they live.  If you live in a poor area or near a poor area your child will be less likely to do well in school.  I firmly believe that whether you are rich or poor really has no effect on your smarts, shall we say.  It has everything to do with resources and the school your child goes to.

Those school boundary lines could be the very difference between your child going to college or not.  Living on the "wrong" side a street that is a boundary line for schools could be the difference between your child achieving their dreams or not.

So what it comes down to is the simple realization that no prom could ever compare to your child living the life they are destined to.  Outside of a school your child can pursue interests and feed passions that can lead to amazing things.  Free from peer-pressure they can realize who they are at a younger age without worry about being influenced by others.

High school is 4 years of a lifetime, but they can be the most important years of your child's life.  Those years between 14 and 18, so much is going on in the formation of character and dreams.  How wonderful would it be to grow those years mostly free from the very things that torment most teenagers every day?

We cannot protect our children from everything, that does them no favors.  Homeschooling the high school years, however, does help them find who they are nearly free from the influence and pressure of others.

{P,H,F,R} April 4, 2013

Let's get down to it!

{Pretty}

Spring!  This was taken by the amazing Lily on our walk around Jacksonville on Easter.

{Happy}

Rose's first day of college classes... 

 

And proof she is a homeschooler... her reaction to the backpack.  You can spot them a mile away...

{Funny}

An Instagram moment I entitled: "It must be Saturday morning."  

In other words, "DAD IS HOME TODAY!"

{Real}

Tiger's first real haircut.  Every picture was blurry and had me with my lips pursed.

Hard work, huh, Amy?

Oh that one focused on the sink spout!  Don't look at the broken handle.  

You did not see the broken handle.

That one was I think the only one that was not completely blurry.  That kiddo moves too much!

 For more, visit: 

A Paleo Easter

Oh yea!  No almost about this one!  We did it!  So without further ado, our...

Easter Menu

Hmmm, a little black.  Forgot to cover it sooner... well we did go for a hike.  My bad! But beyond delicious!

 
Dinner:
Orange-glazed Ham

Mashed Sweet Potatoes (don't forget to do this in the food processor, makes them so creamy!)

Green beans with bacon

Deviled Eggs (made with homemade mayonnaise)

Desserts:

Egg-shaped Fudge Babies

Ok, the shaping thing didn't really work all that great.  They don't look like eggs, but the kids thought they looked like eggs and we won't say what I was worrying that they looked like.  They were tasty.  I will save the shaping to hearts for Valentine's Day.

Samoas 

 Now these we added more coconut oil to because the dough was way too dry (we have noticed this with these recipes.  We think it might have something to do with where she lives compared to where we live).  We are hoping to play with this recipe a bit more to come up with our own that works best for us.  We had to freeze them after cooking them to get them to stiffen up a bit, but boy they were worth the work!  Very tasty.

Peppermint Patties
These were also very good, but, for sure, make them small.  I accidentally made some big ones (I was rushing) and they were way too much.  Like, "I think I am going to be sick but I can't stop myself" kind of sick.

Brownies
A staple around here without a doubt!

And...

A Gluten-Free Strawberry Trifle!

Nope you don't get a link for that one, but how about a recipe?  All I could think about was the fact that I wanted to have that wonderful trifle over at Catholic Cuisine we have every year on Easter.  Yet, with Sweet Pea's dairy issues I knew we couldn't.  And don't forget the gluten intolerance that seems to run around this house too.

So I searched the net, but nothing looked very good (well to me, that is, I was being picky).  I found, on Pinterest, a link on how to make whip cream from canned coconut milk.  With that and a gluten free cake mix from Pamela's I knew I had it!

1 package Pamela's Vanilla Cake Mix
3-4 pounds strawberries (you can do less, but we went for it)
1/2 to 1 cup almond or coconut milk
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup evaporated cane juice  (you could use agave or another sweetener I am sure to your taste)
2 cans Native Forest unsweetened FULL FAT coconut milk

Bake the cake according to directions.  Do this the night before and let it cool completely.  I had to hide mine on top of the fridge.  In the morning cut up into 1 inch cubes.  Poor the almond or coconut milk over the cubed cake till it is moist but not soaked.  Cut the strawberries and sprinkle with coconut and sweetener, mix.  Make the coconut whipped cream.  Follow these directions.  They work and it is AMAZING.  I didn't have enough whipped cream for the top because one of my cans got shook up, which was a huge disappointment.  So we only had one layer of the coconut whipped cream instead of two.  I ended up drizzling the other can a little over everyone's servings instead.

On the bottom of your trifle or glass bowl, put half the cake.  Put half the strawberry mixture on top of that, then half of the 2 cans worth of whipped coconut cream.  Repeat.  On top place a decorative strawberry and some toasted coconut.

The sad part was the little ones were so cranky they all ended up in bed before the trifle.  And by the next day... it was.... well... gone.  So I will have to make it again soon or I will be the worst mom ever.  I don't even want to tell you the face Rogue gave me when he found out.  I deserved it... well, hey, we all did, because I know I didn't eat it all by myself!

Now, don't think they were deprived.  They had plenty of the other stuff.  And I am so glad to say that the house is now almost devoid of all Easter sweets.  Ugh, it is so tempting to have those things in the house!!

Hope your Easter Sunday was delicious!

Easter 2013

It was an exhausting week.  I won't lie to you.  I wasn't sure I would make it to Easter day.  But we did.  We all survived and then life changed forever.

Sounds dramatic doesn't it? 

Rogue was blessed enough to get to serve for both Holy Thursday and Good Friday at our parish.  We won't go into the fact that he almost dropped the cross on Holy Thursday....  Ok, I better explain.  Poor guy.  They had a lot of servers that night and all he did was bring the cross in, sit there for an hour and half and then take the cross out.  He said when he finally got to do something, i.e. leave, he was so stiff from sitting there and the cross didn't want to come out of the stand.  He pulled and it finally came free but started to fall forward.

There I was in the third pew back, little Buttercup nestled next to me, and I watched his eyes swallow up his whole face.  I swear his Guardian Angel swooped in there and lifted it back up.  It was almost to a ninety degree angle!

That is kind of life, isn't it?  Sometimes we almost drop that cross.

The big girls and I decided we would go to the vigil on Saturday night.  Sweet Pea had a bit of a runny nose and since Rose was recovering from a cold we had a feeling Sweet Pea was going to have to stay home. I warned the girls, "It is a long mass.  A loooong mass.  Like over two hours."

How about three and a half.

Eeek.  32 people entered the church!  We don't usually go to this parish so we had no idea.  It was so wonderful to see 32 people enter the church but it made for a very long mass.  At least we kind of knew one person.  Well, one person was related to some people we knew.  It made it more fun that way, having someone to root for.

Tony, being a total hero, took Rogue, Buttercup, AND Bear to Easter mass.  He came home looking just like this:

But he got hero status.

Now, every year, we try and plan how to stop the Easter Bunny from stealing our eggs.  It is a very serious business around here.  Rogue and Tony set a trap this year.

But that Easter Bunny still got us.  And then to top it all off he actually mocked us.

It was rather humiliating.  Rogue, Buttercup, and Bear came home to hear many tears and gnashing of teeth erupting from the kitchen.

Easter Bunny Poo ~ Gross!

We had been foiled again.

So we had to go out into the wet grass in our nice Easter clothes and try and find all the eggs that bunny scattered about carelessly.  I forgot to count how many again and couldn't be sure if there was 26 or 29.  I am hoping it was 26.

Tiger's first real hunt

I was inspired by Jessica to make our Easter basket filled with books this year.  Everyone got two books, even the big girls.  They had to guess which ones were theirs and they did a pretty good job of it.

Oh and first Cream Egg ~ Life is good....

It occurred to me rather late in the day ("It's two o'clock already?!?!?!") that I had not started the ham.  So I rushed into the kitchen and got that bad boy a-bakin'.  Have I mentioned that I don't like cooking much anymore?  It has become the last thing I want to do.  So it always escapes me.  Luckily my big girls are such good cooks.  Lily really helped me out this year and together we pulled it off, desserts and all.

With so much time to kill we piled everyone into the car and drive to Jacksonville for a bit of a hike.  At this point Buttercup was now laying on the floor looking miserable and Sweet Pea was running around whacking people with the little windmills that I stuck in the Easter basket.  So Buttercup stayed home with Vava and we took grumpy Miss Sassy Pants with us.

We have decided that Sweet Pea is the most likely of us to become a companion to Doctor Who and survive.

It was beautiful, walking through the streets with only a few people out and about.  Rogue counted how many shops were open and we all peeked in windows and pointed out things for Lily to take pictures of.

Unless I grabbed it from her.  I think we might need two cameras soon.

After our hike we came home, finished up the rest of the meal and sat down at 7pm to eat.  Our littlest ones usually go to sleep at around 7pm.  So, in other words, I shoved food in my mouth while they screamed, then jumped up, bathed Tiger and Sweet Pea, and put them into bed. 

I only lasted a few hours after that.

All in all, a lovely Easter.  He is Risen!  Alleluia!