Friday wrap-up

Here it is Friday and I've finally gotten around to blogging.  It has been a pretty usual week around here, except that we have had so much RAIN. (We really needed rain, but not so much at once.)  School has gone pretty well.  My son and daughter are doing so good at multiplication and spelling this week that I have been less concerned about getting everything else finished.  Those are the focus this school year. 

We have started our study of Brazil and we are all enjoying studying all the different animals, fruits and spices of the rain forest.  The kids are really getting into the geography game, also.  This weekend I hope to do some fall baking and talk more about spices.

We made some Kool-aid Playdough.  I've had the recipe for a few months and finally decided to get it out and make some.  It was so easy.  It only took around 10 minutes, total!  It turned out really nice and the kids played for 2 hours after we made it, so it was definitely worth it!

Kool-aid Playdough

1/4 cup salt

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp cream of tartar

1 envelope Kool-aid

1 cup water

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1.  Mix flour, salt, tartar, Kool-aid and water in medium saucepan.  Stir in oil.

2.  Mix over medium heat 3-5 minutes until mixture forms a ball in center of pan.

3.  Remove from pan.  It will be hot, knead until soft.

4.  Store in a Ziploc bag or airtight container.

It is suppose to smell like the flavor, ours must have been old.  There was hardly any smell.  We also added some food coloring to ours, before kneading.

We may make some more this weekend, but first I need to buy some cream of tartar.  We used it all in the last batch.  Quick and easy.   Hope you and your little ones enjoy!

This week started with a holiday and with me not feeling well.  We did manage to accomplish some school and start some activities.  Overall, it was a good week.

On Tuesday evening, Matt took Samuel to his 1st Cub Scout meeting.  Samuel was so excited about this!
He did not know anything about it, until Matt came home from work.  We could not have stood to hear about it all day!  Needless to say, he came home from the meeting overjoyed.  He called his grandparents and my brother who went all through Scouts, to become an Eagle Scout.  This will be good for Samuel.

Wednesday morning, we had  school and spelling was my highlight of the day!  I was very pleased with this lesson for both Samuel and Sarah Anne.  We recently began using All About Spelling and we are now starting to get to the "meat" of it. 

On Wednesday night, Samuel and Sarah Anne had the 1st meeting of Awanas for the year.  They came home psyched for the year! 

Thursday, the girls started a homeschool Bible study group that will meet twice a week.  It is a small group, but they seemed to like it. 

We are finishing up our study of Mexico this week.  We had our Fiesta tonight!  We had taco salad and chips earlier in the week, but on Thursday, we had Southwest  Rice Bake and Chicken Enchiladas.  We also had Sarita's.  Which is just Kool-aid and Sprite!  It was very good though.  (Our flavor was tropical punch.)

Friday was a lighter day and we finished our Mexico study.  We made Apple Enchiladas for desert.  These were very easy.  You just need apple pie filling, tortillas, 1/3 cup butter, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup white sugar, and cinnamon.
Lay a tortilla out and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Place apple pie filling on top.  Roll this up and place seam side down in a casserole dish.  Repeat until dish is full.  Melt butter and mix with sugars.  Heat in microwave and stir.  Pour over enchiladas.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Serve with ice cream. These were good, but I prefer old-fashioned apple pie. 
Anyway, here are some pictures....

Our Mexican Fiesta!

Apple Enchiladas

Still Tweaking.....

It's Wednesday!  We have 3 days under our belts this week.  Samuel is doing very well with workboxes and Emily seems to be really enjoying her curriculum.  She is on the couch reading C.S. Lewis as I type.

This morning we did our Backyard Habitat worksheet and Samuel was a natural.  He found a brown moth hanging upside down on a leaf under a bush.  It was so camouflaged!  He was very excited about his discovery.  He was also very cute with his magnifying glass!

I have been going through recipes and sorting them by category.  I am also going to put the ones we use more frequently in a special binder.  I had a file box full of them from when we moved last and it looks like an overwhelming project.  I figure if I just do a few minutes a day ( maybe  when we are watching TV or something) then I will eventually get it finished.

Here is one that we like (even the kids).  It is quick and easy.

Frito Casserole

1 lb ground beef
1 can chili (16 oz)
1 can tomato sauce (15 oz)
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 cup shredded cheese
3 1/2 c Frito chips
1 1/4 c sour cream
Brown ground beef and drain. Stir in chili, tomato sauce, taco seasoning and 1/4 c cheese.
Sprinkle Frito chips in bottom of 8x8 baking dish.  Cover with chili mixture.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Spread sour cream on top.  Sprinkle remaining Frito chips and cheese on sour cream and bake 5 minutes more.

Once I get a handle on my big recipe box,  I'll post some more quick and easy recipes.  I am hoping that I can get these together for my house to be able to get dinner on the table without spending so much time in the kitchen.   I also think this will help to plan our menus ahead and that will save not only time, but money too.  If I know ahead what I am planning to make then I can shop for those items and not have to run out at the last moment for them.
I can also look for coupons for these items ahead of time.

This is the time of year that a lot of us go into organization overdrive.  I am still tweaking my homeschool plans and working on menu plans and recipes and have other projects in mind for the next few weeks.  All a part of a continuing homemaking journey.