MommyCoddle

my favorite cracker

Emma and I made these crackers together Friday afternoon. The recipe is from a back issue of Everyday Food. They were crazy-good and so simple, Emma was pretty much running the show after the first batch. Although the girl's a little heavy-handed with the salt. They were so good that I actually called up my sister and crunched on them over the phone to her, "Hear how crunchy and good they are?!!?" Actually, she may have called me first, but that last part is true. I did eat them into the phone.

The recipe is simple: Take a package of egg roll wrappers, (not what the recipe called for exactly, but what we had on hand), lightly brush both sides with olive oil and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt and sesame seeds (or whatever floats your boat--fennel, rosemary??). Using another piece of parchment paper, cover the wrappers and press the seeds into them. (otherwise, they'll all slide off after they are done baking--lesson learned the hard way.) Cut them into whatever size you like. We used a pizza cutter and cut each square into four smaller squares. Bake them at 350 for about 6-8 minutes until they are golden brown.

Delicious. My next variation is to try them with cinnamon sugar. I think that would even be good with ice cream if you served the crackers warm. Oh stop. I can hardly look at these pictures. We've eaten the whole batch, and I'm already craving more.

In other news....

This is one of the perks of homeschooling and where we live--an impromptu trail ride early this morning for Emma. She had her half chaps, riding boots and helmet on in a flash and was waiting at the door.  School work shoved aside for some fresh air and exercise on horseback.

Another perk? fresh eggs. So fresh, the little feather was still sitting there inside the box.

do something creative

 
Lori and I often email back and forth about homeschooling our children. (Well actually, I email with all my homeschooling woes and she emails back encouragement and ideas.) A few weeks ago in one of my emails she told me that there are a few tasks her boys are required to do each day, on their own. She and I have similar learners--independent learners. Generally, if wasn't Emma's idea, she's not too keen on working on it. It can make for quite a few battles when I try to do some concentrated work with her.

But this is all a series of learning, trying new things, adjusting, evaluating and getting to know my children better. I think I change my approach to homeschooling every other week, but so far, this simple little idea, at the suggestion of Lori, is working.

On a piece of cardstock, which I "laminated" (with packing tape), Emma has a series of tasks she must do every day. She slides the list into her notebook, traces the right side edge, dates the page, and puts a sticker beside every task as she completes it. It allows her to do things on her own time, at her own pace and I believe she feels like she is controlling some of her learning. My help is required for many of the tasks, but it still has an air of independence to it.

Of course, the two favorite things on her list are "play outside" and "do something creative". She wakes up ready to tackle both of these before breakfast has made its way into her stomach. This morning, we shoved bagels and cream cheese aside to break out the ironing board, wool felt and floss. `A la The Creative Family at Home, she's stitching up a wool felt cube for Elizabeth's birthday next week. It's been a great little project for her to work on and chill out in a comfy chair on this gray and damp afternoon. And the whole process of creativity brings a sense of peace and calm to our home. Even Mary has a square that she's filling with giant pink stitches.

I'm thankful for this little taste of quiet, busy hands on a Friday morning.

Happy Weekend, everyone. Wishing you lots of greening grass, warm sun and peace.

my life::up close:: 2/30

Irish Syndrome

When we were growing up my sister had an Appaloosa mare named "Irish"--(whose birthday falls on this day.) But the one thing I remember about her, besides the time she decided to roll in the stream while my sister was in the saddle--was the way she behaved every time you began to tack her up for a ride. Her head would droop, her eye lids would get heavy, she'd sigh big heavy sighs.

And this morning, as the girls and I sat at the kitchen table to do a few simple school lessons, I thought of Irish as I watched Emma. She got all droopy, put her head down on the table, flipped her pencil around carelessly. Perhaps, once again, I should have backtracked and made her a piece of peanut butter toast or some fruit and cheese, but I tried to see it through to the end. And the end came quickly.

I know that homeschooling is definitely the right decision for our family, right now. But man oh man, can it get frustrating some times. I waffle between unschooling, homeschooling, classical....I fall somewhere in the middle of all of those philosophies, if that is possible. I was an elementary school teacher before I stayed home with my children, so I feel like I have some experience to draw from, and I see growth and learning happening every day (sometimes more with Mary than with Emma), so I know things are working. But some days, when she gets what I'm now referring to as "Irish-syndrome", I start to question everything. Is it the fact that I should have given her a snack? Did she not get enough sleep last night? Am I boring her? Is it simply the fact that I'm her mother?

But the beauty of schooling her at home is that I can say, "alright, that's enough for now. We'll try again later. Here's a sandwich and some grapes. Call me when you're feeling better."  And I remind myself that last week, just last week, she told me how much she loved school and loved what we were doing. And I remind myself that every homeschooling mother has these moments. And I take a breath. And I start again.

**this last picture is for my husband. Mary spelled Case IH for you--all by herself.**

to be or not to be (independent)

These little guys are headed to the kiln today for their first firing. The downside of being part of this pottery workshop is that my kiln-firing schedule is at the mercy of others. I have no real say over when my things get fired, especially when the things I'm firing are so tiny and not worthy of their own firing in a big kiln. One of these days, I'm going to get myself a tiny little kiln and start working from home. One of these days...for now, I'm just happy to have clay in my hands again.

Over the weekend, Ms.CampCreek and I were discussing my experiences with Emma and her observational drawing lesson. If there is one word to describe Emma it is independent. (well, actually I might describe her as determined first, but independent is a close second). Lori and I were talking about how we strive for our children to be independent, to be able to do things on their own. But in the next breath, we're requiring them to do things "our way". It's that fine line--figure this out on your own, see if you can do that by yourself....no, you need to do this MY way!

I think I felt that imbalance last week, when I myself was feeling a bit frazzled. I've noticed that when Emma senses my stress, she gets into independent mode--make my own breakfast, clean my rubber boots in the bathroom sink, get out the paints by myself, etc. And in return, I become more frazzled because sometimes her independent outbursts leave a wake of confusion and mess. I heard myself saying over and over last week, "would you please just ask for my help?? That is what I'm here for!" Yet at other times, I'm the one pushing her to do things on her own--sometimes even those same things I just told her to do only with my help. "Emma, you can pour your cereal by yourself."

Does that make any sense?

Her independent spirit is bittersweet when it comes to home schooling. In one sense, she's completely driven. She'll figure things out on her own. Start things on her own. And work until she finds a solution. On the other hand, if I want to sit down and actually instruct her (heaven forbid!), she interrupts with a hand on my arm and a, "But mommy, what if we tried to do it this way?"

Parenting. It's all about give and take. Adjusting. Finding balance. Seeing each child for who they are. Finding their gifts and talents and encouraging them. It's also about guiding and instructing and disciplining. Now if I could just figure out how to do all those things, and do them well.

******And I almost forgot! Check out the wonderful treats we received from our miniswap partners:

here,

here ,

here,

and here. We were so spoiled!! Even if you didn't take part in the swap, there's lots of inspiration to be found in the flickr group.

my friend friday

Ahhh, it's Friday. It's been one of those weeks that I'm ready to have over with.
One of those weeks where the smallness of our living space seems to be closing in on me. One of those weeks where your children play with everything but toys--plastic containers, your spices, toothbrushes, hand lotion and yarn.
One of those weeks where your children decide to climb into the overflowing closet and pull everything out of a tub of newborn baby clothes, looking for dresses for their dolls.
One of those weeks where while you're on your hands and knees cleaning up spilled orange juice that a 10 month old pulled down off the table onto herself and the floor, the cat jumps up onto the counter and knocks the whole tub of cat food on to the floor behind you.


So I've been a little distracted, dazed and frazzled. But it's Friday. And despite it all, I've managed to find little moments of peace and retreat.

Last night we had our first-ever paid babysitter. My cousin, who is worshiped by my children, came to watch the girls for a few hours. Unfortunately, Dan and I weren't using that babysitting time to go somewhere together--me a home schooling get together on lapbooking, Dan and my grandmother at a class at church. The lapbooking get together was like one big origami session (not that that's a bad thing)--and gave me lots of great ideas on how to bring some of our learning into more concrete, visual, finished products. (especially when a state review is looming in my future.)

Speaking of school, one of the bloggable bits that I never found time to write about this week was that Emma and I worked on our first Camp Creek art lesson--observational drawing. Emma was a bit of a stubborn student--didn't want to draw what I chose, wanted to erase, didn't want to include much detail. She's not one who likes to be given a lot of direct instruction. I'm always struggling to find the balance between getting things done with her that I feel we need to do, and letting her guide our learning. In the end, after I was up from the table and working on supper, she sat back down and did her own observational drawing of a little corner of our living room. I should know by now that almost everything is done on her time.


Well, I'm looking forward to a slow weekend with hints of a warm up. Today it's a snow/ice storm that lost a lot of steam over night. But we've still hunkered down for the day, lots of logs in the wood burner, knitting, getting out some clay, and soup for lunch.

Happy Weekend, everyone. More upbeat next week, I promise.

breakfast, bumper stickers and baby LIVE

It seems odd, but one of the biggest challenges I've had with home schooling Emma this year has been keeping her well-fed and full of energy. She is a lot like Dan I think--high metabolism, low blood sugar tendencies and when she's the least bit hungry she has no energy and gets very grumpy. It seems like I'm having to constantly give her snacks to keep her focused and "with me" so we can sit down and do a little concentrated school work together. I often find myself wondering how she'd ever cope in school--going all morning without a snack before lunch.

So I've been starting with breakfast--trying to wean them off cold cereal and juice and on to things with a little more substance--eggs, granola and yogurt, oatmeal. I've been setting up for breakfast each night before bed, hoping it will keep me on track with making them a hearty breakfast, instead of falling back on the easy box of cereal. Yesterday's eggs seemed to go over well and help us get a little farther into the morning before a meltdown indicating snack. And today's oatmeal was a moderate hit--thanks to some cream and raisins on top.

I'd love to hear some of the things that you feed your children for breakfast? Or do you have a great snack that you give them mid-morning for a boost of energy? Is there something I should be cooking up? I'm hoping Emma will grow out of this "eat every 90 minutes" kind of lifestyle, but maybe not.

Speaking of food--a little giveaway. I recently got some mail from American Farmland Trust, which included a few bumper stickers. I kept one for myself, but I'd love to give one away. They say, "No Farms. No Food." If you'd like it and use it, leave me a note in the comments and I'll get in touch. If more than one of you want it, then I'll just draw a name.

And for your viewing pleasure--she kept squawking at me while I was trying to write this post--I think she just wanted to be on camera. please ignore my mommy voice. yuck.

Hello Elizabeth from molly balint on Vimeo.

dealing with {her} obsession

What does this look like to you? An owl, right? Or maybe even a cat or dog...But not if you're five and obsessed with horses. If that's the case all you see when you look at this is a horse. Horse. Horse. Horse. And good, bad (or ugly) you're going to give it nostrils and a pair of reins.

Emma has fantastic qualities that I love about her. She's strong. Confident. Determined. Focused. These are amazing qualities for a little girl to have. But these same qualities are also hard at work when it comes to her obsession with horses.

And I'm struggling with it.

I have a hard time getting her to expand her curiosities, her artwork, her reading selections, her discussions in the car, her answer to "what should we do today?" ; and to show interest in other things.

Right now, I'm torn on how to handle the situation.  And since I'm homeschooling, this issue comes up a lot for me. Do I just jump in with both feet and say, "okay, we LOOOVE horses!" We're counting and adding horses in math, horse stories for reading, horse drawings for art, horse body parts for science, horse breeds for social studies!!

Do I delicately try to move her in another direction?

Or do I enforce some 'no horses' rules?

Many people would say--This will pass. All girls are obsessed with horses. But with Emma, I'm not so sure. When she latches on to something, she latches on tight until her knuckles are white.

For now, I'm starting with a small step. Tomorrow we're getting out our sketch pads and colored pencils and answering this question: "what are you curious about?" And I intend on sitting right beside her and filling up my sketch pad with my own drawings and words, too.  (Frankly, there are too many things I'd like to learn about) but maybe I can get her thinking and breathe a little fresh air into that horse brain of hers. After that....well, I'm not really sure. But I'll be sure to sneak you a little peak at her notebook when we're done....

*****just for you know*****I've changed my words a little bit in this post this morning. I wrote it late last night-- tired, exhausted--you all know how that is. So this morning I'm reading it and feeling less concerned or something....or maybe just hearing the advice rolling in makes me realize that I should just embrace it, encourage it and take it seriously. Something tells me that if I don't give her "passion", (thanks Mindy) its due attention, I'll be breaking a little heart.  Other curiosities will come along, too.*****