A Chair to Knead Bread

It was Layne's day to make challah.

But the whole wheat is a bit hard on the processors motor sometimes, so we have to use the arm muscles.

But when the counter is too high, or you are just a tad too short, you can't get the power you need to knead that dough.

Thus, call in the chair for support!

She needs a stool to blow out the candles on the mantlepiece, too!!

A Sweet End & a New Beginning

We had the privilege of having my eldest brother and his son spend a few days with us, along with our own dd Layne, and last night we were joined Momentarily (1 sleep) with Rauchelle.  But it was a sweet way to spend part of the last of 2010 with some of those that we love.

And tonight was Shabbat so we celebrated with a Special Meal.

A wonderful way to go into the New Year of 2011.

New Years Apple Challah

(Toveli's Request)

Blessings to all of you,

and all the best for you and your loved ones

in the New Year.

(DPP) Shabbat Shalom

For the Neighbours (DPP December Photo Project)

Challah
Shabbat Shalom!!

Crazy Day for a Party

We had it all planned out.

Saturday we would meet Rauchelle in Nanaimo and pick Layne up at the Duke Point ferry.  We'd go for lunch and spend some family time celebrating Layne's birthday which was actually the day before (Friday).  Then Chelle would return to O's where she lives, and we'd take Layne home with us for the weekend.

Then we made the Birthday call to Layner Friday morning and sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  She announced that what she had planned for the afternoon had fallen through so now she was free and could come over today (Friday, her actual birthday).  So with some quick phone calls we changed plans for the day. 

Instead of a fairly quiet day at home preparing for Shabbat (bake bread, vacuum house and clean bathrooms) we whipped into action, got the bread rising, baked a cheesecake, did the house work, made a bed up (on the floor) for Layne, packed changes of clothes for the little guys, ate quick lunch and hit the road by 1 pm to pick Layne up at Duke Point 22 hours ahead of our original schedule ;)  and proceeded to travel up to O's for the One-Day-Late American Thanksgiving Dinner intended for an American who had to cancel coming and which turned out to be a Birthday Dinner for Layne instead!!  With fresh challah that rose beautifully in spite of getting a few chills en route, and an Oreo Cheesecake Danaka baked before leaving home, and an awesome meal put on by Lisa and Rauchelle.  It was a huge Success.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAYNE!!

Lapbooks

I heard about making Lapbooks years ago from other homeschoolers, but we just never did them at all.   I guess I just didn't see what all the excitement was about, and the children and I were busy scrapbooking our life.

But I now have a new appreciation for Lapbooks, and I see a spark that has ignited an excitement in several of the children, particularly Maret who has been busy working on all things Horsey.

Inside this refolded folder she has several small reports on pedigrees, common horse names for the USA and the UK, the top 10 Race-horses, etc.

And the exciting thing is that she is self-motivated to do the research, do tidy printing, and work tirelessly on something that ends in a project she can hold and proudly share with others.




Gaelyn, needing more help from mom, has also accomplished a few Lapbooks.  Hers are actually more of a coming together of work she's already done.  I just put it into a Lapbook form so she can show it off in a more pleasing presentation.

Here's her book on Parts of a Flower, and includes some info on the need for sunshine and water and nutrients that she narrated to Mom. There's also a cross-word she did, and some flower pedals she drew for a little math practise, and several different types of flowers she coloured along with a diagram of a flower that she labeled the parts.
The rose below was partially covered over (on purpose) when I was printing it off so she had to try and draw in the other part of the rose as to what it would look like.

This was a flip-up book Gaelyn did to help her with the Days of the Week.  So sweet what she drew to help her remember the names of the days.  Hard to see for some of them, but let me explain.
Monday is a moon and stars.  Good connection between Monday and Moon-day.
Tuesday is a pointing finger.  As in "I am choosing some candies.  Choosing sounds like Tues....day!"
Wednesday has a picture of swirling wind.  Wed  ~~ wind.  Sounds close to me!!
Thursday gets a 3, because it starts with the same beginning sound, Th
Friday has challah, because we often celebrate the beginning of Sabbath with the traditional braided egg-bread, challah.
Saturday is a day of rest, right, and we sit on chairs.  Sat.....on a chair.
Sunday, no brainer.  You got it!  It's a Sun.

Gaelyn had (close to) tonnes of loose papers that she was doing copywork on from Draw Write NOW! books, and I lumped the farm and other animals all together in an accordion type thing.....



and now she can flip through her writing and see it like a book (that's actually taller than her when it's all pulled out).  She has some simple drawings she can look at, too.

I've unloaded of most of our scrapbooking paraphernalia, which was hard for me but I did it, and so now the Lapbooking is helping me feed the creative side of me.  And its giving a real boost to the children as they see their hard work being displayed, as if it is treasured.

These are humble beginnings, but I know the children will get more and more creative, and more skills to keep them tidy and well displayed.  Mitchell and I worked on the Months of the Year, and are now collecting information for one on Ancient Egypt.  Gaelyn will be doing one on the Provinces and Territories of Canada, and Toveli will hopefully do something about plants (the bug hasn't hit her yet).  Danaka is actually doing one on some Maths Formulas to help her remember them, and likely something on the Elizabethan period.

If you are interested in checking out Lapbooks, there's loads and loads of stuff online, some free and some not.

Go for it.  We are having a blast.

New Owners

This table and set of 4 chairs have found some very delighted new owners.  We found this down at the Sally Ann and it fits quite nicely in our kitchen nook.

The children are thrilled to have a place to sit up at, particularly to work on maps and math, I think even more than for eating at .  Its somewheres to lay their stuff out at and work at an appropriate level with a hard surface.  (You'll recall that the dc were using Rubbermaids for eating off of)

I know it will be a good place for sewing at as the girls and I anticipate sewing a quilt (joint effort) this winter.  But I know it will also be a place for us to.....break bread together. 

 Not enough seats yet, but with our 2 stools we can now sit 6 out of 9 of us.  Not a bad start.....and I'll keep an eye open on freecycle to get some other wooden chairs.

I enjoy these simple things in life, that add some comfort to our lives.  I like living with less, but somethings are simply nice to have for comfort and convenience and functionality.  I think the table and chairs fits in there.

PS....several of the children weren't wanting us to get table and chairs, because they love to have the space to play around in, and work on projects on the floor.  But now that we have the table, they all really like it.  After all, there's still the dining room that's mostly empty.  (I personally think that's a waste of space, to have both a kitchen and a dining eating area.....but that's just my opinion)

Challah

Yesterday we had 3 of our favourite women come to visit us.........Grandma S., Aunty Joanne (from Cape Breton), and big sister Layne.  As a special treat Gaelyn and Mommy made challah.  The previous day we had read about Saskatchewan and growing wheat, and we read the book "From Wheat to Bread" and thought it would be a treat to share bread with our visitors.  Aunty Joanne loved to share challah with us when we prepared it for Shabbat in Cape Breton. 

So what?  if it wasn't Shabbat yesteday!!!!

But then Rauchelle called to say she would be visiting with us for the weekend. 

And viola!!!  Today it IS Shabbat, .......
and we have challah on the brain.  And thoughts of a twisted challah Rauchelle has been wanting to try since we made it in February while she was away in Manitoba.  But now..... there is Today.  Today we do the surprise challah for Rauchelle.

What's the surprise? 

Chocolates tucked into it. 

I know!  I know!!  I'm always tooting the 'healthy eating' horn.  But, I live it up sometimes too. 

And I LOVE Chocolate!

So here Toveli and I snuck in Reese's Pieces and Peanut Butter Cups. 

And what did Rauchelle think of all of it????

She thinks its Delicious.

Food Connection

I was just telling a friend this week about Genetically Modified Foods and Suicides in India by the farmers, and whether there is a connection.  Then Dr Mercola wrote this post, so I'm sharing it.  Maybe others of you are unaware of what's happening with our food supply in North America.

I still recommend you watch Food, Inc.  and Our Daily Bread.  I know there are other good documentaries out there, but honestly I haven't watched all of them so I can't personally recommend them.  But these 2 I can.  Our Daily Bread is without narration, so you form your own ideas completely by what you see the farmers and processors doing with the food.

Another great documentary is The Cove, about the dolphin slaughter.  Our family was appalled about this.

Lazy Sunday

Mom was returning to her condo today so we did some clean-up and uncluttering to make her transition back-home-now-with-9-extra-people-in-her-space hopefully less traumatic!  She said she had a great month away, and sounds like they had a great time at a family get-together in Drumheller this past week.

White Rock has their Farmer's Market on Sundays basically just outside my mom's condo building, so Everette and I frequent there when it opens at 9am.  The breads look incredibly tempting, and I sampled a chocolate cake that is made without butter or oil but uses beets (yes, the veggie beets!!) and my!! was it ever moist and yummy, very chocolatey but not real sweet.  Mmmmm!   (Natasha, you should learn to make one!!)  There's lots of people selling stone fruits and Chilliwack corn but very little of it is organic.  We purchase our organic produce from an Abbotsford vendor and get huge lettuces for $1.50!!  I'm impressed.

And today we found The Cranberry Lady and sampled 2 of her cranberry dressings on slices of apple.....and bought both of them.  Had the cranberry-orange on todays salad and it was yum, too!

Of course, I took the children swimming as is the daily practice while here at Gramma's.  Anders has been swimming now without a life-jacket for a week.  He's a busy boy doing somersaults under water, and spinning 'like a space ship', and trying to swim without holding his nose, and talking under water and asking, "Mommy, did you hear me?"

Laars is completely confident now with his life-jacket where 3 weeks ago he didn't even want to venture in the water, and if he did he certainly didn't want to let go of his Protector.  Now he lays on his back being a Starfish, and tries his awkward attempt (in bulky life-jacket) at a front stroke, and wants to collect 'n spit out that chlorinated water at his siblings.  Great fun!!

Laars is always wanting to 'Be a Baby' after a bath or a swim so this Mama wraps him up in a towel and snuggles for awhile.

I hope he doesn't grow out of this too soon!!

It's a Happy Day

My Mom says one isn't mature until your 30 yrs old.  Well, today her baby is 45.  And I hope she thinks I'm mature by now!!

Neither of our big girls are here (Hi Layne & Rauchelle!!  Kisses) so I had the band of younger ones to help get food prepped today, and the house cleaned as we do our major cleaning in prep for Shabbat by sundown Friday.  Since we are eating according to daylight, we've been having our Shabbat meal early afternoons.

Danaka took charge of the challah today, and since my birthday shared the evening of Shabbat I decided it was a great time to try the chocolate bar inserted idea that Everette had found a couple months back.  So when Danaka was braiding the bread she snuck squares of Caramilk into the loaves.  And it turned out wonderful.  Not sure what French Toast will be like in the morning though! (that's what the dc usually make with left-over challah)  Oh, Chelle, eat your heart out!!!  (we'll add more choco when we make it with you home to share it!)

I decided against any 'cake' for my birthday this year since the challah with chocolate bar would be treat enough.  Well, then I decided to make a raw fruit pizza which was sweet & yummy & high calorie.  But is was RAW!!  At least it had that going for it.

The dc all pitched in to make it a success (most of us liked it).  The crust was almonds and coconut with dates.  Then a cream spread made with cashews, and all topped with fruit.

Here's some pics.

Tongue Hanging Out!!

 Kitchen Helpers

 Raw-Some!!!

 

Blessings and a Meal.

My new earrings (Thanks, Maret) and necklace (Thanks, Tov)

I am so incredibly blessed to be called "Mom" to these children (and Layne and Rauchelle).  Growing up I always wanted to be a Mom, but I never imagined having 9 children, and never imagined the true blessing it would be.  Everette and the children make my life full of love and excitement and learning.  I am truly blessed.  This IS a Happy Day!

Holy Experience

I found a blogger the other day, a fellow homeschooling mom of many named Ann Voskamp. Ann has a way with words, and a heart laid bare. Such beauty and honesty she portrays in her blogs.

I'd like you to check her blog out, and especially Of Brokenness, Memories, and Fresh Starts. This is poignant and pertinent to what is commonly referred to as Rosh Hashana, or The Feast of Trumpets. It starts tomorrow evening (as does Shabbat).


The Feast of Trumpets traditionally features apples dipped in honey, to signify the sweetness of the upcoming year. And the challah for Shabbat that is usually oblong, is braided circular like a crown, remembering God's Kingship. Well, in a Jewish Cook Book (baking) that I have Danaka and I found a challah with apple pieces. We aren't big on fruit in our baking but I think we'll give this one a try tomorrow. And Mommy-brain has to remember to make it like a wreath or crown. I'm excited.

Like I mentioned, its the Feast of Trumpets. Our shofar is heard occasionally around here, and the children love to blow their brains out over it!! I don't bother (well, occasionally I give it another try) because I've never gotten a good sound out of it, yet. Most of my children must get their musical talents from their father.

Be sure to read Ann's (without an 'e') blog as she'll give more details about The Feast of Trumpets.

Question for You: How do you feel when you hear a shofar being blown?

Taste and See

Have you heard: Taste and see that the Lord is good!

When we taste something, and find that it tastes really really good, then we want more and more of it. That's what we'll find with the Lord. If we've tasted religion, we won't like it. But if we've truly tasted of the goodness of God, we'll desire more and more of Him.

Lord, make me thirsty for You. And You'll be the Living Water and the pure Wine that I drink.
Lord, make me hungry for You. And you be that Bread of Life that feeds me. Mmmmmm!


Question for You: What does "Taste and See that the Lord is good" mean to you?

Art at our house

This lion Rauchelle painted on the top of her nighttable.

Aunt Jo gave this big piece of canvas to Rauchelle and she gave her talented first-try at graffiti, and this hangs on her bedroom wall.

Mitchell seems to have traded building boats to float at River Bourgeois for building awesome paper planes with real style.


Mitchell is now baking every Shabbat's challah on his own. It's one of the highlights of our week.



Question for You: What is the prevalent art at your house these days?