I Miss My Cat.

It has been one week since we have seen our cat, Malcolm.  It's just been so hard.  Malcolm is the best cat I have ever had.  An affectionate lap cat who also is an awesome hunter and has definitely kept the rodent and bird population down!  He loved to snuggle and was always near us.  He would come in and out, but usually stayed near the house and would spend many days sprawled across our bed.  After a week gone I'm starting to lose hope.  Still praying .... but losing hope.

Our boy

Finding a silly spot when he was a kitten.

Cuddling with our other cat, Pearl.

Handsome guy

Enjoying the life.

Eleven years!

Happy Anniversary to this guy ....

Thanks for the laughter through everything!

Who Am I?

I am a wife.

I am a mom.

 

 

I am a daughter.

 I am a friend.

I am a sister.

 

I am a homeschooling mother.

 

I am a nerd.

I am a bookworm.

 

I am a wannabe homesteader.

I am me. 

Menu

I meant to post this before and I'm already half way through it!  Whoops!

There are a couple things that were on the previous menu that I didn't get around to cooking.  We either went out or it was just me and the kids and I did something quick instead.  

End of September Menu:

Sushi
3 Mushroom-Rice Soup and Bread
Country Fried Steak with Sausage Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Biscuits, and Veggies
Spaghetti Carbonara
Meatball Stroganoff, Egg Noodles, and Veggies
Homemade Pesto Pizza
Schnitzel, Mashed Potatoes, and Veggies
Tacos
Crispy Herb Chicken, Corn Fritters, Boiled Potatoes, and Veggies
Tuna Casserole
Stirfry and Rice
Unbelievable Chicken (from AllRecipes), Rice, and Veggies
Pancakes and Eggs
Quesadillas and Beans and Rice

9 months already!

This week Fiona turned 9 months old.

Nine months .... already!

I can't believe that 3/4 quarters of her first year is over.

She is such a happy baby and she is a huge joy in our lives.

Claire and Chandler both adore her and I can't imagine her not here with us.

Her first tooth came in last month and her second came this week.

She is scootching around on her bottom and last night she pulled herself to her feet for the first time!  It took her a while and was hard work, but she was so proud! 

She is clapping and babbling and Daddy swore she said, "Hi, Dada." the other day. 

She gives kisses and adorable little neck hugs. 

Fiona is a wonderful baby and I am proud to be her mama.

Food Trip Aftermath

Last week we made one of bi-annual trips to Atlanta to stock up our cupboards with food that are difficult to find (or extremely expensive) in our little mountain town.  This time it was just my mom, Fiona and I.  So much fun!  Fiona was much admired and Claire and Chandler had a fun filled day with Daddy!  When we left Claire requested we bring her back octopus and dragonfruit - I love that kid!  We quickly decided on a sushi night for the next day. 

Baby Octopus!

Bok Choy

Yummies

They were so excited.

Yum.

My awesome Claire

Silly kiddos

Our spread for make your own sushi night!

 And I couldn't leave out our awesome lunch later in the week!  Soba noodles topped with tempura fried yummies!  Otherwise known as Bowl of Awesomeness.

Escaped Bunnies!

We had a bit of an adventure here last week.  Our grow out pen of six baby bunnies came unlatched during the night!  I went out for their morning feeding to find an empty cage!  Cue sinking stomach.  I figured there was no way we would find them all - if any.

But then we caught sight of one in the neighbor's yard!  I grabbed the food dish and a bucket and was able to get close enough to grab her!  Then we saw another in the next over neighbor's yard.  We quickly put the first one in the cage and headed for the next one.  Our cat Malcolm came with us and the kids started freaking out thinking the cat would hurt him (Malcolm has been known to catch wild bunnies).  But Malcolm walked up to the bunny, sniffed him on the nose and kept walking!  The bunny was freaked out enough to freeze and I was able to catch him!  

I caught sight of another in the woodpile, but it darted into the middle when he saw me.  So after wandering the neighborhood looking, I kept coming in and out of the house all day keeping an eye out for the other four still missing.  While out on the porch I saw one in the brush next door.  I headed down with the food dish and it started to hop away, but came back when it saw the food dish - caught!  Three down, three to go!  

The one in the wood pile was elusive all day.  When Daddy got home he moved the wood and was able to catch it!  At this point we had caught four of the six and I was pretty pleased.  I figured that the last two had probably headed out as far as they could and we would never find them.  

That evening we headed out for the evening feed and guess what we found?  The last two bunnies hanging out near the hutches waiting for their dinner!  They put up a token resistance - two hops in the other direction when we tried to get them - but they were quickly caught!

What an adventure!

Six little bunnies happy to see each other!

Meal Planning

Yes, I am getting back on that meal planning horse!  This summer Daddy had several months that he was paid every other week and I found that 2 week meal planning worked well for us.  I would have one big shopping trip after he was paid and the next weekend was just a fresh produce, milk and bread run. 

I do not usually plan for certain days.  I make a list of 14ish meals and in the morning choose which one works better for that day.  

This is what I have for the next two weeks.  It's a little chicken heavy, but we can use rabbit for any of the chicken recipes as well.  I also usually try to plan a few more vegetarian meals but these were the recipes that jumped out at me.

Tuna Cakes, Rice, and Salad

TexMex Beef Pie with Cornbread Topping and Salad

Bacon-Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Veggies

Egg Drop Soup and Rice

Unbelievable Chicken (from AllRecipes), Egg Noodles, and Veggies

Meatloaf, Baked Potatoes, and Veggies

Tuna Casserole, Salad, and Bread

Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken, Rice, and Veggies

Chicken Schnitzel, Mashed Potatoes, and Veggies

Spinach Cheese Strata

Meatball Stroganoff, Egg Noodles, and Veggies

Sweet & Sour Chicken, Rice, and Veggies

Crispy Herb Chicken, Egg Noodles with Gravy, Veggies, and Biscuits

Cheesy Chicken and Rice with Salad

School Year Adjustments

Well, one and a half weeks into school and Chandler has finished his Handwriting Without Tears book! 

Wow, okay.

I thought that would last at LEAST half the year! 

I picked up a Preschool workbook from Walmart for him to use and I ordered My Best Handwriting:  Book 1 for him to use. 

It looks like I will be be trying to stay ahead of this kid!  I discovered the first day of school that Chandler can already identify all of his alphabet and can count up 25 without any prompting.  So much for planning on spending his Pre-K year teaching him his letters and numbers!

First Day of School 2013!

Claire - 7 years old and starting 2nd Grade!

Chandler - 4 years old and starting Pre-K!

Our plan for the next year:

Bible:  Leading Little Ones to God by Marian M. Schoolland and Bible stories

Math:  Claire will be working quickly through her Horizons Math books (we are a grade behind at the moment).  Chandler will be learning his numbers and doing simple addition with me.

Language Arts:  Claire will be finishing Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and Daily Phonics by Evan-Moor.  If she progresses well I may get Growing with Grammar towards the end of the year.  Chandler will be working on his alphabet.

Handwriting:  Claire will finish her Memoria Press Copybook that she started this summer and then will start New American Cursive.  Chandler's main schoolbook is his Handwriting Without Tears - Get Set for School "My First School Book".

Science:  Apologia Exploring Creation Zoology 3:  Land Animals of the 6th Day with our homeschool co-op.

History:  We will finish Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times and we will also be doing Story of the World Volume 2: The Middle Ages with our homeschool co-op. 

Geography:  Beginning Geography by Evan-Moor and mapping from our science and history combined with World Map Skills with our homeschool co-op. 

Oh, and add in numerous books of course.  Claire will also be taking an art elective through the co-op and plans on a cooking class through 4-H.  Not to mention working on our Home Ec skills and Animal Husbandry - i.e. Chores!  :) 

Looks like a full year!

Preparing for School

I plan on starting our homeschool year on Monday!

So, this past week I turned this post-summer cabinet of chaos:

 

Into a cabinet ready for schooling!

I am getting excited even though Claire is dreading it.  She is starting 2nd grade and I told her that we had to do schoolwork EVERY DAY.  The horror was in her eyes.  We had a light year of Kindergarten and with her sister being born in the middle of the year we ended up having a light 1st Grade.  So, 2nd Grade is going to have to be intense.  I'm psyching myself up.  Eek!

Chickens Growing up!

Our Easter Eggers have gone from this:

To this:

I know - huge!  And if you are familiar with sexing chickens you may notice that of my eight Easter Egger chickens I have ended up with two hens and six, yes, six roosters.  Sigh.  I guess that's the risk when you buy straight run chicks.  We are willing to keep maybe two roosters (we have enough hens) but only nice tempered ones.  I can't have any attacking the children!  Looking forward to seeing who makes the cut!