We're back! (I think)

 Holidays are always a good excuse to skip the dirty work. Throw a surgery in the mix and you can guarantee that nothing will be accomplished for a while. So, after much time off (from schooling and blogging) it is time we get back into the swing of things. We started the New Year off right, with a makeover for the classroom that included all the cool posters and supplies Crawfish Pie received for Christmas. She is so excited about school, and unbelievably excited about doing school work in her new classroom. All you other moms reading this know how contagious that excitement is! Although it is technically the middle of the school year, I have decided to make a few changes to our curriculum. That's one of the perks of being a home school family. Crawfish Pie has shown me that she is thirsty for more knowledge than ABC's and 123's. We are keeping our Alphabet Scrapbook, its our art project for the day and we both really enjoy it. We will be making good use of all the games Christmas brought to our house this year, which I never thought of as educational in my youth but somehow are very appealing as educational tools now that I have a kid of my own. Another big debut in the Stelly house is the Tag reading system that Aunt Erica gave to Crawfish Pie!!!!! I don't think the extra exclamation points are enough to express how truly excited we are about that thing!  I have also been searching the internet for more free educational activities that we can do together and may have found more free stuff than a girl can handle! Keep an eye out for upcoming reviews of the free websites, and don't worry, I will add them to the list of free stuff as I go through each site to make sure its content is fully appropriate (we all know how much spam can come from a free site).  Cheers to a whole new year of learning and loving it!

2010 Home School Blog Awards

 

Don't forget to nominate your favorite home school blogs for the 2010 Home School Blog Awards! There are twenty categories this year, and the deadline to nominate is October, 30th.

Pumpkin Patch!

This week Crawfish Pie and I went to the Pumpkin Patch with some fabulous homeschoolin' families! The weather was absolutely beautiful, and we were finished with our festivities just as the temperatures starting rising. There were plenty of activities, including a super cute movie about pumpkins and pumpkin nursery rhymes. I didn't take pictures inside the church, but here is the rest of our morning adventure.

The maze. I think the kids could have played in there all day!

Cute little picture area

A cooky lady sang halloween songs with the kids.

You know you love her outfit!

And of course we are all jealous of her spider moves, I love this lady!

Hayride, complete with pumpkin songs, so cute!

Story time

little barn yard animals

And of course, the PUMPKINS!

She wanted to take a picture with every pumpkin!

the sun was soooo bright, which was great but it makes for crazy picture faces

she had to take more pictures with her munchkin pumpkin

After a pumpkin filled morning, we stopped for lunch and then went in search of the cutest pink SuperGirl Halloween costume. 

the official Burger Princess

What's for Dessert?

PUMPKIN MUFFINS!

 I stumbled upon this recipe on a friend's facebook page, and after a little internet research decided it was worth a shot. This recipe calls for two ingredients. Yep, you read that correctly, just two.

1 box of Spice Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can of pureed pumpkin

Mix them together and put in a lined or greased muffin pan. Crawfish Pie and I decided that since we forgot the baking cups anyway, we could use the mini bundt pan and some Baker's Choice baking spray. The batter is very thick, so you have to smooth it out after you put it in the baking pan. Then bake in a 350 degree oven for about 22 minutes. Let them cool completely, we didn't have any problems with ours but some internet recipes advise that they will fall apart if they are still warm. The result is a new Fall favorite! Crawfish Pie LOVES them! And so does Daddy and Mommy. They are very dense, so moist, and the flavor is amazing.  It's almost like pumpkin pie disguised as a muffin. You have to try them!

 

What's for Dinner? the easiest chili ever!

I love this time of year! Our windows and doors are always open as we enjoy the sunshine and a cool breeze. The cooler weather also brings a welcome change to our dinner menu, but there is no point in wasting such a beautiful day while slaving in the kitchen. Tonight we had our fill of a wonderfully easy and completely delicious chili, in less than 30 minutes and using only four ingredients. Don't knock till you try it, I have heard a few times that this chili tastes just like grandma used to make.

2.5 lbs of Ground Beef
2 cans of Hunt's Crushed Tomatoes (28 oz each)
1 packet of McCormick Chili Seasoning
2 cans of red kidney beans

Brown ground beef (use whatever season or onions/peppers that you would normally use when cooking). Add canned crushed tomatoes, McCormick seasoning, and kidney beans. Simmer for a while to blend flavors and increase the thickness. I don't always finish off the second can of tomatoes, it depends on my mood and how hearty I want the chili. The crushed tomatoes are a great alternative to figuring out the ratio of tomato sauce/paste or diced/stewed tomatoes, and you still get the great consistency without all those weird chunks of tomatoes that make every kid (and some adults) gag.