Alaska is Cold!

Ok, yes, we all know Alaska is cold! But I mean really cold today! It is currently 40 below zero!! We may dip into 50 below tonight. We have ice fog (ice particles in the air) which you can see in the second picture and ice build up on the inside of our windows (this is typical in older homes). Ice on the inside!

Outside, in our front yard

Bulk Cooking

Candace encouraged me to blog about the bulk cooking that I have been doing with a friend every first Monday of the month. We normally pick five recipes and quadruple them. We each then come away with 10 meals (2 of each of the 5 recipes). Over the next year I will post our recipes and any other tips that have made the whole process easier. First here are our steps to prep for the day of cooking:



1. Pick 5 recipes.

2. Make a shopping list of all the ingredients making sure the quantities are enough if you are doubling, tripling, etc. We group one item together, for example, when we list onions we put the quantity of onions for all five recipes.

3. Shop! You can buy bigger containers of stuff since you are cooking in and therefore save money.

4. Chop! Chop all veggies or other foods that need prep...for us this includes cooking and chopping chicken if need be.

5. Cooking day! We spend about 6 to 8 hours preparing the meals. This includes bagging the food or putting it in casseroles dishes. We use gallon ziplocs for everything except those types of casseroles that need to be frozen in a dish (i.e. lasagna, enchiladas).

6. Label your food with contents and date. You don't want to eat mystery meals or old food!





Here are some recipes I have already posted that have worked for us.



Black Bean and Pumpkin Chili

Spring Veggie Soup with Dumplings



Here is another one that freezes well.

Bryan's Marinara Sauce

¾ cup olive oil, 2 large onions, finely chopped,

1 bulb garlic cloves, minced,

3 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes with added puree,

1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley,

4 small bay leaves,

4 teaspoons dried basil,

4 teaspoons dried oregano
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, and garlic. Sauté until onion begins to color, about 10 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and herbs and bring sauce to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until flavors blend, stirring often, about 30 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon sugar.
Makes about 10 cups. You can add cooked sausage or hamburger to this. We have used this over pasta and as a pizza sauce.

Happy New Year!!!

This photo was taken by my dad. I just love his photography!

May God bless you in the coming new year! It is currently about 40 below here so we are having a dreadfully cold end to 2008. We are still planning to celebrate the new year tonight at a friend's house although we may not be going outside to shoot off fireworks! Just way too cold!

On the Menu in January (The virtues of bulk cooking!)

Since October, a friend and I have been bulk cooking every first Monday of the month. We pick out five recipes and quadruple them. We then split what we make and come home with 10 meals (two meals for each recipe). This has been such a blessing! I can't tell you how many times it has saved me to have several meals in the freezer! With homeschooling and teaching Spanish part time, I just don't have the energy or time to cook each night.
Here is what we are preparing for this month:
Chili Relleno Casserole
Chicken Parmesan
Corn Chowder
Cincinnati Chili (this dish is served over pasta)
Spring Veggie Soup with Dill Dumplings
The Spring Veggie Soup is one of my friend's favorites. I am looking forward to tasting it! Here is the recipe.

Spring Veggie Soup with Dill Dumplings

2 T. butter
3 stalks celery, sliced
2 carrots, chopped
3/4 cup green onion, sliced
1 cup asparagus stalks, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces, cooked crisp tender
6 cups broth
2 cups packed spinach leaves
1/2 t. salt
pepper to taste

Dumplings:
1 cup + 2 T. baking mix
1/3 cup milk
3/4 t. dried dill

In Dutch oven, melt butter; add celery, carrots, green onions, and asparagus. Cook over med. heat until veggies softened (10 min.). Add broth. Cook until mixture comes to a full boil. Lower heat, simmer for about 20 min. Add spinach, salt and pepper. Continue cooking 5 min.
We will freeze the soup and on the day of serving add the dumplings. To do this: Stir together dumpling ingredients. Spoon mixture on top to make six dumplings. Cover and cook for about 10 min until dumplings are done.

I am really building up the meals in my freezer! I still have Black Bean Pumpkin Chili and a lasagna in there from our cooking session in December. We are saving money because we are buying in bulking and time because we do less kitchen cleaning. It is such a great system!

Adagio Tea

A friend of mine gave me an IngenuiTEA teapot from Adagio this year. I am absolutely loving this teapot and the loose leaf teas that she bought for me. She sent me a starter set of flavored teas: vanilla, strawberry, mango, and oriental spice. The oriental spice is perfect for Chai tea...I just added milk and a little sugar to the tea. I have also ordered some more flavors: coconut, cream, and their Valentine's flavor. Can't wait to try them! I have never really done loose leaf tea before, but the flavor is so much better than using tea bags. The teapot is cool because you just set it over a cup and there is a mechanism that releases the tea into the cup! Check out their website to see how it works! Also, if you decide to order from them...contact me and I can get you a $5 gift certificate. www.adagio.com

Christmas 2008

Goals for 2009 (HOTM Meme)

I have been thinking of what goals I should have for the New Year...here is what I am planning to do.

**Lose 10 lbs. I have been working on this. I haven't gained any weight since Thanksgiving, but haven't really lost either. For me, exercising is not a problem. I get that in 3 to 4 times a week. It is the eating part that I struggle with.

**My goal for 2008 was to read through the Bible. Well, I have almost completed that goal. This comes as a total shock to me that I followed through on this!!!!! I have tried to do this so many times and failed. This year my goal is to listen to the New Testament instead of read the whole Bible. My brother and sister-in-law gave us the NT on cd's so that we can listen to it.

**Scripture memorization. I have wanted to do this for several years, but quite frankly my brain is getting old and I don't/can't memorize like I use to. I am going to use this system.

**Scrapbook more to catch up on my albums.

**My word for 2009 will be "patience". Patience has always been a hard thing for me. I am a very impatient person. Patience with people and myself will be my focus for the year.

**My goal is to blog about my goals! I will try to update how I am doing from time to time. It will keep me accountable which is good.

Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Watch

Here is Noah's drawing of the Palmer watch for Sketch Tuesday.

Nine Years Ago Today...

I found out that we had lost a baby. I was almost 14 weeks along. I went in for a doctor's appointment and it was then that they realized that they couldn't find a heartbeat. I was then sent for an ultrasound which confirmed that the baby's heart was no longer beating. An hour later I had a D and C because based on size they determined that they baby had died earlier in December and my body was still holding onto the pregnancy. This event began a very sad time in my life where I fought off a major bout of depression. Christmas was tough that year....I just didn't want to celebrate it.
But God is faithful...a year later I was eight months pregnant with a boy that would be born in January. There were many miracles that came out of the birth of my second son, Noah...like how he survived against every obstacle put in front of us...exposure to German measles, problems related to me being rH negative, severe anemia, and early labor. As I look back now, I realize that God was out to bless me through the loss of one child and the birth of another. But I guess that is what Christmas is all about the God's loss of one Child (Jesus) for the birth (rebirth) of other children (us). I now see how fitting that my loss happened around Christmas.

I do still wonder about the baby that I lost...in particular I want to know whether it was a boy or a girl. But the answer to that will come in another time. Here is what is posted on another website about the loss of our baby who we eventually named Jordan.

HOTM Weekly Meme-Where I Find My Christmas Joy

Where do I find my Christmas joy? What makes this season so important? There are so many reasons why Christmas brings me joy. First, there is the miracle of Christmas...that God would become a man and live among us because He loved us so much. This concept is mind-boggling to me. Who would want to trade heaven for life here on earth?
I also find joy in my family. During December we get to spend more time with each other. Life slows down a bit for us after all the Christmas preparations have been made. I find joy in my sons' excitement over Christmas. I find joy in our Christmas traditions: decorating the tree, setting up our village, reading one of the Jotham books.
Other things that bring me Christmas joy: my favorite Nativity scene (seen above), the woodsy smell of pine, Christmas lights on homes in our town, eggnog, cookies, and Christmas music.
"Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

Another Great Book!!

After reading two heart wrenching books, I decided I needed some humor in my life! Funny in Farsi (written by Firoozeh Dumas) is the story of an Iranian girl that moves to the US with her family and eventually stays here and raises a family. Between the descriptions of Persian customs, language barrier problems and stories of earthquakes and how to handle your mother-in-law when it comes to her fine china, I was laughing hysterically! I can so relate to this book having live in a foreign country, but even if you haven't had foreign travel experience you will be able to relate! I am hoping our library has Firoozeh's second book, Laughing without an Accent. I can't wait to read it!

Two Great Christmas Books

Someone from the Five in a Row message boards recommended reading the Christmas series from Donna VanLiere...I went to the library two days ago and checked the first two out never dreaming that I would plough through them so quickly! It took me one day to read The Christmas Shoes and another to read The Christmas Blessing. Both of them are real tear jerkers...so if you don't want to cry don't even think of picking up these books!One of the things that really got me to thinking as I read these books (the main character being a boy who loses his mother when he is young) is what lessons I am leaving my children with. If something were to happen to me (God forbid), how would they view the world? How would they view their hardships? How would they view God? Are the lessons that I am teaching them (how to read, to write, to understand mathematical concepts) all that important when it comes to issues of the heart and their relationship with God? I can honestly say after reading these books, that the real lessons in life have to do with our hearts and our relationships.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book...it is my hope for my boys: "Time in the valley will teach you to be a man, Nathan. It's where your character will form. I hope you go through the valley so that you'll learn how to love and feel and understand. And when life wounds you, I hope it is because you loved people, not because you mistreated them." I plan to get the other two books in the series and read them soon...The Christmas Hope and The Christmas Promise.

Noah's Sketch

Noah's sketch of a walrus on ice is featured this week at Sketch Tuesday! Way to go, Noah!

Scrapbooking Our School

I am about 18 months behind in our scrapbooks (I have three running scrapbooks-a family one and one for each boy). I know that might not seem like that far behind, but I know if I let myself get too far behind I will quit altogether. So I have started scrapbooking again in the hopes of catching up a bit. Here is a page I did this morning about one of our school activities. We use the Five in a Row curriculum in which we read a children's books five days in a row and do laguage arts, math, social studies, art and science activities related to the story. Hanna's Cold Winter has been one of our favorite books. It is about the Budapest Zoo (Hungary) during WWII. The city of Budapest saved their hippos from starvation by collecting straw mats for them to eat.

One of the reasons this became such a special book for us was because there was another Five in a Row family that went to Hungary around the time we rowed the book. They "took Noah along with them" in the form of a Flat Stanley with Noah's picture on it. Noah "visited" all the places in the book and they sent us pictures of the his "trip". They also sent us postcards, forints (Hungarian coins that were mentioned in the story), and a map of the zoo. Thanks once again to the Prior family for doing this for us! It really made the book special!

Favorite Christmas Goodies

I am in the process of losing about 10 lbs (I know, not the best time of the year to decide to do something like that!)...so instead of eating Christmas goodies, I will blog about them. Every Christmas for the past three years or so two friends and I get together to do our Christmas goodies baking. We will be doing this again on Saturday and I need to come up with a list of what I will make. I always do a couple of favorites and try something new. Here are some of our favorites!

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies (Zach's Favorites)

2 cups butter (four sticks), softened
1 cup sugar
4 cups flour
1 pkg. white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Add flour and mix well. Stir in chocolate and cranberries. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheet. Flatten each ball sightly. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheets. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Candy Cane Cookies

1 cup shortening
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring
1/2 cup crushed candy canes
/2 cup sugar

Heat oven to 375°F. Mix the crushed candy and granulated sugar together and set aside. Mix shortening, sugar, egg and flavorings together. Add flour and salt and mix. Divide the dough in half. Add food coloring to one half and mix well. Make one cookie at a time by rolling a 4" strip (use about 1 tsp. dough) from each color. Place strips side by side, press lightly together and twist like a rope. Place on ungreased baking sheet. cure top down to form the cane. Bake about 9 minutes. Remove from baking sheet. While still warm sprinkle with candy/sugar mixture.

Puppy Chow for People
(Sometimes this is more of a New Year's treat for us)

1 cup chocolate chips
1 stick butter
1 cup peanut butter
8 cups Crispix cereal
2 cups powdered sugar

Melt the first three ingredients in a saucepan, and pour over cereal. Put the powdered sugar in a large plastic bag and add the coated cereal. Toss until evenly coated with sugar. Dry on foil and store in airtight container.

Thumbprint Cookies
These are from the Kraft Foods website.


1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2-1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup PLANTERS Chopped Pecans
1-1/4 cups raspberry preserves

HEAT oven to 350°F. Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla with mixer until blended. Add flour, baking soda and pecans; mix well. Refrigerate 30 min.
SHAPE dough into 1-inch balls. Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets. Indent centers.
BAKE 10 min. Fill each cookie with about 1 tsp. preserves. Bake 8 to 10 min. or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets 2 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

White Christmas
No measurements here...I just eyeball it.

Combination of half white chocolate and half white confectioner's coating
candy canes

Smash the candy canes in a bag or chop in a food processor. Melt the white chocolate and coating together. Stir in the candy. Then spread in out on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Let cool. Break into chunks and store tightly covered.

Oreo Truffles
Got this from the Five in a Row boards

45 Oreo cookies, divided, one package
1 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 8 oz. packages semisweet baking chocolate, melted

Crush nine cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; save for later. Crush the remaining cookies into fine crumbs and place in a medium bowl. Add the cream cheese and mix well. Roll mixture into 1" balls. Dip the balls in the melted chocolate and place them on waxed paper covered baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops with reserved crumbs. Refridgerate one hour until firm. Store in fridge.

The Architect turns Artist

Zach is our architect. He loves to build with Legos and Bionicles or everyday objects from around the house. One day, some friends of ours gave him a damaged Crash Bandicoot plush toy that their dog had mutilated. Their son had added some Bionicles pieces to it to make a new arm. Zach continued by adding a leg and an ear and since the stuffing was out of the remaining arm and leg, he inserted Bioncle pieces into them. Zach also put ear buds into Crash's head so that he could hook him up to his I-pod so that it could sound like there was music coming from Crash's mouth!

Zach is not gung-ho about art like his brother, but if you give him the right subject he will put a lot of time into his art. At art class yesterday (we are doing art with another homeschool family), Zach did a drawing in chalk pastels of his Crash Bandicoot. We were really impressed with his creation!

99 Things on the Wall Meme

I found this meme on Harmony Art Mom's blog. I have highlighted the things I have done in green. Feel free to copy and paste to your blog and then leave me a comment. I would love to see what others have done!


1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped (No Way!!!!)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (Know Spanish, have studied French and Inupiaq, but took classes for all these)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (Went to rock climbing gym with my brother once)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (Almost done with this!)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Strange Christmas Custom

We have done a "Christmas village" for many years. Our collection comes from Department 56 and is the "Christmas in the City" collection. Here are a couple of pictures of the city this year.Now comes the strange part. Last year, we were introduced to "Mr. Bean"...a character done by the British actor, Rowan Atkinson. Well, Zach decided to make a Mr. Bean from a Lego mini figure. Then one night, Tim thought it would be cute to hide Mr. Bean in the Christmas city. It has now become a tradition. Every night, Tim hides Mr. Bean in the city and the boys get up in the morning looking for him. Since we put the city up during Thanksgiving weekend, Tim has to be very creative in finding hiding places! This means he is finding a hiding place for Mr. Bean every night from Thanksgiving to Christmas! Mr. Bean has been under cars, the park bench, in with the other "people" of the city, on the balconies of the buildings...you name it....he's been there!
Here is Mr. Bean.....Here is Mr. Bean on the balcony of a Chinese restaurant.Here he is coming up from the subway...we had to take his head off for this to work! So what strange Christmas customs does your family have? Can you top Mr. Bean????

Sketch Tuesday

Here is what Noah sketched this week for Sketch Tuesday...the theme is ice.

3-D Snowflakes

I found this idea posted on the Homeschoolshare message board. These look difficult, but once you do one, they are actually quite easy! We made five of them this morning using origami paper that was 4 1/2 inches square. The paper was white on one side and colored on the other side (almost in a starburst pattern). See here for the instructions. Some tips to make this project easier:

1. Use small pieces of tape.
2. We only had a big stapler, but a smaller one would have been easier.
3. Put the tape on one side then roll to connect to the other side.



Rolling one branch of the flake
Putting together the piecesThe finished products

Our living room window with the completed snowflakes

Zach Makes a Battery

Here is Zach trying to put together a battery made of pennies, aluminum foil pieces and small pieces of paper towel soaked in salt water. We have yet to get it to work because we can't find some copper wire to make the connection. I know I have some around the house....I just can't seem to find it! So much for organization!

Sketch Tuesdays

I just found this wonderful blog that hosts Sketch Tuesdays. Since Noah loves to draw, I thought I would let him know what the challenge was for this week...to draw something that lives in the desert. Sketch Tuesdays can be found here.

Timez Attack

We just downloaded the game Timez Attack so that Noah could practice the multiplication tables. This game is well done and professional-looking...not like any other learning video game I have seen out there recently. I like the fact that it teaches him the facts through skip counting first before getting to the multiplication problem. This method is used in Math-U-See so it fits with what we are already doing. Here is the link.

It is Somebody's Birthday

December 3, 1971

Yummy Chili

A friend of mine and I always bulk cook on the first Monday of each month. This has been a life saver for me to have meals in the freezer! This is one of the recipes we made this month. At first, we thought it sounded gross (because of the pumpkin), but it is so delicious!!!!! Great way to use that leftover turkey!

Black Bean 'n' Pumpkin Chili

1 med. sweet yellow pepper, chopped
1 med. onion chopped
3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
2 T. olive oil
3 cups chicken broth
2 cans (15 oz each) black beans, drained
2 1/2 cups chopped chicken (or turkey)
1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin
1 can (14 oz) diced tomotoes
2 t. dried parsley
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1 1/2 t. ground cumin
salt

Saute onion, pepper and garlic in oil. Transfer to a big pot or slow cooker for simmering. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Simmer.

I have to admit that we added a bunch of fresh cilantro to it, because we both love cilantro. We will be enjoying this tonight with corn muffins.