Birthday #2 and Self-Portraits

Our second birthday of the year is Spencer.  He's now officially 5 years old.  His choice of dinner was chicken alfredo and broccoli, which he wanted recorded visually.

And his choice of cake was blessedly easy - white cake, chocolate icing on the sides, blue icing on the top with smarties sprinkled on.  And it was pretty tasty too!

Can you believe our 'baby' is now 5?  How time flies!

Madison and Spencer traced each other and colored their own self-portraits.  Cause these aren't freaky to come across in the middle of the night...

Bread Dough

I have a white bread recipe from a good friend that has become our family favorite, mainly because it is so versatile and can make so much (always good with a large family).  Today the little boys helped me mix it up and when all was said and done we ended up with 6 loaves of bread, a pan of pizza buns and a pan of cinnamon twists.  This is also good for me because I am becoming more and more cheap in my old age and I refuse to buy 3 loave of bread for $5 that tastes like cardboard, and I cannot afford the really good stuff.  Besides, I have a couple boys who will only eat white.  This recipe is easy to whip up once a week.

These will be frozen for lunches (yay! no sandwiches next week!)

With the boys help we came out with 6 loaves of varying sizes.  It probably should have only been 5.

In case you want to give it a try, here's the recipe.  It can be halved if needed and it's really not finicky.  Have fun!

White Bread

8 c. lukewarm water

2 Tblsp. yeast

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. oil

2 big Tblsp. salt

3 eggs

1/3 c. powdered milk (I just add 1/3 c. of real milk cause I never have this)

Flour to consistency (I find around 20 c. or so)

Proof your yeast for 10 mins or so (if you want).  This means put the yeast and sugar in the water and wait for 10 mins til it gets frothy.  I did today and I think it made a difference.

Add the oil, eggs and milk.  Begin adding flour.  After about 10 c. or so, add the salt.

Keep adding flour until you get a nice soft dough that isn't sticky.  Knead it for a few minutes on your counter until it's smooth and elastic.

Let this rise for an hour or so.  (I always get busy and forget about it, so it gets nice and big!)

Take the dough and split it into 8 pieces.  Decide what you want to do with it.  Shape into bread loaves for the week, or do something creative.  We've made it into cinnamon buns, cinnamon twists, cinnamon bread (see a pattern there?)  pizza buns, regular buns, chococalte bread, parker house rolls, clover leaf buns, etc.  Pretty much any kind of bread you want to do.

You will need to bake almost everything at 350 for around 20-30 mins.  Just experiment!

For the twists above:  Roll a piece into a rectangle and cover with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Cut into strips and twist them a few times.  Put into a baking pan with melted butter on the bottom.  Bake at 350 for 20-30 mins.

For pizza buns:  Roll into a rectangle.  Cover with pizza sauce, ham or pepp, and cheese.  Roll like a jelly roll.  Cut into pieces.  Let rise 15 mins.  Bake at 350 for 20-30 mins.

Chocolate Swirl loaf:  Take an amount you would use for a loaf of bread.  Pat it into a rectangle.  Spread a little bit of butter on just to keep it together, then sprinkle with white sugar and cocoa.  Turn it back into a loaf.  Make sure you pinch the edges underneath really good.  Put in the pan and rise again, then bake.

The First of the Birthdays

This is our birthday girl, the first of the birthday celebrations for the next 2 months.  She's 10.  I can hardly believe it!  Of course, she's going on 20 and visions of raising a teenager creep into my nightmares.  We helped build her a raspberry-dream mountain for the cake.  I will post the frosting recipe at a further date when Dan remembers to bring it home from work.  It consists of egg whites and jello powder and can be any flavor depending on the jello chosen.  Super yum, and swedish berries are always a favorite!

This is the ingenious hide-n-go-seek spot our two youngest came up with (plus dad's help).  All really fun....

...until you realize you're too scared to come down!

Really Easy, Delicious Muffins

I have not posted a recipe for a long time.  But I found this muffin recipe that we really enjoyed.  Very quick and easy to make with stuff you have in your house.  Not too sweet and cake-like, but hearty and delicious.  Hope you like it too!


Carrot Oatmeal Muffins

1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. quick oats (not instant!)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 Tblsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. salt

Whisk these together in a large bowl.  In another bowl, whisk:

1 c. milk
1 egg
1/4 c. oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Pour this over the dry ingredients in the big bowl.  Sprinle with:

1 carrot, grated (use the small grater side that you never quite know what to do with, that only ruins cheese)
1/2 c. walnuts  (i did not have any, but they would only make this better in my opinion)

Stir until just moistened.

Spoon into muffin tins.  Bake at 375, 20 mins for large and 10 mins for mini.

*can be wrapped individually and frozen for up to 2 weeks.

For the Love of Reading...

I have fond memories as a child of browsing the school library, scouring for that book to grab a hold of me, the one I couldn't put down, the one I couldn't wait to finish.  There were always the old stand-bys, the guaranteed good read, but then there were a number that surprised me. 

In Grade 7 my browsing was proving fruitless and my english teacher handed me a book and simply said, "Read it.  You'll love it."

The book was Sword of Shannara and I couldn't put it down.  I never would have picked it up on my own, but it fuelled an insatiable love of the written word that has not burned out since.

Our current school (and all the other schools we've been in) participate in the Accelerated Reading Program, or AR.  All books are categorized according to reading levels, the children are tested to be placed within these levels and as they read they complete quizzes that test their reading comprehension.  This program is touted as encouraging more and better reading for kids, turning non-readers into readers, blah, blah, blah.  Each quiz passed garners the child a certain number of points which are then used to move them to other levels and, even better, earn rewards and prizes for their efforts.  Seems lovely?

I disagree.

My oldest two have both been home in tears since we've moved because they cannot choose a book to read from the school library.

WHAT??

Our particular school librarian is stringent with this program to what I consider a fault.  Children cannot browse the library shelves, find something that interests them and give it a go.  They must search for appropriate level books on the computer, then decide on one book and get it from the shelf.  (Searched anything in the library catalogue lately before you went and pulled it off the shelf?  Would this help you find something to read?  I think not!) 

They must only choose from their pre-determined level.  No self improvement or motivation here!  They must then read it in it's entirety and take the test - whether they like the book or not!

Madi was in pieces today because she has a Whale book that she doesn't really enjoy but she has been told if she does not get a certain "grade" on her AR test she cannot trade the book.

She must read it again.  A book she doesn't enjoy!!!!

When was the last time you as an adult with free agency read a book you did not enjoy two or three times just for the heck of it?  I regularly check out 5 or 6 books, try couple and take them back.

What is going on?  When did reading become a competitive subject?  Does anyone really think this fosters a love of reading?

Studies show it does not.  In my fairly quick reasearch online, there is NO SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE that this program really works.  In fact, when students leave the program their reading SHARPLY DECLINES. 

Duh.

It's based solely on extrinsic motivation.  Nothing intrinsic.  Just like everything else our kids face in this reward-me-entitlement world.  So why are we using it in our schools?

And where are the teachers?  Where are the adults who should be gently nudging these kids into unknown literary worlds?  When we arrived they didn't have time to test Clay, so the teacher assigned him a level of 3.5.  (I could have told her if she'd only asked that his level in Magrath was 5.4.  Big difference!)  As a result, he was only allowed to select books in his reading level.  This child that worked so hard on reading for 3 years with an intrinsically motivated program was suddenly reading Captain Underpants again (he read those in grade 1).  When I asked him why he said he had to, he had no other choice.  And besides, they're easy. 

Does a teacher need a reading level to know when a kid's books are too easy?  When a child reads an entire 'novel' in 20 minutes I can pretty much guarantee they're ready for a new challenge.  But then I don't have an education degree, so I could be wrong.

And more points are awarded for the new, popular books than for the old classics.  Why choose Anne of Green Gables or Bridge over Tarabithia when you can get twice the points for Harry Potter or the Bone series.  (I have nothing against any of the above titles.  I've read them all and loved them equally, but I never see a classic in the hands of my children.  Shame on our education system!)

I guess I'm gonna have me a talk with the librarian....

For now, thank goodness for the public library.  At least there you can browse the shelves and fall in love with the written word - on your own terms.

Pure Bliss...

Home alone on Saturday...

Making a cake for the Branch Potluck....

No kids around....

 I got to lick the beaters!

Awesome.



A Few Pics

Here are some pictures to update a bit:

Before we moved we had a lovely, warm winter day.  The boys (with the help of Morgan, Aunt Tiff and Mom) made snowmen and a snow fort.  We rolled lots of snow and even tried to shovel it over.  Lots of fun.

This is our house in High Prairie.  You can just see my favorite feature this winter on the right hand side - the garage!  There are a couple extra satellite dishes and wires drilled right through the front wall thanks to the previous owner.  When the weather gets nicer we are planning to remove those eye-sores. 

P.S.  We have more room than we've ever had and we feel a bit lonely sometimes, so please feel free to come and visit us.  We'll put you up anytime!