On a Roll

I am on a roll.  Making new recipes that are bad!!  (to me and the girls and Kevin)

I made Almond Milk.  Much better bought in the store with additives.  It was too bland.
I made Refrigerator Pickles (can't remember which recipe I used...).  The recipe called for sugar and since I had never made them before I just assumed that this would be correct.  They were too sweet.  Oh, Kevin and the girls did like this one.
I made Chocolate Pudding Popsicles.  They were dairy free and more natural.  They needed sugar.  So, the question is, since they haven't made it to the popsicle stage...do I add sugar??  And how much??  Maybe powdered sugar...  I'll just turn it into Paleo Plus Chocolate Frosting.  haha

Pickles and Pancakes

I made some refrigerator pickles this last week.  Yesterday, I tested them and ...  I didn't really like them.  Thankfully, Kevin and the girls did.  I think it was the sugar the recipe told me to add.  I think I'll skip that if I try it again.  Well, also, being pregnant, my taste buds/preferences have gotten very particular!

My last grocery shopping trip was a little incomplete.  I had everything I needed on the list (except the eggs...they never seem to make the list), but a part of each recipe for the week was missing when I returned home!  The pitas weren't in the usual spot so schwarmas got switched to Thursday, pudding was just missed, so no pudding pops were made, eggs were, as I said, not even on the list, so I couldn't make zucchini pancakes.  Thursday, we finally got back to the store to get the missing ingredients.

Today at lunch we tried the pancakes.  My initial taste was bad!  But I hadn't put anything on them and the recipe had 4 eggs and only a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar...so a very eggy taste.  But with some peanut butter and rhubarb strawberry sauce and honey...yumm!  I did end up adding a couple more spoonfuls of sugar to the rest of the batch, but just adding toppings was delicious!

PS. I also started soaking the almonds for homemade almond milk...we'll see if my blender can handle it.

Rest Time

It's our after lunch rest time.  Mainly the girls go into their room and listen to music or a story and play quietly and look at books.  Sometimes L naps, but usually not anymore.  Ahh...  Now, should I be doing all my bits or relaxing myself?  I haven't gotten any calls to show the house today so we're keeping it clean but not doing extras.  Laundry though had been piling up.  Almost done with that for the week.

Day 8 of kindergarten today.  They finished making their days of creation books last week, and today they sewed them together to hold them in book form.  Aunt R would be so proud!  I started helping L and told Kj that I would help her in a minute.  When I looked over, she was doing it beautifully all on her own.  :) 

Our routine for the morning went like this:

Breakfast - all the kids slept in this morning and didn't even see Kevin!  Which meant he could also leave a few minutes early for his 9 mile bike ride to work.  "Can we do school now?"

Clean up - Kj did dishes (MWF, L-TTh), cleared table, read devotional, brushed teeth, got dressed, brushed hair.  "Can we have school yet?"

Quiet reading - The girls picked out a few books and sat on the recliner and couch and looked at them while Mama got ready!  "Is it time for school now?"

School - Day 8 - My Father's World - We'll try to do 5 days this week.  3 from curriculum and the numbers 11 and 12, so we can finish their coloring workbooks that we found at Once Upon a Child.  I was wondering why it went to 12 and then realized that it got kids ready for clock reading.  Nice.

Snack

Laundry - girls sorting, me folding

Lunch and Pickle Making - Mmm...Kevin's mom was making some refrigerator dill pickles last week and when I brought her some extra cucumbers she added them to the jar.  I asked her how to make them and it sounded easy enough.  So, I found a recipe online and tried it out.  And we had some tasty mac and cheese.  Maybe we'll start a Mac and Cheese Monday tradition!  :)

Rest time!!  Well, I sat down now to write these bits, so now, I think I'll go get some more laundry done and then to the couch with a book for a while.  G's talking, he didn't take a nap all morning and then cried and cried and cried.  I am trying to get him to nap on the crib (instead of the chair), but that and the fact that we lost our working pacifier...no good!  Lots of tears.  The pacifier is somewhere in the house...  Hmm... 

Bits and Pieces...

~  Kevin's birthday cake...I want to remember was based off of this recipe.  Yumm!!  Rich.  Lasted many weeks in the freezer, only taking bits out at a time.

~  Hobo Tin Foil Meals:  Onion soup mix is a great way to season them.  I made a homemade no MSG, no gluten version from here.  I substituted vegetable broth bullion for beef in the recipe to suit vegetarians in the family!  Great!

~  I was gone for a week from my regular laundry duties.  The first load I did when I came back...no soap.  Oops...didn't realize this until I had already started the dryer.  Yes, I used the dryer on a beautiful summer day.  I didn't know if I could handle hanging things out.

~  Oh, big news.  Baby on the way.  Haha.  I have all-day morning sickness this round.  I've never experienced this before.  It's awful!  But I did have some great help last week as I stayed at my parents house with the three kids.  Kevin had to go home to work, and missed us, but had fun anyways, I think.  Baby G missed Kevin too, I think.  He's been waking up in the night every night since Kevin's been around.  Otherwise, he's been sleeping through the night for at least a month.  We might have to go camping again if this keeps up.  Just to get him back to the all night sleeping.

~  So tired.  Better get to bed.