How to Make A Cherry Pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy

While I was gone to Thomas' basketball game, Katie and Abby made a cherry pie (and a caramel pecan pie) to go with our unit study, How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA. Can't wait until tomorrow to eat it for Sunday lunch!

Daily Meditation

James 1:12-14
12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

¹³When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. (NIV)

These are the verses I've been reading and thinking about this week.

I've felt convicted lately of falling into the temptation of staying in the warm bed in the mornings when I should be reading my Bible and praying. My relationship with God has suffered this winter!

I've also felt convicted of reading too many novels and staying on the internet too long instead of using my time to seek God or do something more worthwhile. (Confession is good for the soul!)

Temptation doesn't have to involve something blatantly evil. Temptation can be something small like being lazy on a cold winter morning!

²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galations 5:24 (NKJV)

I pray that God will give me grace to crucify my flesh.

Menu For The Week

Thursday morning is for groceries and errands. The kids say that I run through Walmart, hit my local grocery store for bargains, go by 2 libraries, and the cleaners and any other errands on the list. I guess I do run - I'm not crazy about shopping, unless it involves Joe Muggs or Starbucks or time with my hubby or the girls or my friend, Shelley, who is kind enough not to tell you about all the stuff I ate at Panera Bread when we met last week.

Friday: Crab Soup. Katie and I are going to be gone, so I'm making soup with milk in it for everyone else.

Saturday: Beef Stew. Busy day and I need a crockpot meal.

Sunday: Jalapeno Chicken Casserole, a family favorite, and cherry pie. I have a big hen in the freezer and I'll have enough chicken for Monday's meal, as well.

Monday: Chicken Minestrone Soup and homemade bread.

Tuesday: Hamburgers, roasted potatoes, baked beans.

Wednesday: Roast, cooked in the crockpot, with undetermined side dishes.

Thursday: Beans and rice with tortillas, salsa, and cheese.

Tamale Pie!

Earlier this week, I made a new recipe from Paula Deen, Iron Skillet Tamale Pie. It was a big hit! Here's a link for the recipe, with a photo.


As always, I changed the recipe a bit. I needed more servings, so I made 1 1/2 recipes of the cornbread. I used rice milk instead of regular milk. And I doubled most of the ingredients for the filling, except the cheese. I used about 1/3 of the batter and about 1/4 of the filling to make an almost-milkless casserole in a smaller skillet. Then I used the rest with the cheese in my big chicken-frying skillet. 'Most everyone said it would be good with black olives in it, so I will probably try that next time. It's so good, your tongue will slap your brains!

Arts Week!

Little Abby's Pizzeria
featuring
Blueberry Dessert Pizza

Arts Week!

I went out of town with my hubby yesterday. But while I was gone, Rachel and Abby learned about Matisse and painted a picture in the same style to go with the illustrations from Little Nino's Pizzeria, our current Five in a Row selection.


We are still learning about the Revolutionary War and last night after I got home, we read Buttons for General Washington and Sybil Ludington's Midnight Ride. Today we started Molly Pitcher: Young Patriot.

Thomas started making a chart of vertebrates and drew an example from each subgroup. He had a drawing lesson and we learned about Gainsborough today.

Thomas Gainsborough lived in the 18th century England. He was a famous portrait painter, even painting royalty. In some of his portraits, the landscape in the background is a major part of the painting. Thomas and Abby painted landscapes, then glued on small drawings of people.



For Five in a Row, Abby and I made menus for our pizza restaurant, Little Abby's Pizzeria, which we will probably open tomorrow. Only one more day of Arts Week!

Arts Week!

We're in the midst of Arts Week and we're having a good time!

Yesterday we listened to some Beethoven and started reading Beethoven Lives Upstairs by Barbara Nichol, which we finished today. It's a series of letters between a little boy and his uncle and is a very entertaining read.


We learned that El Greco had a way of stretching out the people in his paintings, so we played around with drawing tall people, too.



Abby and I read Little Nino's Pizzeria and started the lessons yesterday. Today she made a paper pizza and played around with a game which teaches about the food pyramid. This USDA website is very informative and we spent a good deal of time there.

For history, we've read Samuel's Choice and Nathan Hale, Patriot Spy. I especially like the book about Nathan Hale. It's a short book and could be used as a reader. Samuel's Choice is very exciting, too.

Today's art lesson was about Rembrandt, one of my favorite artists. We looked at the expressions on the faces he drew and painted and then the kids stood in front of the bathroom mirror and drew their faces with different expressions. It was hard for them to make mad or scared faces because of all the giggling that was going on!

And we've mixed in some animal study and drawing lessons and cooking for Thomas.

Revolutionary Tea Party

In our TruthQuest history, we're reading lots of books about the Revolutionary War. We just finished Mr. Revere and I by Robert Lawson, so I thought it was the perfect time to row Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Besides the lessons in the manual, Abby made some parchment paper by painting paper with coffee. And she wrote with a quill and red ink. Fun!

Today we had a little impromptu tea party. Carrie, who is learning to make cakes from scratch, made this spice cake. Abby made egg salad sandwiches. Katie helped Abby with the table. Emily, Anna, and I helped out by eating. We love a tea party!

When I Was Young in the Mountains

I've discovered a new blog and have been working on these rolls today. They are rising for the second time at the moment and I'll let you know how they turn out. I'm making a new dish for tomorrow's lunch, too. I'm so excited!

For the repetition lesson in our FIAR book, we read Yonder by Tony Johnston today. It's the story of a family and the succeeding generations who live on the land...Yonder are the hills that roll forever. Yonder is the river that runs to sea. Yonder. Way over yonder.

And we looked at Growing Up in Coal Country by Susan Campbell Bartoletti and examined some coal samples.


Abby also painted a picture of the cabin and the sky.

When I Was Young in the Mountains

We've been trying to get back into our school routine this week, after 3 weeks off for Christmas and minimal schoolwork during the holidays. Whew! It's hard to get back to the textbooks! We've got a dusting of snow right now, too, so everyone's attention is drawn outside. And, David is changing his off day, so we're working on a new schedule.

We started rowing When I Was Young in the Mountains this week. Here are some books we've read so far.






Abby and I made cornbread muffins for lunch to go with our fried okra, mashed potatoes, and roast.




Yesterday Abby made a little book called When I Was Young on Sand Mountain.

When I was young on Sand Mountain, Daddy would come home and eat lunch and come home at supper time. He would kiss me and sit down to eat. Carrie would fix Daddy's supper. Thomas and I would get something, too. Mom would cook cornbread, okra, beans, rice and chicken for lunch.

When I was young on Sand Mountain, we would go to a friend's pool to swim. Then we would go home, take a shower and fix lemonade. That was my favorite part!

Sometimes we would go to Foodland and buy eggs, bread, peanut butter, vegetables and fruit.

When I was young on Sand Mountain, six or seven years old, I got baptized. We went to the lake and I got baptized. It was a happy ceremony!

My church was biggish. We went to Sunday School every other week. We had 2 churches. I was sometimes tired when we got home.

When I was young on Sand Mountain, we had a garden. We planted more strawberries. Someone plowed it for us. We had peas, tomatoes, flowers, cabbage, cucumbers, lima beans, and sunflowers. One of the big girls took pictures of our garden. And took pictures of us working in it, too.

When I was young on Sand Mountain, I liked living in the country. I liked the cows and chickens.

Happy New Year!

We wish you a happy, healthy, and blessed new year and pray you will continue to grow and mature in the Lord.