A Few Things

Our Monday granola cooling.

Nothing fancy but very tasty.



When I was looking for an oatmeal pancake recipe this past weekend I came across this Sonlight cookbook Sonlight sent to me as a gift years ago.

I really never took a look at it until now.



I should have taken a close look years ago 'cause look at the last few chapters!!! These recipes fit right into some of Sonlight's cores!



I had NO clue!! I will be trying a few new things this year!

Warmly,A Dragonfrye Mom

A Day Early!

Ok, it does not SEEM like a day early because it is May 1st BUT I made the mistake of thinking yesterday was May 1st!!

By the time I figured out it was only April 30th we were well into our May Day activities so I decided to just moved along as if it was May 1st!!!

But to all my blog friends I can wish you a true and on time

Happy May Day!!



The kids made great May Day cards!



and baked wonderful May Day sugar cookies!







We the walked around our sweet town of Waseca delivering our May Day gifts to some special friends.

Beautiful!!



I could not convince Lily to be in the group picture but she was there!



As you see, we did not do the traditional May Day basket of flowers and ringing door bells then running away. We worked with what we had at home and I was a little too tired to run. We did it our way and had a blast!!

Warmly,A Dragonfrye Mom

Oatmeal Pancakes

I was feeling a tad ambitious the other day so I set my thoughts on whipping up oatmeal pancakes.

When I set out on this cooking adventure I did not know I would be needing to gring up my own oatmeal flour.

Out came the coffee grinder.




Then I needed to actually cook some oatmeal as well.

Five cups.

Now I can cook 20+ servings of oatmeal in my sleep but five?

Do I have a small enough pan!?

I even had to read the oatmeal box directions.

I got the batter all mixed up and my the batter smelled...a little too healthy so I added more sugar.

Much better.



The end result was very tasty and worth the effort!




Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mom

Shhhh...

Do not tell Elena cause she will make me take it off my blog

but

isn't she just beautiful!!!

This is my eldest

My Elena

My beauty



She took this picture of herself on her phone and edited it with Instagram

Warmly,A Dragonfrye Mom

Time,Tell Me the Time and Marshmallows

Go ahead.

I dare you.

Make his day.

Ask Joel the time.

Joel made a clock in his school yesterday.




Josh did extra chores this past week to earn money to buy a bag of his very own marshmallows to roast over the fire with some 'big' kids. He wanted to buy his own so he could invite those siblings he wanted.

Alan was very happy to participate in Josh's marshmallow roasting invite. Four of the other big kids were gone and two were just realised from being grounded and had some tasks to attend to but
Josh did not mind the smaller than expected turn out.

Actually,I am pretty sure that Alan was high on his guest list anyway. They sat there for a few hours enjoying each others company in front of the fire.

Cute thing was Josh also earned enough money to buy a pack of gram crackers and candy bars to go with the marshmallows for smores but a trip to the Dollar Store proved a little too tempting.




Warmly,A Dragonfrye Mom

The Basement

Ah, I finally found it!

What you ask?

The perfect homeschool place!!

On a whim this past Monday I thought I would take a table into our basement and school our middle kids for the day.

It was SO quiet!

There was no visual 'life 'clutter to compete with.

Hardly any loud noises to talk over.





Nothing glamorous but perfect!!

Warmly,A Dragonfrye Mom

For you, Missy Weiss

This is for you my dear little sister Missy!



and don't you dare say I run like the dandy!

I am your older sister, don't forget that!

I can still hear the taunts and snicker from those on the bus after I had to run up the street (what seemed like three miles) to catch it with everyone watching me.

Those are what nightmares are created from!

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mom

P.S Missy wrote a great article on running for those who were wondering how to start a running schedule

Run Rabbit Run

Good Eatin...

I was planning to photo document all three of our meals today.

Why?

For prosperity reasons?

So my family could 'rise up and call me blessed'?

A courtesy warning sign so visitors know to stay clear of our house during meals?

Um...not quite sure but it seemed like an interesting thing to do.

Anyhoo...I remembered breakfast and lunch but dinner just slipped my mind.

We will just procede with the two meals I did document.

You will not be sorry with how you spent theses past few minutes.

Put your bibs on and prepare to drool...

Breakfast:

24 eggs fried

8 hotdogs split in half and fried

1 onion chopped and fried with the hotdog halves

1 orange cut into 16 pieces (yes it can be done) for visual purposes

Serves 16 (Dad was at work)



Mmmm... need I say more




Lunch

16 bananas

16 big huge chunks of homemade bread

5 cans of tuna drained and divided onto 16 plates. You can mix mayo if you like. I just go for tuna straight with a shake of hotsause.

and as an extra special zing one container bacon and cheddar cheese spread dolloped on 16 plates.

Have each person spread their cheese and tuna on their big chunks of bread and eat it face top style!

Serves 16



I know you are speechless.



Dinner the meal I did not take pictures of was bbq turkey on buns.

A bunch of left over turkey from our Sunday meal

A jar of bbq sauce

Put in a crockpot to heat up.

Serve on buns.

Yes, Today was sadly a veggie-less day. I was planning to cook corn with dinner but it was so late at night that most kids grabbed their bbq sandwiches and ate as they were getting ready for bed, doing chores, or talking about what they did at youth group.

I will serve two vegetables at dinner tomorrow to make up for it. I promise...maybe.


Warmly,A Dragonfrye Mom

From Almost The Beginning

to the end

in pictures.

Old houses are charming...but not when there are clogged pipes, in which the clogs seem to be un-findable and pipes lead nowhere...

Alan and Dad hard at work.



Some of the kids thought our old sandbox (which is lacking sand) needed to be sifted...

Naomi



Their work is paying off. The dirt is looking a little less dirtier.



Odell is wishing to go watch the baseball game. HaHa. I got the not so subtle hint and suggested they walk over and watch.



Joel and Lily sharing the blanket hammock. They ended up getting stuck and could not get out. I did not purposely ignore their plea for help which resulted in them being in the hammock for a sightly extended time. I just could not hear their shouts over the peace and quiet I was enjoying. Honest. I am sticking to my story.



Some seriously pretty potatoes





A few kids were out past dark collecting June bugs and as luck would have it, they found the year's first toad.



Lily and I doing a little late night star gazing.




Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mom

A Random Post

Nothing other than random-ness for no reason.

I am just feeling random.

Today I moved our school table into the basement to teach the eight younger kids.It was a test run. I prefer to teach at the table in the dining room (our basement is kind of stinky and icky) but I lose my train of thought very easily and get SO distracted. The older kids finish their school earlier than the younger kids and it has been hard for them to stay in their rooms quiet for hours while I teach the younger kids. Moving into the basement really helped me to stay focused, proved to be a great sound buffer, and gave the bigger kids more places to 'chill'.

More random-ness...

I made granola for breakfast. Tasty.

I hung a florescent light above our basement school table.

The florescent light then crashed to the ground as the kids watched. I believe I stamped my foot and shouted pretty loud "Oh, man! Shoot! That stupid light!" Not good.

I took a nap on the couch and I am pretty sure I snored.

I mopped the kitchen floor.

Cleaned our food shelf. Not as hard as it sounds 'cause our food shelf is lacking...food...

Someone put a tomato in my iced coffee. Not good.

I passed a not so silent stinker(hehe) when Joel and I were chatting and walking our 'times around' the house for gym. It made him laugh a lot. Gee...I should do that more often.

I washed a gazillion loads of laundry.

I talked Naomi through how to plunge out our kitchen sink. The sink was clogged. She fixed it an was VERY pleased with herself.

I stole some food off of Joel and Lily's lunch plates when they were not looking then fluffed their remaining food up a bit so they would not notice. You will see it on my hips tomorrow.

And I walked around the house taking picture of random pretty things.







Warmly,

A Dragonfrye Mom