Produce!

Our produce is...producing! Look what I picked from garden #10 this afternoon:

We have a bazillion radishes coming up, and I'm the only one here who likes them. Therefore, I need some radish recipes that will show my family the tastier side of this awesome pink veggie:
Pickled radishes and radishes with homemade butter: http://www.shesimmers.com/2009/06/how-to-make-pickled-radishes-quick-and.html
Pickled radish omelet - yes, omelet: http://blogs.denverpost.com/preserved/2011/06/06/pickled-radishes/1544/
10 radish recipes, including radish sandwiches and baked radish chips: http://dancinggecko.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/10-tasty-radish-recipes/
Braised radishes: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/braised-radishes-recipe/index.html
Glazed radishes: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/glazed-radishes-recipe2/index.html
Roasted radishes and carrots: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/roasted-radishes-and-carrots-recipe/index.html

The best part of eating a radish? Radish breath. Nothing like some good, spicy radish breath to welcome your husband home with, right John?
John?

Delayed Obedience is Disobedience

I'm gearing up for our parenting class tonight, and though this is from a couple of lessons ago, I'm still struggling with it (as are the kids):

Obedience is immediate, complete, without challenge, and without complaint. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Whiny obedience is disobedience. Reluctant obedience is disobedience. Sometimes I'm so frustrated with the kids that I accept (even thank!) them for whiny or sullen obedience, when really, this is not obedience at all. You confuse your kids when you accept anything less than complete obedience, because your standard isn't clear or consistent. I've decided that I'm pretty good at being confusing. Ah well. What fun would parenting be without room (lots and lots of room) for growth and improvement?
In unrelated news, Grace is officially rolling over! This picture is from the cell phone, so it isn't very clear, but feel free to admire it - and our darling baby - anyway! She had just rolled from back to tummy when I snapped this.

One more fun thing - I got this from a fellow homeschool mom, who got it from another homeschool mom's blog. It's a clock made out of chalkboard paint, so you can write math problems for the hours (example: 5x2 = 10 o'clock). Just Call Me Jammin Clock Post
I was thinking about having one whole wall in our new downstairs TV room painted in chalkboard paint, and I'm thinking about attaching a clock mechanism - the hands or whatever - directly to the wall. Wouldn't that be cool?

July 4 Crafts

I am inspired. I found some really cute crafts on the Family Fun magazine website, and I've decided that we're all going to make matching eagle t-shirts for our trip to KC this weekend. On the back, I'm going to add "One Nation Under God" using iron-on computer paper. Aren't these adorable???
http://familyfun.go.com/4th-of-july/4th-of-july-crafts/hand-some-tee-895365/

And, for our church picnic on July 4, I'm going to make these very, very cute eagle treats, using Oreos, marshmallows, coconut, and cashews.
http://familyfun.go.com/4th-of-july/4th-of-july-recipes/patriotic-recipes/edible-eagles-699768/
Will anyone eat them, what with the coconut and nuts? I don't care. They're too cute to eat anyway. 

We are having the busiest week ever - homeschool family picnic for lunch on Wednesday, Growing Kids class Wednesday night, dinner with our church friends who are moving back to Ohio on Thursday night, bible study after that (and a church meeting before it, actually), then leaving for Aunt Ann's on Friday. I may have to switch to caffeinated Diet Coke.

Grace in Boots and the Big Storm

Two highly unusual things happened at the Schoonover house last night: we had company over (who were NOT members of my immediate family) and we had a big storm that downed a couple of huge branches.
We ate build-your-own shish-ka-bobs on the grill, pasta salad, and rhubarb bars with John's friends the Larsons, from Kiron. Yum. Although...my rhubarb bars were runny, which was disappointing. I think the rhubarb had too many ice crystals on it from being in the freezer, and I should have added extra flour. I'll have to try again. Anyway, I love having them over, and we had the added bonus of drooling over their new Camaro. Am I the only one who had no idea that holographic dashboard displays existed? They show in your windshield. How cool is that??
Another rare experience this weekend - Grace wore boots. Very, very cute boots that even have rubberized soles for extra traction. Because when she runs, Grace needs lots of traction. Check it out:

Also, I had a dream last night that we had started school, and Isaac was some kind of small rodent, like a chipmunk or a chinchilla. I blame this on the storm.

New Books from Kim!

My wonderful ex-teacher friend Kim stopped by with school books this week. All kinds of activity & reading & workbook books. What a cool surprise. I'm so excited to have some Laura Ingalls Wilder books again - I read them when I was a little girl and am thinking that Esme might be old enough to start listening to them. You're never too young to start learning about life on the prairie, are you?? Did you know that there are whole years' worth of multi-subject ("unit study") curriculum built around these books? Awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Kim!! You've filled up a sad little hole in my bookshelf. A medium-sized hole, actually.

Books from Kim - both shelves!

Stuff we want to try today, if we get ambitious:

Two of the Thams girls are over today. Aren't they cute?

Weird, Cool Stuff I Bought at the Store

And of course, by store, I mean Wal-Mart.
Usually, I can restrain myself at the grocery store, or the kids are being so crazy that I have to go as fast as I can and I don't have time to really look around, but today I got a bunch of strange things. Let's say that's because the kids were being so well-behaved. Due to my awesome parenting skills.
Here's a photo (I did get the usual staples, too, I really did):

From left to right:
Great Value brand Stevia sweetener (is this better for you than Splenda? This is my hope)
World Table strawberry poppy seed crackers
Grown-up hair pretties
Dark chocolate almond butter (very tasty on the strawberry crackers)
White yarn with bits of bright blue, green, and yellow
Whole almonds
Organic tea that claims to promote good lactation (Grace will be reporting back on the accuracy of this claim)
An avocado

No coupons were used in the purchase of these items.

Barbie Outfit for Haley

Finally, Haley's Barbie outfit is done. Shirt, skirt, vest, socks, and of course, panties:

Is 2 weeks late too late to be called a birthday present?