I got up earlier than I usually do because we were supposed to have guests, a woman I've never met from a homeschooling list to which I belong. She and a friend were going to be out my way, and I have a sewing machine she was going to teach me how to use (That's right. I actually can't sew. Think "We're the Homeschool Moms who Can't Do Everything" sung to the tune of "We're the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything") or at least teach me how to use the old Kenmore sewing machine my mother-in-law bought me at a yard sale. So I woke up early, took a shower, cleaned my room, and was on my way to clean up the rest of the house a bit when our would-be guest called to say she wouldn't be coming. I guess at that point, I went into relax mode.
But not really. I made lunch for the kids. Bard requested fried burritos, which is a new specialty of mine. It's actually very simple. Taco meat, cheese, flour tortillas and oil. Fill the flour tortilla with meat and cheese (you can add mexican rice and/or refried beans, too) and then fry it on one side in medium-hot oil until it's golden brown and then turn it over and do the same on the other side. Drain on a paper towel. I put sour cream sauce, lettuce, sour cream and homemade salsa on the top. Yum.
We spent some time giving each other quizzes from American Girl's The Quiz Book. One quiz asks you how well you know your parents, so I let each of the kids take a shot at seeing how well they knew me. I was surprised to find out that none of them knew who my best friend was (my husband...although they guessed Tina, who's my second-best friend) and my sons didn't know my middle name. I was also surprised to find out that I didn't even know the answer to some of them, like my favorite vacation spot (Vacation??? Who takes vacations?) or my favorite actor (I guess Hugh Grant is the best I could come up with).
We bought a hand-crank ice cream freezer a couple of weeks ago, so we've been experimenting with different ice cream recipes. We get whole, raw milk from a local farmer and have been skimming the cream off the top. Tonight we made banana ice cream using eggs, so it was like a cooked custard. It seemed to take a long time to freeze, and then when we packed it, it didn't freeze as well as I'd hoped. Darn. So now it's in the freezer where I hope it will harden better than it was doing in the ice cream freezer.
Sweetheart and I have been working on her reading lessons. I didn't start them last year like I had intended because she just wasn't ready. Now she's ready and she's doing very well. I really like the resource we use, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, because the lessons are short and teach the alphabet by phonics instead of by the names of the letters. She's moving right along, even with the letter writing, and each lesson takes us about 15 minutes. I used this book with my oldest, Bard, who didn't even need to finish it all and now reads constantly. I tried it with the next child, Edison, but now I realize that he just wasn't ready to read. I'll have to post that story later. I didn't even get around to starting the book with Monet because he was just naturally interested in reading, though he didn't start to read well independently until this year, and he's 9, which I think is totally normal and acceptable.
So, what did I accomplish today? I set up a playdate for Monet, I did a reading lesson with Sweetheart, I did quizzes with all of the kids, I made lunch, I made ice cream, and I went to the store. :-/ Oh, and I got my room clean. Mostly. And bickered with Edison about what he and I consider a "clean room" and how our definitions differ.
Oh, yeah. And I sent an e-mail to Strong Bad. My kids are WAY too big into Homestar Runner, so I sent an e-mail saying,
Dear Strong Bad,
My kids love you. Do you have any suggestions to remedy this?
Sincerely (No, I really am sincere about this),
My kids' mom
We'll see if I get an answer. :-)
