Squash

I am a horrible gardener. I even managed to kill my squash and zucchini plants. We have 3 little cucumbers, about 4 inches long, (at the time everyone else is harvesting) and 2 pumpkins, a little bigger than a baseball. The only thing that grows good are my raspberry bushes.

Anyway, in spite of my black thumb, we've been blessed with a good amount of yellow squash and zucchini from friends and family. I've been eating squash just cooked with butter for lunch a lot of days, and made zucchini bread, which everyone but Tyler seems to like. Then the other day I found this recipe for Yellow Squash Casserole. I really, really liked it, Ryan ate it okay with some coaxing, Adam loved it, Tyler and Jeanisha wouldn't even try it. Stephen said it was the best yellow squash he's ever had. But he quickly followed that with "that doesn't mean it's good, it's just the first yellow squash I've ever had that was at least edible." At least he likes the zucchini bread. Adam and I finished off the casserole the next day for lunch-- it reheated good.

So, if you have a plethora of squash, here's a recipe to try. If you like squash you will probably like it. :)

I did add some garlic and extra cheese, probably 3 cups total. I only had one package of crackers, so I substituted grape nut flakes for the portion of crackers that is mixed in with the squash and used the whole package of crushed crackers with cheese on the top. I sliced the squash with the thin slicer blade from the kitchen aid and did not precook it. I did peel it and take the seeds out first too, but with a smaller squash you wouldn't need to.

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 4 cups sliced yellow squash
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 35 buttery round crackers, crushed
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix together cracker crumbs and cheese. Stir half of the cracker mixture into the cooked squash and onions. In a small bowl, mix together eggs and milk, then add to squash mixture. Stir in 1/4 cup melted butter, and season with salt and pepper. Spread into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, Sprinkle with remaining cracker mixture after about 15 minutes then cook until lightly browned.

Farworld Blog Tour and a giveaway

I get to be a part of the blog tour for a new book called Farworld: WaterKeep by J. Scott Savage that is coming out in September. He sent me an Advance Readers Copy (ARC) of the book to read and review and is giving me one more to give away to someone who reads this review and leaves a comment. I'm having fits getting a picture of the cover to post, so here is the link on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Farworld-Book-Water-Keep-World/dp/159038962X

Farworld is planned as a 5 book series and Water Keep is the first book. It's a young adult science fiction type, so if you like Fablehaven, Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, and such, you would probably enjoy it. The ultimate test of a book like this is whether it can suck me into the imaginary world enough that I neglect my housework to finish it. Farworld did. The kids enjoyed a day of playing in the backyard instead of regular chores and homeschool and we ended up having grilled hot dogs for dinner, so they thought it was a great day! I ended wishing Book 2 was ready because the 400 + pages weren't enough for the day. :)

The basic plot of the book follows two teenagers who live in different worlds, Marcus on Earth, Kyja in Farworld a world completely full of magic. Both are misfits in their own worlds, Marcus because he is a handicapped orphan and Kyja because she can't do magic and is immune to the magic of others in her world. When Marcus magically ends up in Farworld, he and Kyja learn of a secret that could destroy both their worlds unless they can get the different elements (water, fire, earth, and air) to cooperate and open a passage between the two worlds. Book 1 Water Keep is their journey and adventures and they try to persuade the Water Elementals to help them.

As part of the blog tour, I also got to interview the author and creator of Farworld. I had some help from some homeschooled kids in thinking up my questions, and it was fun to "visit" with a real author.

Here's the interview:

When did you decide you wanted to be an author and how did you start?

Like a lot of things in my life, it crept up on me. I’ve always loved to tell stories, but I honestly don’t think I decided I had what it took to be an author until after I published my first book. Weird huh?

Where do you get your ideas for a book?

ShopKo. Another four years and I can get the senior discount. So I can probably afford to write two books a year. I wish I knew. I’d go there all the time. I think ideas are kind of like belly button lint. They just appear out of nowhere. And you shouldn’t try eating either of them. Okay, that was just plain gross.

What are your favorite books?

I love to read just about everything. Last night I finished Neverworld, I think it was called? Amazing story. Neil Gaiman is incredible.

Do you have another job or do you just write?

Unfortunately I also have a day job. But I’m hoping to go to fulltime writing in the next year or so.

How long did it take to write Water Keep?

Hang on. Let me try. “Water Keep?” About two seconds, but I’m a hunt and peck guy. Less than three months for the first draft. But more than twice that in edits.

What is the hardest part about writing a novel/being an author?

No hard parts. Compared to the rest of life, being an author is awesome.

What is the best part?

Everything. Having people read and enjoy your stories is just so dang cool. I love it.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to become an author someday?

Always floss, and don’t put open pens in your pocket. Also, read a ton and write for fun. Don’t worry about how good your writing is at first, just enjoy the process.

Do you have to learn math if you want to be a writer?

Nope. But learn it anyway. In case you need to be an accountant or something while you work on getting published.

What advice would you give to parents who want their children to enjoy and become proficient at writing?

Give them little challenges and praise their success. Many kids get overwhelmed by the concept of coming up with a whole story. But if you tell them to write about a contest between a magic dwarf and a pink dragon, they can totally get off on that.

If you had a time machine, what time would you travel to and why?

I’d travel ten years ahead. Just so I could say, “I told you so,” for the next decade.

If you were a candy bar, what kind would you be?

Hershey with almonds. Because I am a little nuts.

What is the most beautiful/inspiring thing you've ever seen?

My wife. (That should win me brownie points at home!)

What is the most random question you've been asked on this blog tour and how did you respond?

I was asked, “What sounds grates your teeth the most?” I answered, “’Help me, Dad. I’m drowning.’ Especially when I am trying to take a nap.” It was just a joke kids. Don’t come after me with a pitchfork.

Don't forget to leave me a comment with a way to contact you if you win the book!!! If you have kids old enough, probably 9 or 10 and up, they can leave a comment and be in the drawing too!

Tyler's battle wound and upcoming surgery

Tyler and Stephen were wrestling around on Saturday. Tyler was running to try to knock Stephen over, and Stephen side stepped him. He just missed the big bean bag and crashed into the table instead. The result was a trip to the ER and 3 stitches in his forehead.


His oral surgery to remove his extra tooth is scheduled for next Thursday. He is SOOO excited. The dentist told him he would have to be lazy for the rest of the day after they took it out and just watch movies and rest. And if that's not good enough, he also has to eat things like Popsicles and ice cream for the day. All of that sounds pretty good to a 6 year old.


He's also convinced that the tooth fairy will be paying him extra for this tooth since it is special. He told me he thinks she should give him at least $12!!! But I told him I didn't think she could pay more than $3 for a tooth. (The first tooth lost by each kid in our house gets a $2 bill).

My little helper

Adam loves to help. For awhile, we kept finding things he'd put in the trashcan and had to make sure the cupboard under the sink stayed locked so he didn't throw away ALL the toys. Today, he decided to help with laundry. He took a big armful of clothes from the clean laundry basket, carried them into the laundry room and dumped them into the dirty clothes bins. I may not have caught it with just one or two things, but I also found piles of folded clothes sitting in the hamper. Just what I need, more laundry. :) But I guess that's my incentive to get it all put away before he comes to help.

Photos

I've been way behind posting photos with my posts lately. We use Stephen's work camera, so I have to wait for him to bring it home and download the photos for me. So here are a bunch of fun ones from the most recent download. The first one is from Tyler's birthday this spring. They have had SOO much fun playing baseball and playing outside this summer. Next is of the kids fishing. Both boys are able to cast on their own now. Tyler is the fisherman like his dad, Ryan gets bored and starts throwing rocks. Jeanisha just wanders.




The next group of pictures here are from a Sunday morning getting ready for church. Aren't they cute???


















This next picture is our super sweet cat Lucy!!!! She is a joy and is so good with the kids. They haul her around, play with her with a bouncy ball or yarn. It is so funny to watch her chase a ball all around the patio. They all love her!!!!















Then you have cute Jeanisha-- she is the one who loves to pose for the camera.













And here is one of Adam with his sunglasses!

















And here is one of Tyler at the Idaho Youth games. He came in 2nd in his age group. He loves running and is pretty fast. He was so proud of his ribbon from this race and his medal from Tae Kwan Do. Jeanisha loved the dance class adn Tae Kwan Do, although she was pretty bummed her medal wasn't chocolate.














Here is Adam and his cousin running around during the races.






























Our other fun summer activity was swimming. Ryan is now in Level 3 and loves jumping off the diving board and being able to go anywhere he wants in the pool. Tyler is in Level 2 and has come SO far from a year ago when he wouldn't even bob under water. Jeanisha passed preschool with flying colors, but is still a bit short for level 1. She loves swimming and jumping off the diving board. We usually put her in a life jacket and then she can swim and go wherever she wants. Adam was just jealous that he couldn't get in the water.









And here's just one last cute picture of Adam eating his bowl on my birthday! He loved his cake.

Homeschool Product Reviews and a Giveaway

I've been given a chance to test and review 2 different products from the Old Schoolhouse Magazine. http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/ And I get to give away a one year digital subscription of their magazine. So if you are interested in the drawing, leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a name out of a hat.

The first product I get to review is the Old Schoolhouse Magazine itself. It is available in both digital ($16.95 a year) and printed ($25.00 a year) formats and is printed quarterly. New subscribers also get a bunch of freebies, which are actually worth a lot more than the subscription price. It is a Christian based homeschool magazine filled with well written articles, practical ideas, and reviews of homeschool products. There is also a complete homeschool unit study in each issue-- the Summer 2008 one was on flight. I don't tend to buy a lot of magazine subscriptions, but after looking through the free online back issue from Summer 2007 on the website, I decided to subscribe a few months ago. To tell the truth, the deciding factor was a couple of the freebies that cost more than the magazine.

I went with the print magazine because I don't have a laptop and one of the pluses of a magazine for me is being able to haul it with me to the park or keep it in the car for those waiting times when I have a few minutes to read. I was very impressed with the Summer 2008 issue. I liked the Christian focus and didn't find anything that conflicted with LDS beliefs. I grabbed it out of the mailbox on the way to the park and ended up letting the kids play for almost 3 hours while I read most of it. It's sat near the computer since then as I've looked up some of the advertised products that I flagged. The one con is that I will probably find some fun new curriculum and end up spending more money. :)

My favorite thing about The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is reading about other families who are living the same lifestyle we are and getting practical ideas and advice for the lifestyle we've chosen.


The 2nd product I get to review is The Schoolhouse Planner ($39.00). I have to say this is the most complete planner I have ever seen!!!! It's huge, 247 pages. But, because it is an e-book I can print just the stuff I need and want and customize it to fit my family. In addition to your basic calendar, address/phone book, and daily schedule forms, it includes just about every homeschool or household form you could possible imagine: from field trip and reading logs to chore charts and menu planning, it's all there. One big plus for me is that it's in a pdf fill in format. I can type in the information, then save and print it. But when something changes, I can just go fix it and reprint that page. It's also nice to have all the forms you can imagine in one place. Instead of having 200 files, I have 1.

There are also forms for some of the things I've always known I should have on hand, but just never taken the time to create. For example, there is a personal financial inventory sheet where you list your regular monthly bills, account number, normal due date, address and phone number of the company, and whether it is automatically paid. Most of this is information that I have floating around in my head. I know if a certain bill doesn't show up by say the 15th then I had better do some checking and pay it anyway. I may be able to find the account number and address in the shred box, unless it's caught up, then I get to spend forever on the phone trying to get it straightened out and dealing with customer service reps who say, "It's not in your name, I have to talk to your husband." Having all of the info I need in one place could save me hours of searching-- and if anything ever happened to me, my husband, who never pays the bills, would at least have a starting place.

There are also lots of other little extras: recipes, timelines, a chart for reading the Bible in a year, and lots more. You won't find a more complete planner than this. Here is a link where you can preview a whole bunch of pages from the planner. http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2499

Have fun planning and don't forget to leave a comment if you want to win the magazine subscription. If you leave an anonymous post, make sure I have a way to contact you if you win.

Temple Open House and Family Reunion

This past weekend we went to the Twin Falls Temple Open house . The temple was beautiful!!! The mural in the endowment room is amazing!!!!! One of the sealing rooms is HUGE-- it is the biggest in any temple. The kids loved the Celestial Room, especially the enormous chandelier. They also thought the sealing room mirrors were pretty neat, seeing themselves go on forever and ever. I never would have thought Twin Falls would get a temple, it's only 45 minutes from where I grew up. The closest temple before that was about 3 hours away. I love seeing how many have been built just in the last 10 years.

After the open house we went to Stephen's family reunion at Downata Hot Springs, it was all of his mom's siblings and their kids and his grandparents. We didn't sleep very good with all the noise, but the kids loved the campfire and playing with all the cousins. There was a big grassy area for the kids to play soccer and tag and just run and play. The water in the pool was very warm-- like bathwater, so we could stay in for a long time and play. R loved the big slides, T went once-- and Stephen ended up giving him a push to get him started-- then stayed in the pool the rest of the time. It was fun visiting with everyone, many of whom we only see once a year or so.

Tagged

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It will be interesting to see the responses.

Spelling

I was asked about Spellwell, the spelling program I'm using for R this year.

Spellwell is your basic grade level spelling program, but I like that it groups words by a rule and then has 1 or 2 "outlaw" words-- words that don't follow the rules. You can see some samples here.

http://www.epsbooks.com/downloads/samplers/S-spellwell.pdf

Each week also has alternative words and alternative homework if the words that week are too easy. The assignments seem to have more variety than "Building Spelling Skills" which we used last year.

I wanted spelling to be something R can pretty much do on his own, other than the pre and post tests. Plus, he likes to work ahead and be done for the week, then just review quickly the day of the post test.

We also pull words out of his writing and sometimes he practices them 10 times or he does the HWT method of wet, dry, try (copies it on the chalkboard, trace/erase with a wet sponge, trace/dry with a paper towel, then rewrite and repeat a couple times until he thinks he has it.) Those words are added to the post-test or the next week if he's still struggling with them and he just uses the alternative activity for those words. He likes the activity pages and I like not having to build them myself-- I did that one year and it was a pain by mid year.