What We're Reading This Week

We took a brief break from the library for a couple of weeks, but made a stop there on Tuesday to get some new reading material.

My girls are in an American Girl mood at the moment and got the following books from that series, most of which they have read before and enjoyed:

Addy's Short Story Collection
A Molly Mystery: The Light in the Cellar
Brave Emily
Meet Felicity
Happy Birthday, Molly
Really Truly Ruthie

They also checked out these books from other series they like to read:
A to Z Mysteries: The X'ed-Out X-Ray
The Cul-de-sac Kids: The Upside-Down Day

We had previously checked out A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. I want my girls to develop an appreciation for good poetry, so was happy when my older daughter requested that we get this book again. I'm hoping to find a used copy of it that I can purchase for ourselves.

A couple that were new to us this time were The Secret Soldier: The Story of Deborah Sampson by Ann McGovern and The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden. I skimmed both of these; the latter is a Newbery Honor book and looks quite entertaining and age-appropriate.

As for myself, the bookshelf located by the library exit that contains used books for sale got me again! Here's what I bought for my own reading:

If Mama Ain't Happy, Ain't Nobody Happy by Lindsey O'Connor

The Birth Order Book by Kevin Leman. I have actually read this one before, but wanted to re-read it and add it to my own collection.

The Perfect Wife: The Life and Choices of Laura Bush by Ann Gerhart

Ronald Reagan in Private: A Memoir of My Years in the White House by Jim Kuhn. Ronald Reagan is one of my favorite Presidents and I enjoy reading books about him.

I'm also currently reading The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley. Look for a review of that book coming up soon!

See what others' have in their book basket by visiting The Happy Housewife today.

Mother's Day Brunch: Quiche Recipe

When I think of brunch, one of my favorite foods comes to mind - quiche. When I used to work in an office, a friend and I would occasionally go out to lunch at her favorite restaurant. Every time, my order was the same: vegetable quiche with a side salad.

For one thing, making quiche is very easy. I like how creative you can be by using a variety of meats, cheeses and veggies; no two quiches ever have to be quite the same. It's also a great way to use up leftover bits from the refrigerator. Here is the basic recipe I use.

Quick and Easy Quiche

1 baked pie shell

1 cup grated cheese

Herbs to taste (basil, chives, parsley, etc.)

1/2 cup cooked meat, if desired (ham, bacon, chicken, sausage)

(Optional: add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of a vegetable as well, possibly chopped spinach, red pepper, green onion, chopped broccoli, mushrooms, grated carrots, etc.)

Put all in bottom of pie shell.

Beat two eggs with one cup of milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and pour over ingredients in pie shell. Sprinkle top lightly with grated parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for twenty minutes. Cut into slices and serve.

For me, this would be a great Mother's Day brunch served with fresh fruit and orange juice. Guess I need to add this recipe to my baking time with the girls; maybe they could master it by next Mother's Day!!

This post is linked to

• Life As Mom Ultimate Recipe Swap
• Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
• Tasty Thursday

Thirteen Quotes About Moms

With Mothers' Day fast approaching, here are thirteen of my favorite quotes about moms.

1. A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after. ~Peter De Vries



2. Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its' mother is feeling chilly. ~Ambrose Bierce



3. She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along. ~Margaret Culkin Banning



4. A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. - Tenneva Jordan



5. Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. - Unknown



6. Making a decision to have a child--it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. - Elizabeth Stone
   


7. When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. - Sophia Loren



8. And remember that behind every successful woman......is a basket of dirty laundry. - Unknown
   


9. A mother is a person who if she is not there when you get home from school, you wouldn't know how to get your dinner, and you wouldn't feel like eating it anyway. - Anonymous
   


10. It is not what you do for your children but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings. - Ann Landers



11. There never was a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him asleep. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
    


12. We worry about what a child will be tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. - Stacia Tauscher



13. Children seldom misquote you. They more often repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said. - Mae Maloo

This post is linked to Thursday 13 and Happy to Be at Home.

In Honour of Mom

What one word do you most closely associate with Mother? As Mothers' Day approaches and I spend a few extra moments thinking about my own mom, what comes to mind first is sacrifice.

I was privileged to grow up in a home with a Christian mother and can think of several areas in which she made sacrifices for her children.

1. Her will. My mom willingly submitted to my dad as the leader of our home and set a great example for my brothers, sister and I as to how a good marriage should operate. She taught us to love and respect my dad by the way she talked about him and responded to him.



2. Her needs and wants. Mom would put our needs ahead of her own. I know there were many times when she could have bought things for herself, but she would rather one of us children have a new outfit or follow some new interest instead. She always made me feel like it truly brought her joy for us to have the best rather than herself.
   


3. Her time. She always met our physical needs, making sure our laundry was done and our meals were prepared. No matter what activity we were involved in, we knew my mom (and dad as well) would be there to support us. While I didn't participate in sports, my brothers and sister did and they could count on mom being at every game and cheering enthusiastically, being there to comfort if they lost or congratulate if they won. I'm sure the hours are countless that she spent praying for each of us and, now that we are grown, our children as well.



4. Her ambitions. I believe that my mom loved being a stay-at-home mom. She totally dedicated herself to us and laid aside any ambitions she may have had for herself to devote herself to rearing us children.

Proverbs 31:28 says "Her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." Today I call my mom blessed and thank God for the mom He gave me.

Beginning Reading: One Vowel Words

We covered blending a consonant sound with a vowel sound in last week's Teaching Tuesday. As I mentioned then, the process of mastering those blends may take some time. You don't want to move on to the next step until your child is very comfortable with smoothly reading many of the blends.

When you feel they are ready, it's a pretty simple thing to add a final consonant to the blend and create a word that they can read. In the beginning, this is something I like to do visually with manipulatives or flashcards rather than reading them out of a book. For example, if you begin with the blend "ta," have a flashcard on the table with that blend and have your child say the blend. Then place a "p" flashcard at the end of the blend. Help them say the blend and add the extra consonant sound at the end. There is truly nothing like the feeling you have when your child's face lights up as they realize they have read a word. The light bulb may not click on with the first or even fifth try, but when it does, it's a truly great moment.

I would begin with a blend that has several possibilities for creating different words. By using a blend like "ta," you can add several different consonants on the end of that one blend to make words - b, g, n, p, and x. I would spend a number of days working on creating various one vowel words in this way. Once the idea has been grasped and the reading of the words has become a little smoother, I would then start finding very short books with easy one vowel words that the child can read. I think that a part of learning to read is the child being confident in their knowledge of what has already been taught before going on to the next step.

Right now, it's only one vowel words that we're working on, but what a world of opportunity we open up to our children when we start them down the path to being a reader! Please share with us in the comments section any suggestions or successes you've had in the journey of teaching your child to read.

Thankful for Safety

On Friday I went with my older daughter on a school field trip to an aquarium. Since it was a good distance away, most of the parents and students rode on the bus. We had fun exploring the aquarium and saw some neat things while we were there. One of their favorite activities was standing on the moving sidewalk that took us through a glass tunnel. We got to see sharks and a number of other large fish swimming all around us. Getting the opportunity to touch some of the different creatures was another highlight.

When we returned to the school late in the afternoon, my daughter's teacher said a quick prayer thanking God for safety on our trip. I am grateful for God's protection during our travels that day and for the pleasant time I got to share with my daughter and the other second graders!

Visit Laura at Heavenly Homemakers for more Gratituesday.

Strawberries Aplenty

This week's project involved my favorite fruit - strawberries! On Thursday a friend and I went and picked strawberries at a U-Pick farm and got lots of large, ripe strawberries. We went in the morning, so the girls were in school and highly disappointed that they couldn't go along! They have gone with me in previous years and really enjoy picking (and eating!) strawberries in the field.

My six-year old can nearly eat her weight in strawberries, but I knew we wouldn't be able to consume them all before they went bad. I washed and sliced some of the strawberries and froze them in two-cup portions in freezer bags to use later.

I think frozen strawberries are great for making strawberry shortcake and smoothies. I'd love to know if you have any other great recipes that use frozen strawberries.

This post is linked to

• Talk About Tuesday
• Tackle It Tuesday

Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake

After my older daughter's success last week with the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake, my younger daughter chose Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake for her baking time with Mom this week. Yes, we need a five-mile family bike ride every night after eating dessert! At least it's usually just a weekend treat, so we can be a little more disciplined during the week to keep our waistlines in check!

This was another hit - a new recipe that turned out to be so tasty! I think this would be fabulous as a birthday cake. I didn't garnish it, but you could certainly use additional Oreo cookies or whipped topping to up the "fancy factor."


Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake

Cake:
1 pkg (2-layer size) devil's food chocolate cake mix

Glaze:
3 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate
3 tbsp butter, cut up

Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup thawed whipped topping
8 Oreo chocolate sandwich cookies, coarsely crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare and bake cake mix as directed on package in two 9-inch round cake pans. Cool in pan ten minutes. Invert onto wire rack; cool completely.

Melt chocolate in small microwaveable bowl on high one to two minutes or until chocolate is melted, stirring after 30 seconds. Blend in butter. Set aside to thicken slightly, about five minutes.

Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping and crushed cookies. Place one of the cake layers on serving plate, top-side down. Spread top of cake layer evenly with entire cream cheese mixture. Place remaining cake layer on top, top-side up. Spoon chocolate glaze to cover top of cake only.

This post is linked to

• Tasty Tuesday
  
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
  
• Kitchen Tip Tuesday
  

In Grandma's Attic Book Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Cstironkat, who was selected by random.org as the winner of the book In Grandma's Attic! Thanks to all who participated in the giveaway! I was excited to hear from many of you for the first time and enjoyed seeing which books you spend time reading with your family.

Mannerly Monday: Girls Edition

After spending last week discussing manners for boys, this week we'll turn our attention to manners we can teach specifically to our girls to help them develop into courteous young ladies.

• Accept all help graciously and politely. If a young man acts gentlemanly toward you, be thankful and appreciative. Do not ignore his gesture or act as though you don't need his assistance.


• If a man does not offer his help, do what needs to be done yourself without making him feel that he is impolite.


• Be ladylike in the way you sit. Dress and act modestly so that others around you do not feel awkward or distracted.


• Use good judgement and discretion in your interaction with young men. Do not be too forward or intimate in your conduct toward them.
  
• Be refined in actions and speech. Don't seek to draw attention to yourself by loud, boisterous behavior.

Here are a few quotes that I found interesting on the subject of being a lady.

A lady is a woman who makes a man behave like a gentleman. - Russell Lynes

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't. - Margaret Thatcher

Miss Manners cannot think of a more succinct definition of a lady than 'someone who wants to punch another person in the nose, but doesn't.' - Judith Martin

May we seek to rear our girls to be proper Christian young ladies! If you have ideas or suggestions along these lines, please feel free to share in the comments section.

photo courtesy Public Domain Pictures

Menu Plan for the Week

Today I'm joining Organizing Junkie in Menu Plan Monday for the first time. I'll share with you what we plan to eat this week.

My normal routine is to sit down on Sunday afternoon and write out the meals I am going to prepare for the coming week. I begin by checking the freezer and pantry to see what I already have on hand that I can use. This week I knew I had plenty of chicken and ground beef in the freezer and a box of lasagna noodles in the pantry. Publix also has a pretty good sale on shredded cheese this week, so I thought I could work that into my plan.

I also glance at my calendar to see what nights I need to serve quick meals. For example, this week my older daughter has a concert at school on Tuesday night, so I need something easy to prepare and with not a lot of clean up.

I try to make sure we have a balance throughout the week, so we're not eating some form of chicken four or five nights in a row! On weeks like this one, where I know several of the meals will make more than enough for one supper, I set aside a night for leftovers so that the extra food doesn't go to waste.

Monday: Italian chicken, brown rice, green beans

Tuesday: Chicken and cheese quesadillas, mexibeans, fruit

Wednesday: Homemade sloppy joes, cheese fries

Thursday: Homemade lasagna, salad, bread

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Out to eat (Pre-Mother's Day celebration)

My husband may like this - he can come here to see which nights he wants to make it home in time for supper! :)

Visit Menu Plan Monday to find recipes and see what others are eating this week.

Can We Call It a Tie??

While there wasn't a lot on sale at Publix this week that I needed, I still came so close to meeting my goal - spent $27.87 and saved $26.94! Only $.94 from saving more than I spent!

I didn't get a picture of what I bought this week - some produce and meat that were on sale, some coffee that wasn't (but wanted to make sure my husband had some when he needed it!) My best deal was the Orville Redenbacher Microwave popcorn: on sale B1G1 free; bought two boxes for $2.45; had two $1 off coupons; so I paid $.45 for two boxes.

Read how others savedthis week at Money Saving Mom's Super Savings Saturday, Fiddledeedee Publix Super Savers, The Thrifty Mama's Shopping Superstars and Grocery Cart Challenge.

Favorite Five Shoes

This Friday Favorite Five showcases my five favorite pairs of shoes!! I'm not one of those women who have racks and racks of shoes (only two racks in my closet, to be exact), but I do enjoy a nice comfortable pair of shoes.

1. Bought these at Ross; not something I would normally have chosen, but I love the "sparkly" factor!
2. Great tennis shoes for those family bike rides and strawberry picking!
3. Very cute and comfy Naturalizer shoes, modeled by my youngest!
4. Very practical black shoes for summer, modeled by my older daughter.
5. Boots are the best! Despite being in the south, we still get cold, windy winter days and boots are comfortable and easy!
   

There you have it.....until I find the next "favorite" pair of shoes, that is!

Baking Time with Mommy

Just after the beginning of the year, I decided that I wanted to get my girls more involved in the kitchen. They have occasionally helped me do some baking in the past, but I wanted to have them do something more regularly - as a way of spending time together and also to help them learn to enjoy cooking and be comfortable in the kitchen.

This is difficult during the week with school and other activities, so I decided that each Saturday afternoon I would have one of the girls bake with me. Right now we are doing desserts (who doesn't love that!), but eventually we will move on to other items.

The Sunday afternoon before, the girl whose turn it is for the week chooses the recipe she would like to make from my recipe file or one of my cookbooks. I can then add the ingredients to my shopping list in case the recipe calls for something we don't have in the pantry.

On Saturday afternoon, right after lunch, we do our baking together. This is one of those things that wouldn't get done if I didn't schedule it in every week! We've made various cakes, cupcakes and brownies from scratch, apple and blueberry pie and cherry cheesecake. Last week's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake was a huge hit!

Spending time together cooking is a finer thing!

This post is linked to

• Finer Things Friday


• Family Friday

Keep Your Eyes Open for Great Deals

I was so excited about this find!! On Monday my younger daughter and I were making a quick stop at the library to return a couple of books. Near the exit is a set of bookshelves where they put books that have been discontinued or donated for sale. They usually charge very little for the books, so I'm in the habit of doing a quick perusal to see if there's anything I might want to pick up.

This particular day we were in a hurry (actually, we seem to be in a hurry a lot, but that's another story!) so I was only giving a cursory glance on the way out when I saw a Trixie Belden book on a bottom shelf in a box of children's' books. Just a little history - I read and collected Trixie Belden books as a kid and only need a few more to complete my collection.

Lo and behold, behind the one Trixie Belden book were ten more!! I bought them all at a quarter a piece! That was $2.75, certainly less than I would have paid for even one of the books somewhere else. One of them I needed to add to my collection; another will replace one I already had that is in poor condition. The other nine I will list on eBay and should be able to make a small profit on each. Or, I may just put them on PaperBackSwap so I can earn credits for new books for myself.

So, my frugal tip from this experience is to always keep your eyes open for a great deal! (remembering that it's only a great deal if you have the cash to pay for it : )

This post is linked to

• Frugal Friday
  
• Super Savings Saturday

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