Apple Dumplings

One night I found a delicious looking recipe for Apple Dumplings on one of my very very favorite blogs!

A Year of Slow Cooking

Instead of following the recipe exactly, I looked for a whole wheat crescent recipe at cooks.com

Yes, Haylee is wearing my apron from my flight attendant days at America West, she loved it.

For those of you with food storage, I used the dehydrated apples and rehydrated them for this recipe. Also, I used my wheat grinder to make the wheat flour. The mixture of the two recipes worked like a charm. I chose to cook the dessert right away instead of doing it crockpot style.
The crockpot blog noted that some people felt like the recipe was too sweet, but with the wheat rolls, it was just perfect! Whole wheat sometimes tastes a little bland, but it was just perfect for this recipe. It was the most delicious dessert we have ever had really. I love it and can't wait to make it again!! We have been trying to use some of the wheat that we have so I have also found it to be really good in pumpkin bread and corn bread muffins (for these, I just add a little extra sugar)! I am still looking for new ways to use the wheat, but these are the few "seasonal" things that I have found make great recipes using wheat flour.

Classroom

Since we are homeschooling, I set up a classroom. Having the classroom took some space from the "home", but I am so thankful for it. It really helps the kids get ready for school each day. This is their art center and some of their artwork they have completed.

This is the front of the room. The map and calendar.

Haylee has online spelling homework everyday and every few lessons they both have math or technology work online. This is one of the few centers that I get no complaints about!

Haylee and Trent's desks. This is where they do all their work. The extra chair in the front is where they sit at the "teacher" desk so I can teach them. Yes I make them wear uniforms. Yet another way that I help the kids separate "home" from "school". They change out of their clothes after school is over.

Laycee and Logan didn't want to share, so we split the art board in half!

Sometimes in order to get Trent to do his writing, I have to elicit the help of Dave. Dave and Trent have a special bond so when I am desperate, Dave is my go to man.

Haylee's latest artwork above is a drawing of an animal using geometric shapes. Trent's below is a tunderstorm like shown in the little picture.

We have been loving homeschooling overall. Some days provide challenges and learning everything about the coursework has taken time, but we are thankful for the extra time together.

Parks

Another photo album by Smilebox

One day we went to a USO event and outside of the USO, there is this amazing park. We were thankful for a sunny day and the chance to get out and enjoy a bit of beautiful scenery that Washington has to offer!

Life

It being the month of November, I decided to make this post about some things I am thankful for. I am thankful that Dave is home this Thanksgiving time. He has been home about 6 weeks and I am so thankful to have him back in the home. Thankful for the extra hands and the extra love to go around. I am thankful for the game of LIFE. The kids love it and there are great memories made while we sit around together at the table and play it. And I am especially that this time, I didn't have to play!

Their New Room

Unfortunately, I am short pictures of the house. I don't know how I haven't taken any yet, but I did take a picture of the kids room.

It was Dave's night to sing to them before bed.
We only qualify for a 3 bedroom on post. I wanted a room for a classroom, so since the bedrooms were a decent size, we bunked all the kids together. The boys each have a bunk bed and then of course, the girls sleep together. Laycee cannot stand sleeping alone. They all seem to be ok with the arrangement even though they do keep one another up at night sometimes. They are growing up so fast so I enjoy this time having the 4 of them bonding together.

Losing Teeth

In June, just before her first birthday, Haylee lost her first tooth. Then she finally lost her second top tooth. It took a lot of wiggling and working. She had an infection in the gum and it was a painful pull. Since these pictures, she has lost the other top tooth. She is so cute without her two front teeth! I love it. She is so excited to finally be losing teeth as well!

Pumpkin Patch

Digital greeting card customized with Smilebox

So again, I know I am so far behind on blogging, but I am going to do my best to catch up. This year seemed to be and up and down Halloween. Dave and I went on a cruise right before Halloween. And between him working half days and our homeschooling, the month has just flown by. Anyway, we tried to squeeze in a few fun activites. For the first year ever, we went to a pumpkin patch! We went kind of late in the month so there were only a few that weren't rotten, but we ended up finding 2 big ones and then 4 small ones for the kids. The kids had a great time running around trying to find the perfect pumpkin. The weather was beautiful and it hadn't rained in a bit, so it was not muddy. It was a great adventure and a fun first time doing something new!