Our History/Herstory Timelines

We are using Heart of Dakota's History Curriculum and the girls absolutely L-O-V-E it!
I love it as well. It really allows us to use the Bible as a History book and teaches us to view all of timre from creation forward through the lens of God.

As a part of one of the lessons, the girls made their own personal history/herstory timelines. It was so fun (and bittersweet) to see the girls' baby pictures and their lives all put on paper.

They loved having their own "history" and proudly display them in our home!
Elle had so many years, she had to use 2 papers (sniff, sniff:0).

This was a really fun project for the girls!
Blessings,
Aria:)

{H.E.E.T} Kids' Apple Cooking Class

As a part of our Homeschool Curriculum this year, I decided to start teaching Kids' Cooking Classes!

It has been so fun planning all of the various themes and menus for the classes and our girls are having a wonderful time testing the recipes at home!

Cooking is chock full of so many opportunities for learning for children (and adults:). 

We talked about the 3 states of matter, measuring, fractions (parts of a whole), nutrition, food groups, math/estimation, and counting. We even included a Story Time with an apple-related theme and a 

letter A coloring page!

We recently had our very first Kids' Cooking Class and it was a huge hit!

{click on the photo to enlarge it}

Our theme was "Fall into Apple Fun!"

The menu included: Apple Poppers dipped in natural Peanut Butter, 

Chicken Waldorf Sandwich Skewers w/Greek Yogurt Dip

 and Apple Crisp with homemade Whipped Cream.

The kids were so happy to have hands-on lessons and were amazed that they could change cream into homemade "cool whip!" I was energized and inspired by the young kiddos. 

They were so smart, so fun and really great listeners!

I received excellent feedback from the kids and their parents and plan 

on teaching more classes in the future!

Stay tuned!

Be a Blessing,

Aria:)

My SIMPLE Weekly Menu Planning {Sneak Peek}

It's no secret~~~~I LOVE to eat :D!

I also love to cook, so it usually works out pretty well!

With marriage, homeschooling, parenting, working from home and all the other life tasks that overwhelm our schedules, I needed a SIMPLE Menu Planning Process that works for me. I usually plan to have "Taco Tuesday", along with 2 chicken meals and a fish meal each week. We sometimes throw in "Brinner" {breakfast for dinner} if the week is extra hectic.

I love to browse Pinterest for new food ideas!!!! {Hop on over and follow me there!} I also love to look for ideas in cookbooks I check out from the library.

I usually try to put a new recipe or 2 into our rotation as our schedule allows. 

I can usually pretty much plan to cook 5-6 nights per week and do a

 double-batch cooking session on Sunday.

This makes eating healthy foods easy and we also eat the leftovers for lunch during the homeschool week, which simplifies things there as well.

So......here is my "Ever So Elaborate" {not} Menu Planning Process.

~~~~{insert drum roll here}~~~~

 Yes, that is IT!!! A simple notepad from the Dollar Store!!

See.... told you it was SIMPLE :-D. 

So, this is what I do every Sunday-usually while the kids nap. I make a nice cup of tea, gather my cookbooks, pull up my Pinterest food ideas and write out what I want to make each day and make a grocery list for the week.

It really is that SIMPLE!!

What are your menu planning tips?

Please do share them with us!

Be a blessing,

Aria:)

{Messy Monday} Rainbow Spaghetti!

I saw the idea to make Rainbow Colored Spaghetti on Pinterest
{hop on over and follow me there} 

and decided to give it a try!

But....I also wanted to see if we could somehow come up with some mock turkey meatballs:)

First, I used some white craft foam balls and had the girls paint them brownish/red.

{click on photo to enlarge}

 I think they looked more like chocolate, but hey, the girls didn't mind.

While the meatballs dried, we made the colored pasta.

It was really simple to make.

I just used some cheap white spaghetti noodles, placed in boiling water and added food coloring to the water. I cooked it to al dente and let it cool. I then tossed it in some oil once it dried to make sure it didn't stick together. I think adding the oil was a really necessary improvement on the original Pin b/c the spaghetti would've just been a dry, sticky mess otherwise.

*Since trying ours, I have read that you can let the spaghetti soak in the food coloring water to get a more vibrant coloring. We didn't want to wait that long, but may try it next time.*

 The girls had a really, really great time playing with the colored spaghetti!!!

I was SHOCKED at how long this kept them occupied. 

Seriously, they loved it!

And, yes, our silly girls wanted to EAT it, LOL:)

I didn't let them, but it was so hilarious to watch them pretend to eat it!!
I was even able to cook their actual meatball and spaghetti dinner while they happily played with their rainbow spaghetti!!! That NEVER happens!

Whole wheat spaghetti and home made chicken and spinach meatballs---yummy!

Gotta love a cheap, fun and messy craft!

Are you going to make it?

Let us know how it turns out!

Blessings,

Aria:)

Science Center Visit

We have  a membership to our local Science Museum and LOVE going there!!

I am realizing that it is {finally} getting much easier to venture out with all 3 girls on fun adventures. I can pack a healthy lunch (and not have to worry about nursing a baby/toddler). It is actually becoming enjoyable for me, too LOL.

Can any other Moms relate to this?

Anyway, I digress....

Of course, Elle wanted to watch surgical procedures and child birth videos. 

I had to post this picture separately. I cracked up at Ce Ce telling us what was happening in the video. 

Elle was watching a c-section procedure and Ce Ce, very smartly, showed the baby being taken out of the Mom's belly:)

Silly girl---She cracks me up!!!

Ce Ce's favorite activity was the water table area! She never wants to leave there. I finally started packing a change of clothes for her because she gets totally soaked---and loves it! I guess she is like her Daddy with loving water!
Em always loves anything animal-related and loves playing in the kitchen area.

This visit was very bittersweet for me, though.

Elle is getting too big to play in the kids' play area.

She had to sit on her knees to play in the kitchen--sniff, sniff....

 Fortunately, she still loves playing Doctor with the baby dolls!

 You see, we have had a membership to the Science Museum since Elle was 1 or 2 years old!

This is Elle at age 2. I was pregnant with Em.

This makes me CRY!

Elle has always LOVED playing Doctor.

Maybe she will actually become a Doctor some day.

Maybe not.

No matter what...she will always be my BABY!!

Blessings,

Aria:)

{Impromptu} State History Center Visit

Our family loves exploring new places. Last Sunday after church, my husband and I decided to check out our local State History Center. We had never been there before, and the girls had a BLAST!!

Mind you, they were dressed in "church clothes", and I was totally unprepared with our snack bag and waters, so we only spent a couple of hours there. 

I think this would be a PERFECT location for a {H.E.E.T} TOUR!

Here is a sneak peak of our History Center visit.

Enjoy!

It is a really neat museum that also has a Village set up just like it would've looked in the late 1800's. 

There are houses, a church, a school house, a government building, bank, funeral home, pharmacy, town center, hotel/boarding house, community garden and more. 

It was so fun!

Imagine me trying to explain what a Telegraph was!!! 

I think I learn as much, if not more, as our children do while homeschooling:-)!

Blessings,

Aria:)

{H.E.E.T} Popcorn Factory Tour!

I arranged for our Homeschool Group called {H.E.E.T=Home Educators Exploring Together}, to go on a tour of a local Popcorn Factory. 

The kids had SO much fun on this tour--maybe because their favorite snack is popcorn:)!

The kids watched an educational video that described the history of the family-owned business and also the production process. The owner then facilitated a "Q&A" Session and the kids got to samples lots and lots of popcorn! The store has over 70 different flavors, from mild to sweet to savory and spicy!

We even picked up bags of recycled popcorn to feed to the birds, ducks and squirrels!

It was loads of fun and well worth the trip! 

Plus, it was FREE!

What kind of fun outings have you all been on lately?

Blessings,

Aria:)

1st Day of School! {Smart Cookies}

I thought it would be fun to start a "back-to-school tradition" and since I am so health-conscious most of the time, I really wanted our children to get excited about it!!

So.................I came up with the idea to make "Smart Cookies" and use the positive affirmation phrase of "I am a smart cookie" to get the girls super-excited about another great year of homeschool!

Needless to say, the girls LOVED the idea of baking cookies!!!

We used this super simple recipe for Vanilla Wafers and adjusted our oven temp lower for the bigger letters. Elle came up with the idea of making letters/initials for their first names and since I already had the cookie dough in the piping bag, it was super easy and quick to pipe out the rest of the "smart cookies!"

I still cannot believe how fast our girls are growing up!! 

I keep trying to find the "life brake," 

but, to no avail....*sigh*. If you locate it, please steer me in the right direction!:)

Yes, you can see it here-Elle is more mellow/serious and Em is all about having FUN!!

Ce Ce tries her best to keep up with the big girls, so this year should be quite interesting! I need to take some extra vitamins to keep up!!

What kind of special back-to-school traditions do you all have???

We'd love to hear about them!

Blessings,

Aria:)

Elle's Cardboard Box House

We had some leftover cardboard cereal boxes from our Microwave Puffy Paint Craft, so Elle pulled them out and decided to create a little house for our "Little People." 

 I let her freely create and have fun designing their house. 

I love how she made books for them to read and she had her family co-sleeping!

 Elle did an amazing job problem solving how to get the legs on her tables and chairs to work.

She got a bit frustrated with it at first, but came up with a great solution and kept plugging along!

 She really enjoyed making this--all from some cereal boxes, LOL!!

Sometimes, simple is better. {NOTE TO SELF}

 Elle even made a blanket for them:-).
She authored two books, "The Book of Hugs" and "Different Hugs."
They are really cute stories!

Elle said she wants to decorate the house with pictures for the walls, 

she just needs to find the right stickers for it.

Now, I just wonder how long she will want to keep this before we can "recycle" it?

Hey, is there a 'rule' on how long you all keep your children's crafts?

As you can imagine, we easily gather a TON of STUFF. 

How do you rotate it out and know when it's time to throw things away?

***Update to add her wall pictures.***

Elle's house is really coming along nicely!

Blessings,

Aria:)

Em turns 4!

I still cannot believe our middle child is 4!

Em is one of the sweetest, funniest and adventurous kids you'd ever want to meet!

She was such an "easy" baby to deliver {3 pushes and she was OUT}, but she really keeps me on my toes {and on my knees in prayer} at times! She is just FULL of personality and has the best attitude. If something doesn't go her way, she says, "that's OK, maybe tomorrow I can do/have/eat that." She really is a blessing to my soul and I learn how to have FUN with her!

I also love and appreciate how Em is her own individual. She really enjoys playing and creating things on her own and she definitely has her own sense of style. I believe she has a very strong self-esteem and I love that about her. I will tell her, "Em, your outfit sure is colorful/creative today" and she will say, "I know, thanks!" Ha, ha!!!!!!!

One thing that is absolutely true about this girl is {just like her Mommy} she LOVES to EAT!! 

It's a good thing I feed her healthy foods and no fast food, or else she would weigh 300 pounds!

She eats non-stop! 

For her birthday, Em requested Daddy's special stuffed french toast for breakfast, smoothies and popcorn for lunch and broccoli with cheese sauce and asian chicken for dinner. 

I made carrot-zucchini muffins with cream cheese frosting as her bday cupcakes-everyone LOVED them and they were much healthier than store-bought cupcakes!

We surprised the girls with a trip to the zoo for Em's birthday. My brother gifted Morgan a trip to the zoo--thank you Uncle Teddy!  

I got up at the crack of dawn and packed up the minivan with everything we needed, included all of our food, water and snacks for the day. The girls had NO idea what was going on. We told them we needed to go to the store and when we ended up at the Zoo, they were overjoyed!!!!!!

We all had an amazing time at the Zoo!

What time of birthday traditions do you all have??

I would love to hear about them!

Blessings,

Aria:)