Global Commision 2020

This is one of the most incredible websites I have ever seen!
http://greatcommission2020.com/

You can view a map which displays the results from people sharing the gospel by way of the Internet to people all over the world. A blue flag means someone is sharing Christ at this moment. The flag will turn yellow if they have made the decision to follow Christ. Very interesting! Our church is recruiting people to serve as email counselors for this ministry.

We've been at World Mandate all weekend and we are worn out! But, we had a great time!

Candleing Eggs

Well, today our egg babies are 10 days old! We made an attempt to candle the eggs tonight with very little help from the brave scientist, Gracie. Gracie has been busy throwing up and having fever today, so she just kind of watched a bit while Ally and I did the candleing. So, the eggs are supposed to be candled on the 10th day to see if their is an embryo growing inside or not. We taped a toilet paper roll to a flashlight and shined the light through the egg (it's more apparent in the dark). This is a store bought egg (above and below photos) and you can see the light shining right through.

You can't really see the photos of the good eggs because the light doesn't shine through them at all. There should be an air pocket in each, but we could only see it clearly in 3 or 4 of the eggs. Only one or two of them seem to be see-through. Okay, I think I should throw these away, but I can't bring myself to do it - I don't believe in abortion - and what if I am wrong! So, we'll wait and candle them again in 5 more days. Then, maybe we'll bring ourselves to throw some of those bad ones away. The thing is they could rot and burst and that'd be pretty nasty.

So, so far so good for the science project! What are we going to do with all those chicks?

Free Chili's Chips and Queso!

Okay, so this is a post just for my sister. She'd read my blog even if nobody else did! And she loves Chili's Chips and Queso. Go here to sign up for Chili's email club and within 48 hours they will send you a coupon for free Chips and Queso.
Speaking of queso - reminds me of my husband and the retarded way he says it - very loud and silly. I am teaching him how to get more food at work everyday. Since he is the boss, he gets free food from the Spanish-speaking people who run the catering trucks that sell food on his jobsite. However, he can only ask for things like burrito and taco -and that's gettin' pretty old plus -he thinks maybe they are made out of dog meat - or something else equally nasty. So this week I taught him to ask for hamberguesa con queso and sandwich pollo y queso - so maybe he can eat a bit healthier. Although I know they are laughing at him and his goofy Spanish! He wants to be able to witness to them in Spanish, too, but I think he's gonna need some Rosetta stone or other professional help. Adios Amigos!

What every parent of little ones needs...

I think I have long forgotten the difficulty of the preschool and toddler years! We've been watching 2 toddlers and 2 preschoolers all day -a sure way to regain some perspective! I am so spoiled by three kids who wipe their own bottoms, shower and feed themselves, and help me so much with chores! Sure those toddler years were sweet, but I LOVE these independent years! So, I have just the PERFECT thing that every young mother of small children needs - the thing that will bring sanity and calm to every mother's day...

THREE BIG KIDS! They are entertaining, teaching, watching, playing and always on duty to help me out! They are getting some VERY valuable training, too!

Soup Weather

I love soup weather! I love to cook a big pot of soup that lasts 3 days! It makes my life so easy and I just love soup. The family gets a little tired of it about the 3rd day, but if you have soup you can always do something different with it! You can serve it with different breads or crackers, or pour it over noodles and make it into a casserole. And soup is so cheap and healthy! Here's some great recipes for curling up with some great soup weather!

• Way easy and cheap black bean soup


• Of course, my favorite mac and cheese soup


• Lately, we have been having some variation of easy potato soup about once a week. Now that my dad gave me a little potato soup cooking lesson, I trick it up and have made some pretty good variations -I love to make it like a potato corn chowder.


• My friend Laura made this wonderful Tomato Bisque soup -only 2 ingredients! Heavy Cream and 3 of the large cans of plain spaghetti sauce. That sounds weird, but it is really good!


• Paula Deen's gotta pretty mean Taco Soup recipe here

I buy all my groceries for 2 weeks when I shop. So, I generally buy 5 pounds of ground beef or turkey and about a 5 lb chicken and kind of plan all my meals around that. I immediately put the chicken in the crock pot. Next, I brown all the meat with a couple of onions as soon as I get home and mix 2lbs of it with onion soup and freeze it - that seasons it up nicely and I can pop it in the crockpot with potatoes and carrots and leftover veggies from the frig for a great easy stew. I mix 1 lb with taco seasoning for something fast and easy later on in the week, and the other 2lbs. I brown up, season and freeze in separate containers for a fast mix in a casserole or something later in the week. I love to have meals planned out for the whole 2 weeks, but realistically that doesn't always happen!

Friday Follow

Welcome to my blog if you are just visiting for the first time! I blog mostly about our family and our homeschooling, organization and cooking. This week I am starting 3 classes for middleschoolers & teenagers and I will be sharing some great teaching stuff on the blog! We have so much going on over the next month! We are knee-deep in science fair preparations and we are hatching out a bunch of baby chicks soon! Our whole family is involved in a huge garden planning project and we hope to have some land to plan it on pretty soon!
I would love to have you follow my blog!

Homeschool Math Manipulative Organization

There once was a homeschool mom who lived in a Zoo -
She had so many math manipulatives she didn't know what to do!
Clocks and counters for grade one,
And lots of cool gizmos to make mathtime fun.
Flashcards and thermometers for grades six and three-
Piled up high in a tub too many to see!
All along the answer as so many answers are -
was to eat more veggies -"They'll make you go far!"
She emptied the container when her family was done
and recycled it to make math for her much more fun!
Now everything's tidy and set up so nice-
Organized to find things, so she won't have to look twice!

I struggle with Math Lessons these days! All 3 kid's math manipulatives were in the "math tub" and it just made things crazy! We do math lots of different places too, so we needed an organizational system that was easily portable. We bought a veggie tray on sale not to long ago and the container just couldn't go in the trash! So we washed it out -it has a lid and everything! Now I just need one for each kid! Guess we'd better get busy eatin' those veggies!

By the way - our favorite math manipulative? Those cute little green lima beans (bottom left of photo) spray painted green with added eye-balls and lily pads for working story problems.

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesdays

Store Bought vs. Farm Fresh Eggs

As part of Gracie's science experiment we looked at the difference between farm fresh eggs and store bought eggs. It's easy to tell the store bought on the left with much lighter colors. All the kids tasted both and I didn't tell them which was which. Of course they knew right away because the color difference! Most chicken farmers will tell you the brighter, richer color comes from the grasses and variety of grains the chickens eat. I didn't realize farm fresh eggs are lower in cholesterol too. All of us prefered the farm fresh eggs. The most surprising thing was how creamy and thick they were when you whipped them. Very interesting. Here's some more interesting facts:

• Store bought eggs in the US don't expire until 45 days after being laid
• In the UK they don't refrigerate eggs - and most people don't believe eggs should be washed
• In some countries they like eggs with very dark yolks - almost red
• Farm fresh eggs shouldn't be boiled until they are 2+ weeks old. Otherwise the shells don't come off very well - this is due to a smaller air pocket. Over time the air pocket gets larger and they will peel better.
• Fertilized eggs don't taste any different than unfertilized eggs

Countdown to Hatchday!

Gracie is learning all about chickens for her Science Fair Project. We are hoping to hatch out at least 1/2 of these 20 babies. We borrowed the incubator from Aunt Allison and warmed them up to just the right temperature. Unfortunately, Aunt Allison says we can only hope for about 1/4 of them to make it to adulthood if nothing goes wrong.

We numbered each egg to keep track of it, and also to tell if it is being turned regularly. We are already learning so much! Did you know that chickens hatched from an incubator do not know how to sit on their own eggs? So, if you wanted more from this batch, you would have to use the incubator again. Very interesting. We checked out a lot of books and the whole family is very interested in the whole process. In about 21 days we should have some hatching! Tomorrow we are going to take a look at the differences between these farm fresh eggs and store bought ones with a taste test! I don't think Gracie will be too excited since she already thinks of herself as a mama hen and these are her babies! In 10 days we can use a flashlight to look inside the egg and hopefully see the air pocket inside it.

Just Horsing Around in the Country

We went for a walk in the woods - a huge, beautiful pond was there...

Some horses were there...

This one was really attached to Ally...

Hiking through mud and mainly cow poop...

Check out the size of that cactus behind them! We had such a great day! We were looking at some property. Now we have an awfully lot to think about.

Free Food for Kids

I found a neat site. Go here to search your state and city for restaurants that offer free kid's meals. Pretty interesting, several in my area I didn't know about. Great deals, I guess I'll have to find those that offer 12 and under. I hate it that I have one who has to eat off the adult menus now. I think that means I'm getting old.
Other deals for this week - go to this link for a free 1/2 gallon of chocolate milk when you purchase 2 gallons of regular. Plus, you'll be entered to win free milk for a year - for us that'd be like $700 worth of milk.

Polar Bear Art Project

One of my favorite blogs http://thatartistwoman.blogspot.com/ has some great step by step art projects. Right now she is sharing some neat ideas for some polar bear paintings. I thought we would give it a try. She lists a couple ways to make these work, but we cut out polar bears out of contact paper and put them on before doing any painting. It was an easy and fun project -which turned out nicely!
Mine, Ally's, Daniel's, and Gracie's in that order

Indoor Scavenger Hunts

I just had to share a neat new find! I found a great site HERE for a bunch of printable indoor scavenger hunts -my kids LOVE scavenger hunts and there is a huge list of some great ones -of all ability levels. Great cold weather indoor fun! Scavenger hunts are something that we especially like to do when we have friends over! My older kids like to come up with hunts themselves for the younger ones.

Homemade Firestarters

Okay, I am great at starting a fire with one of those long lasting easy lighting firelogs you get at the store. That gets it going and I am good from there.

Everytime we go camping or hiking the boys all get excited, start saying, "Me Man - me make fire!" So, this morning Byron was away and I wanted to prove I have some primitive survival skills too. I didn't have a firelog. I will not tell you how many hours I spent trying to start a stinkin' fire! The kids are startin' to snicker and I smell like smoke!

Did you know those fire logs are just compressed sawdust and wax anyway? We buy them by the case ALL the time! I have made some imitations in the past. You melt some candle wax just like I did here and put some sawdust in some cardboard egg cartons, add the melted wax over the top of it. Wha-la - no wick needed because it burns higher and longer that way. Here's a link for lots of other homemade firestarter ideas. Here's another firestarter I am going to try made with toilet paper rolls.

Anyway - I didn't have time for all that this morning. I also knew that some people make firestarters with cotton balls dipped in petroleum jelly. That I had time for. They really flame up a long time too, way better than newspaper would be. But, after 1/2 a jar of petroleum jelly - that wasn't working either.

So, I had this genius idea.

I wrapped a log with cotton pads dipped in petroleum jelly -

wrapped dryer lint around the log and wrapped the whole thing in tissue paper. So genius! I started a fire! Well okay, then I let it go out. Guess I'll go make more. I am really determined to have a roaring man fire by the time Byron gets home!
This is the pile in front of the fire last night - right before the dog sat on me in an effort to move me out of the way between her and the Alpha Dog. I think that dog is jealous of me, and she almost worships Byron in kind of a creepy way!

Brrry!

Temperatures are in the low teens 10 degrees tonight and last night. Seriously cold for Texans! You don't really mind the cold if there is some snow and ice to make it worthwhile - but this is just dry, no fun cold! We have a roaring fire going continually, and the fireplace seems to be the place to be - for schoolwork, for reading, and just for hanging out.

Just like a pioneer boy - it is Daniel's job to start and tend the fire all day long. That includes frequent trips to refill the woodbox. He is proud of such an important job and takes it very seriously! On a side note vacuuming has never been one of his chores, but recently I think I found a new niche he can take over. Who knew how perfect little boys are for operating a vacuum cleaner? Something about the power and noise and operating electronic machinery -it's a perfect match. Why didn't I think of that sooner?

There's just something snuggly and wonderful about a fire, a good book, and a sleepy dog, don't you think? Makes me feel so homey I wanna bake or crochet or something. We are having some wonderful stew for supper and I think we need some homemade bread to go with it.

Cupcakes!

Gracie just about lassoed up about too much fun on her birthday! She ended up with a headache from all the excitement and activity. She did get pretty good with a lasso though! She chose to go to Peter Piper Pizza for her special lunch (her siblings came too of course)-and after an hour or so of games, bumper cars, and fun - they all went to see the new Chipmunks movie. She had such a great birthday!

Cupcakes! Cupcakes and more brownies! Gracie, the pastry chef, wanted two types of cupcakes AND brownies for her birthday. We had a bad case of sugar overload! The cupcakes she did herself with the new cookie cutters her cousin Joe gave her for Christmas - we have had SO much fun with the alphabet letters. She used different colored sprinkles, and sugars and icing to make a neat letter "G" on each cupcake.

Now these pictures do not do my horses justice - they were WAY cool. They just took me so long I didn't have time to get a good picture of them!

We pasted 2 wafer cookies together and stuck them down in the cupcake, the tail is part of a twisted pretzel covered in icing. Okay -Yes, I did ask Daniel to carefully gnaw the pretzels into a nice "C" shape. Well, you can't cut them - they break! I didn't let anyone actually eat them after he had his mouth on them! The heads were more wafer cookies (I wanted those peanut looking candies, but those apparently don't exist anymore). I used to love to decorate cakes, but I don't seem to have the patience for it lately! Could be birthday overload - or the fact that the last birthday cake is still half eaten in the frig from 10 days ago.

And Gracie is 9!

Gracie - age 2
And so today ends the Ayers Family Birthday Blitz - 3 kids, 1 dog, an aunt and an uncle, and Jesus -all celebrating Birthdays within the last 20 days. Once again we gear up for a day of special birthday meals and gifts. And of course - it also means a school holiday! Today Max and Nana are surprising Gracie by taking the kids to lunch and a movie! And, Gracie was very excited to have Daddy home today - even though he is taking a sick day, feeling terrible and covered in poison ivy. One eye is almost swollen shut. Thankfully, the kids appear to take after their mama and the poison ivy exposure doesn't seem to affect them.

Gracie got a Breyer stable and farm set and a lasso kit with a DVD lasso trick how to - look out Annie Oakley -or Jessie the Yodelin' Cowgirl!

She is our Gracie Pearl - although that is not her given name. Since she has been very small her daddy has called her Pearl. I'm not sure why, but it has always been fitting - she is a precious pearl, she has a pearly glow to her radiant smile, or that she has that Minnie Pearl flair for drama! Maybe all of the above. I can't believe she is 9years old! From the day of her birth she has kept us on our toes and our lives full of drama and excitement! She is highly creative and always full of surprises! She has chosen another cheese -filled feast for her special birthday meal - mac and cheese, cottage cheese, cut up hot dog wienies, carrots, and apples. At least it is fairly balanced - but what is it with cheese and these children? You'll have to wait for photos of her very creative cupcakes!

Homeschooling Highschoolers

I have always been kind of backwards from most homeschoolers because I never really wanted to homeschool them in elementary school. However after 6 years teaching in public schools I always knew that I wanted to homeschool them through high school! High School is nasty even at its best - but then again so are teenagers.

So, always being the girl scout, and having all the information I can -I was excited to do the Knowledge Quest Homeschool Course for Mama Buzz. I had heard about the program previously through a friend who took the course and really got a lot out of it. The author also wrote a really great course called the Homeschooling ABC's.

I understand the fears! There are so many things to consider when teaching your kids through high school - transcripts, graduation requirements, college acceptance -it is easy to be overwhelmed. So many people give up and put their kids into public schools right when they benefit the most from homeschooling! This program will give you such a comprehensive guide, so much information and guidance that it will calm your fears.

The program works like this, when you sign up for the program, you will get 13 lessons sent to your email once a week. Each week you'll have some assignments to complete on your own, too, but nothing too difficult - the program is not wordy or time consuming at all! The lessons are extremely well written with a lot of detail, free downloads, links and samples to make everything clear. The author, Terri Johnson fills that gap in your homeschool as your own little high school counselor, giving you all the advice you will need about scholarships, financial aid, taking college entrance tests. This program will give you such peace of mind! I particularly liked the chapter on outsourcing difficult subjects! I am at a point where I am looking into this for my next year 7th grader's math. This chapter contains lots of valuable links and hints.

Okay, one more great thing - there is also a chapter about preparing your kids for handling money - excellent chapter with some great ideas!


Product/Book Name: Knowledge Quest: Upper Level Homeschool Course
Price: $45.00
Put out by: Terri Johnson
Bramley BooksTM, a division of Knowledge Quest, Inc.
Links: http://www.upperlevelhomeschool.com/

If you need information about high school homeschooling, this is really the way to go, well worth the expense, too. Most books on the subject are boring and kind of overwhelming. By breaking it into lessons as this program has done, providing so much additional material, it makes it so much more understandable and simple. If you go to the link above, you can take a 5 lesson mini course and find out more information.
This copy was provided to me free of charge for a tour via MamaBuzz. Special thanks to Terri for this opportunity to review such a great product!

Fun on the Farm

We spent the day playing at Max and Nana's. We cut firewood and trimmed trees and brush.

The dog was just TROUBLE - so we made a little trip to town and got her a shock collar. It worked AMAZINGLY VERY well - she is quickly becoming VERY obedient!

We would like to work on clearing up the pond by Spring -and the tiny plants covering it-we've done a bit of research and we think there are a few things we can do that will clear it up. Apparently one of the most important thing you can do is increase the amount of sunlight it gets.

The dog hardly left Dad's side. She was eager to please Daddy, and all of us -anything to avoid the shock collar.

It was a bit muddy after the recent rains. But we all loved tramping around in rubber boots in the mud! Everyone did their part hauling and stacking and piling limbs.