Tuesday, January 22, 2013

A Favor for my Daughter, Unicorn

Unicorn will be 13 at the end of February and has a goal to apply to Mosaic Reviews at that time. She used to blog pretty regularly but took last year off. She is working on getting her blog back up and running. We have designed a new look for her blog and even made a button for her. 

The favor I am asking is for you to show her some love! 
Just click the button below and you will be magically transported to her cute little blog! 
Feel free to leave her a comment and/or to follow her while you are there! 
Thank you so much!
Photobucket
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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Doctors, School and a Broken Pipe...Oh My!

This month has been much busier than I am used to. I have had 5 (yes, FIVE) doctor appointments since January 2nd and I have 1 more on Monday and then out-patient surgery on Wednesday. I am hoping that after the surgery things will slow back down to a normal pace and we can get back into our school routine.

We have also started our new curriculum and I have managed to snap a few photos (Yay Me)! With this new curriculum we are doing a month of history, then a month of geography and then a month of science on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Friday we do Literature and either Art or Music. Monday are a free day (used for catch-up, field trips, or one-on-one time with my oldest). These subjects are done as a family in the afternoons. Math, Reading, Spelling and other subjects are done in the morning individually.

So far we have had 6 History lessons and 1 Literature and 1 Art Lesson (with all the doctor appointments we are 1 lesson behind in Lit and Art). We have learned about how history is His Story, studied Creation, started our timeline, and created our notebooks. In Literature we are studying Fairy Tales and the lessons they teach us. In Art we are focusing on the Creation and how God is the Ultimate Creator and that because we are made in him image we are also creative beings. Additionally, Monkey and Ladybug do reading and spelling each day and Unicorn is learning to cook and sew.

On another note, we had some UNUSUALLY COLD weather here. Normally, this time of year, we have Highs around 65 and Lows around 40. Last week we had Highs around 40 and Lows around 20! Now, in other parts of the country, this wouldn't be a problem but, here in the Phoenix, Arizona area this is not good! Our pipes are only buried 3-6 inches below ground...not good when you have extended periods of freezing temps. We were pretty lucky, we only had ONE pipe burst and it was an external, above-ground pipe. It was a pretty easy fix. Needless to say, I am grateful for the 75 degree high we had today!

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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

New Year, New You ~ An Intro to emeals

With the new year, many of us set goals for the upcoming year. Some popular goals are to lose weight (or get healthy), to save money, and to spend more time with family! Today I am going to share a recipe from emeals. emeals is a weekly menu and shopping plan that will help you plan healthy meals, save money and save you time in the kitchen (giving you more time with your family).

Portion Control Recipe 
Chicken with Feta, Tomatoes and Couscous
www.emeals.com | #gethealthy | #getthrifty

Ingredients
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pint grape tomatoes
3 cups cooked couscous
1/2 medium cucumber, finely diced
2 ounces crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese

Cooking Instructions
1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over
medium-high heat, and cook chicken 4 to 5 minutes on each side, or until done. Remove
from pan and keep warm.
2. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to pan; add garlic, basil, oregano, and tomatoes. Cook
over medium-high heat 3 to 5 minutes, or until tomatoes soften.
3. Meanwhile, cook couscous according to package directions.
4. Place 1/2 cup cooked couscous on each of 6 plates. Slice chicken, and divide evenly
among plates. Top with tomato mixture, cucumber, and feta cheese.

Nutritional Information (per serving): Calories: 320, Total Fat: 7.8 g, Saturated Fat: 2.1 g,
Cholesterol: 100 mg, Sodium: 507 mg, Total Carbohydrates: 22 g, Dietary Fiber: 2.4 g, Sugars: 2 g, Protein: 38 g

Serves 6
Total Cost: $16.20, Cost per Serving: $2.70

Click on the button below and use the code:  
newyear to save 15% off a menu plan!


{Disclaimer: I am an affiliate for emeals.}
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Wednesday, January 9, 2013

New Year, New Curriculum

I hope you are having a great start to your New Year! 

Last month I mentioned that I had found a curriculum that meets all my desires and this week we are just getting started on our first few lessons. As we are just starting, and I am learning the curriculum too, I don't have any pictures...yet! I hope to write up a post by the end of next week. By that time we will have done 2 weeks of lessons and (hopefully) I will remember to pull out the camera and snap some photos. In the meantime, I did manage to find some time to update our curriculum tab at the top of the page, so feel free to check out our curriculum there. I have made some other changes to the tabs and their content so if you haven't clicked on the tabs recently you may want to do so! ;)

Here are a few photos from January so far:
Unicorn made this Yummy dinner
Unicorn made this outfit!
Ladybug working on her reading!
Ladybug and Monkey doing their Spelling!
I have had 4 Dr. appointments and 2 blood draws and no answers yet!
 

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