Teaching our Children

  • Fresh & Healthy: Our Garden – Green Beans, Summer Squash, Lettuce, Cucumbers, Purple Beans, and a variety of Tomatoes!

    We are loving the fresh vegetables from our garden!  This week I only have one picture from the garden because we were traveling for part of the week.  The good news is we were able to take some of our goodies from the garden to share with family along the way and we came back to some more fresh ones ready to be picked.  Also, while we are gone my brother and his family get to pick any of the produce that is ready for themselves or to give away so I didn’t get pictures of the items they picked while we were out of town.

    Here are some of the fresh veggies we were able to eat and share this week:

    Fresh Garden Vegetables!

    We were able to pick this all in one day fresh from the garden.  Fresh Summer Squash, Green Beans, Cucumbers, Cherry Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Whole Size Tomatoes, Big Yellow / Orange Tomatoes, Fresh Leafy Green Lettuce, Purple Beans, Banana Peppers, Green Pepper,  (some are not pictured because they were given away prior to the picture being taken).   We were able to share some of the veggies this week with family and friends!  Thankful for a garden that we can share!

    What are you eating out of your garden this week?

  • Family Recipe: Grandma’s Six in One Oatmeal Cookies

    Grandma Willa makes a delicious oatmeal cookie.  She calls it her Six in One Oatmeal Cookies because they are loaded with amazing ingredients and you can make 6 different types of cookies (or more) with the base cookie mix.   It has been nice having cookies to take with us on our various road trips.  The girls have enjoyed the sweet snack and it has been neat sharing the recipes with others along the way (although not all of the cookies made it to each destination).

    Six in One Oatmeal Cookie Recipe:

    • 1 cup Shortening
    • 1 cup Brown Sugar
    • 1 cup Granulated Sugar
    • 2 Eggs
    • 1 teaspoon Vanilla
    • 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
    • 1 1/2 cup sifted Flour
    • 3 cups Quick Cooking Oats

    Add in 1 or more of the Following Ingredient Options to the Cookies

    • 1/2 cup chopped Nuts
    • 1 package Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
    • 2 tablespoons grated Orange Peel
    • 1 cup Raisins
    • 1 cup cut up Gum Drops
    • 1 cup cut up Dates

    Cream shortening and sugar thoroughly, add eggs and vanilla, beat well.  Sift together flour salt and soda.  Add to creamed mixture and blend well.  Add oats and one or two of the choices above.  If desired divide dough into several portions adding something different to each one.  Form dough into small and drop from teaspoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 35o for 15 minutes or until lightly brown.  Remove from cookie sheet and place on wire rack to cool.  For a special treat, try adding both nuts and chocolate pieces.  Or combine dates and orange peel.  For a crackly glaze dip balls of dough first into milk then in sugar prior to baking on cookie sheet, bake sugar side up.

    More Ingredient Options you can add to the Cookies (these are variations we have tried in our family):

    • 1 cup M&M’s
    • 1 cup Cranberries
    • 1 cup Butterscotch Chips
    • 1 cup White Chocolate Chips
    • Add another one of your favorite cookie ingredients!

    Makes 6 dozen.

    Photo by Lara604

  • Teaching Our Children: Encouraging the Kids to Read During Summer Vacation

    Our reading tree!

    I was trying to come up with a visual prompt in our home that encourages our children to read this summer.  The girls LOVE it when they are read to and could do it for hours but since they are starting to read on their own I wanted to find something that would help motivate them to read a little more.  I came up with the idea “Spring into Reading” since we technically started it in the Spring and I wanted to boost the girls reading skills.

    My Mom graciously made the tree for me and my Sister in Law Becky helped cut out a bunch of the leaves.  The purpose of the tree is simple find a visual way for the girls to see their reading progress.  Each member of our family gets a different color of leaf.  When that member reads a book to the girls or they read a book on their own they get to put up their leaf.

    We have started to fill out our tree with leaves and hope to get an after summer break picture up for you to see what we accomplished.  If all goes well I hope to see more and more of the girls leaves going up throughout the summer as their reading skills increase.

  • Fresh & Healthy: Our Garden – Zucchini, Green Beans, Squash, Lettuce, Cucumber, Strawberries, Purple Beans, and Tomatoes!

    We are loving the fresh vegetables from our garden!  This week I only took one picture from the garden because we were traveling.  The good news is we were able to take some of our goodies from the garden to share with family along the way.  Also, while we are gone my brother and his family get to pick any of the produce that is ready for themselves or to give away so I didn’t get pictures of the items they picked while we were out of town.

    Here are some of the fresh veggies we were able to eat and share this week:

    Fresh Garden Produce!

    We were able to pick this all in one day fresh from the garden.  Fresh Zucchini, Green Beans, Summer Squash, Cucumber, Cherry Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Whole Size Tomatoes, Fresh Leafy Green Lettuce, Purple Beans, a handful of Strawberries that made it in the picture and a Banana Pepper (not pictured because it was ate by the kiddos).  Some of these items we delivered to a good friend since we were traveling and we wanted to make sure they were eaten while they were still fresh.

    We were able to share some of the veggies this week with family and friends!  Thankful for a garden that we can share!

    What are you eating out of your garden this week?

  • Spending Time with Grandma!

    We were so thankful that my Mom was able to come visit us for several days.  She went with us to Savannah for my cousins graduation and time at the beach.  The girls love spending time with Grandma and were thrilled to hang out together.

     

    Grandma Penny helping the girls do their workbooks!

    I think Grandma Penny was much more patient then Mommy doing the workbooks!

     

    Grandma Penny reading books to the girls!

    The girls love it when Grandma reads them books.  Today they relaxed for a few minutes on the front porch with a stack of books to read together.  Thank you Mom for reading to our girls, they LOVE their time with you!  I am thankful for a Mom who takes the time to be with our family.  The girls have many wonderful family memories because of moments like these!

     

  • Book: “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” by Siegfried Engelmann

    School is out for the summer but that does not mean the learning time is over for the kids.  Actually in many ways the pressure is on for Moms and Dads to continue teaching our children so they don’t forget everything they learned over the school year.  Our girls are starting to read and since I want to help them over the summer I asked around about great books to help them learn how to read even better.  This book “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” by Siegfried Engelmann was recommended to me by several of my homeschool Mom friends.   We just started this book in June and have already seen some of the benefits.  It is not the most exciting book for parents to teach from because it has a lot of repetition, however, that’s a big advantage when your child is first learning to read.  It has been hard for me to stay consistent with all the traveling we are doing this summer but when we do the book the girls seem to enjoy it and it helps build their reading confidence.  The first few lessons were pretty “easy” for the girls since they just finished kindergarten but I anticipate it getting a little harder and challenging as we go.

    Have you used this book with your child?

    Do you recommend it or have any other teaching materials for recommend to young readers?

  • Family Recipe: Great Grandma Conklin’s Pecan Crescents

    This is a recipe we received from my husband’s side of the family and it is delicious!!!  The recipe comes from Great Grandma Conklin! It is a sweet crescent roll with a touch of pecan.

    Pecan Crescents:

    • 1 cup Butter
    • 1 1/3 cups pecans finely chopped
    • 6 tablespoons Confection Sugar
    • 1 teaspoon Vanilla
    • 2 cups Flour
    • 1/8 teaspoon Salt

    Blend all the ingredients well.  Roll a tablespoon of dough into a ball and shape into a crescent.  Place on lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes at 350.  Roll in confectioner sugar while warm.

    Photo by Neeta Lind

  • Giveaway: $10 Barnes & Noble Gift Card

    I am doing another giveaway on Blessings Multiplied!!!  The winner of this giveaway will receive a $10 Barnes & Noble Gift Card!  As a Mom of fraternal twin daughters I am always looking for ways to save a little extra when buying books for the family.  Our family loves to read and as we continue to teach our girls how to read I want to share a Barnes & Noble gift card with my readers.  Barnes & Noble is a wonderful place to relax and pick out fun books for the whole family.

    1. Sign up to follow my blog (if you haven’t done so already) and leave a comment below telling us how you follow Blessings Multiplied.
    2. You can get a bonus entry into the drawing if you leave a separate comment below sharing one of your favorite books (you have read for yourself or read to your child) this summer!

    All comments must be made by July 31st at 10:00 PM EST to be entered into the drawing.  On July 31st  I will randomly draw a winner from those who have entered the giveaway.

  • Living on a Budget: Creative Cash (June Update)

    June is my fifth month tracking my Creative Cash.  What is Creative Cash?  Creative Cash is finding ways to come up with extra cash to share with others as well as work on our current goal.  I am working part time, a stay at home Mom, and wear many other hats from day to day, however, I feel that it is important to save money for our family by using coupons and buying items on sale but to earn a little money to help with the extra expenses and to share with others.  The extra amount I bring in on top of the work is what I call “Creative Cash” which means finding ways to make money creatively or with items and talents I have already.  I have tested this goal over the last couple months as I am challenging myself to make my life more simplified.   I plan to continue this goal for the remaining months of the year.  Despite the many financial obstacles that we have faced as a family we have been blessed with so much.  We believe it is important to be accountable with our finances and give to others.

    Explanation: The creative cash will be made throughout the entire month through various endeavors.  As it comes in the money is placed into our savings account and withdrawn at the end of the month so it can be split.  It is my goal to make at least $100 extra a month to help with our goals as well as share with others.  At the end of the month the money will be split 50 / 50 with half going towards our current goal we are working on (which at the moment is paying down debt) and the other half going to charity.

    June was a good month even though it was extremely active in many other areas of my life.  Thankfully I was able to save some extra cash however, I did not reach my my goal of $100.  I want to share with you the ways we did it so if you are looking for ways to make a little extra creative cash for your family hopefully we can be an inspiration in getting your creative juices flowing:

    • $15.59 – Items sold on Ebay (after fees):   The all the items sold were coupons.  I encourage you to look around at some of the coupons you get the mail, newspapers, magazines, in your stockpile, or other places and if you will not have the opportunity to use them then consider selling them for a little extra creative cash.
    • $20.00 – Cash from house and dog sitting
    • $10.00 – Rebate for Scotts Osmocote Plant Fertilizer
    • $ 5.49 – Other miscellaneous amounts earned  (rebates, returns, cash back,  extra money, etc…) that was added to my stash for the month.

    It was a harder month to set the extra aside because it was very busy and I was not able to participate in as many extra creative cash activities.  June’s “Creative Cash” total was $51.08 which means $25.54 extra that goes towards our current goal (paying down debt) and $25.54 goes towards charity.  I didn’t hit my $100 goal this month.  It has been really busy with school being out and traveling with the family.  I am happy that I was able to get at least halfway to the goal and every little bit helps us get a little closer to our goals as well as helps others along the way.  I have plan of action on ways to earn creative cash in July so stayed tuned, hopefully, it will be another month where we can get closer to our goal and share with others.  Each month I do a variety activities to accomplish this goal, the items above are just the ones I did specifically in June.  I look forward to sharing more of the things that work well for our family as I do them in the upcoming months.

    I will share with you the challenges, successes, and updates as I go through this journey so you can keep me accountable or even go through it with me by participating  and sharing your story. Taking the extra time to find ways to help our family as well as invest in the lives of others is important to us.  I hope that we have been able to encourage you to find ways to come up with some creative cash for your household as well.  Obviously, each situation and family is unique so decide what works for you and go for it!  Do you know of another way to earn creative cash?   I would love to hear your idea!

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.

    Photo by StopNLook

  • Book: “Clifford the Firehouse Dog” by Norman Bridwell

    The girls really enjoy the “Clifford” books.  “Clifford The Firehouse Dog” by Norman Bridwell was one they were quoted just the other day.  We have read the book many times and it is neat that they retained the lessons that they learned in the book.  I like how the book encourages helping out in time of need as well.  If you have a little ones that likes dog and fire trucks this is a great book to read with them.  Our girls love anything with animals, especially dogs!