From My Kitchen

Muffin tin lunches - the kids think these are the best things ever.

Ranch dressing, blueberries, cheese, carrots, ham, almonds, popcorn, raisins, peas, and chocolate chips.

Homemade apple pie

Popsicles in the new monster molds my mom bought for the kids.  I just used my immersion blender to blend up some strawberries and some yogurt.

Then I froze them.  And then the kids ate them all.  And then I made some more.  And then they ate them all.  And then I made some more again.

Teaching Time

I'm going to be honest.  Homeschooling is hard work.  There are days I just want to ship them off to school.  And go shopping without four kids.  And clean my house and catch up on laundry.  But there are sweet and fun moments that make the hard days worth it.

I bought Jordanna some workbooks on clearance at Target the other day.  She LOVES having her own school books to do and begs for school time every day.

Caleb has to read for 25 minutes a day for his reading log for school (he usually ends up reading more than that).  He spent those minutes the other day reading to his sisters.  Alexa eventually wandered off, but Jordanna stayed and listened the whole time.

Everyone working together at the kitchen table.

 
And Sierra playing nearby on the floor.

I am so blessed to get to be Mom and Teacher to these 4 precious little people.  Feel free to remind me of that at 4:00 p.m. most days.

Fifteen Months

Here's what Sierra is up to at 15 months - 

-Weighs 19 pounds, 6 ounces.  She is still on a medication to stimulate her appetite, and her doctor is pleased with her weight gain.

-Who knows how long she is?  She wiggles too much when they try to measure her at the doctor.

-Is eating very well.  She still loves her oatmeal.  Her other favorites in the last month have been graham crackers, yogurt (which she used to hate), pizza, muffins, and enchiladas. She still doesn't love the sippy cup, but we are working on it.  She's still nursing well.

 -Wears 12-18 month clothes, and I'm starting to pull out the 18 month clothes.  I took her out last week in too short pants before I realized she had outgrown them.

-Still wears a size 3 disposable diaper.  I sold my cloth diapers.  The laundry has officially gotten the best of me. 

-Still has 15 teeth.  Number 16 still hasn't popped through, but it is SO close.
 -Naps twice a day around 9:30 and 1:30.  Goes to bed around 7:45.  Sleeps through the night regularly! 
-Loves music and books.

-Crawls from room to room and plays so contentedly for most of the day.

-Wave, claps, and babbles.

-Had an ear infection this month.  The first antibiotic didn't work.  She developed an allergy to the second antibiotic, but the third one seems to have taken care of it.

-And the biggest development of the month, GLASSES!  We are so thankful for the technology that enabled her doctor to determine her prescription and help her to see.  She has left them alone for the most part, probably because she is so glad to finally be able to see.

 
 Does that say 15 months?  How can I be that old already?!?

Saturday Fun

We had no plans on Saturday (unlike the upcoming 4 Saturdays), and the weather was beautiful, so we took an impromptu picnic to the park.

Sierra shoveling in her food.  She is eating very well these days.

The big kids enjoying their sandwiches

Then, the big kids ran around like crazy people, and I took a bunch of pictures of Sierra since she can't get very far away.

We ended the day with a movie and popcorn.  How cute are they?

From My Kitchen

Pizza braids.  I had something like this in my mind to make, so I Googled for recipes.  I read through several recipes and blog posts and then combined them all and came up with these.  They were yummy!

Spiced apple parsnip muffins.  I watched a Good Eats episode recently where Alton Brown made parsnip muffins.  I thought they looked interesting, so I looked up his recipe. I didn't end up using his recipe because it included nuts (I was making some for Audrey) and because the ingredients were measured by weight, which is a pain.  So once again I turned to Google.  I modified this recipe, omitting the raisins and nuts.  They turned out yummy, and Sierra loves them.

Teaching Time

We took a week off for winter break recently, but we've been back at work full force since then.

Here's a creation Caleb made with the pattern blocks.

Our theme last week was strawberries.  Here are the girls chopping up strawberries to make muffins.

Caleb writing a book report

And calling Molly for some help on his piano theory

Making a "model" (I use that word loosely) of one of Columbus's ships

Alexa playing a phonics game

Sierra Can See!

About six months ago, I took Sierra to the eye doctor at the recommendation of her neurosurgeon.  He wanted to make sure that the extra fluid in her brain was not causing pressure and damaging the backs of her eyes.  The health of her eyes looked good, but the eye doctor said that she was very farsighted.  I was supposed to bring her back in six months and also pay attention to make sure her eyes weren't crossing.  So, I took her to the eye doctor (actually a different one because our insurance has changed) a couple of weeks ago.  The health of her eyes is still good.  But the doctor said it was time for glasses.  Her eyes are very farsighted and also very different prescriptions from each other.  He said that if she didn't get glasses, the bad eye might quit trying to focus and become lazy.  He also said that at her age her prescription will likely change every several months, so she goes back in June for a follow up.

It is very obvious that she can see so much better with her glasses.  She keeps picking up things, looking at things, and crawling towards small objects.  She's done pretty well with keeping the glasses on as well.  I've been surprised at how easy the transition has been.  And isn't she cute?