Tuesday

“Most” Posts of 2013

I love reading Sarah’s blog over at Amongst Lovely Things. Her pictures are beautiful and the way she homeschools is so relaxed and easy. So this year I’m linking up with her to share my “Most” Posts of 2013.

The Most Clicks

The curriculum that seems to resonate the most with my kids, especially Chipette, seem to be the ones that are the most unknown which is probably why my two reviews I did last year for the Virtual Curriculum Fair got the most hits (within 10 clicks of each other so that’s why I’m including them both!).

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The Most Comments

Believe it or not this Wordless Wednesday post featuring Chipette garnered the most comments of any post from this past year.

The Post With the Best Picture

My favorite picture that I took this year (I never claimed to be a photographer!) is one from our field trip to the zoo with our homeschool group. As we were leaving I let the kids play in the splash pad area and I was able to grab this picture of them perfectly lined up as little stair steps. It’s not the best photo, but it reminds me that they won’t always be stair steps. :: sniff ::

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The Post That Was Hardest to Write

For over a year I had been trying to finish the last post in my planning series that I started in 2012. I kept putting it off and putting it off because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say or how I wanted to say it. My homeschool planning series has easily been the biggest draw to my blog since I first published them which makes me very happy. The main goal of the homeschool aspect of my blog is to equip other homeschoolers with tricks and techniques that I have learned over the past 5 years.

How I Plan Our Home School Subjects

The Post That Was My Personal Favorite

It’s always good to remember why you are homeschooling, especially on the days when things don’t go exactly as planned and the big yellow bus driving by your house begins to look like salvation. This year I finally wrote a post that I’d been wanting to write for a while. It’s the story of how this former public school teacher who swore she would NEVER homeschool (I also swore I’d never be a teacher so go figure!) slowly changed her mind. It’s the post that I’ve reread the most of any that I’ve written.

Why We Do

The Recipe of the Year

The recipe that I posted this year that had the most hits was Italian Style Grilled Pork. It makes sense; it’s super easy, whole food and paleo friendly, plus it’s delicious!

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And there you have it! My list of the “Most” Posts of 2013.

 Wishing a happy and blessed 2014 to everyone who reads about the goings on in the tree house,

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Monday

My Favorite Things: Pie Procreation

Being from the South my top two favorite pies are Pecan Pie and Chocolate Pie, so imagine my joy when Preacher Man and I stopped at a little cafĂ© on the Arkansas-Oklahoma line to discover a culinary treat I’d never seen before: Kentucky Derby Pie. In case you’ve never heard of it either, it’s what would happen if Pecan Pie and Chocolate Pie had a baby. So now you know why it’s on my list of… DSCN0221

Here is what you need to make a Kentucky Derby Pecan Pie:

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1 unbaked 9 inch pie crust (instead of the pasty shell I made my Press in the Pan Pie Crust. Great pie crust recipe that involves no rolling pin!)

First, whisk together the eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt.

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Next, stir in the pecans and chocolate chips.

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Pour into pie crust.

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Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then place a loose piece of foil over the entire pie and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until pie is set.

I only make this pie around the holidays because if it stayed in the house for very long I would eat it ALL!!!!

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Kentucky Derby Pecan Pie

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1 unbaked 9 inch pie crust

First, whisk together the eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Next, stir in the pecans and chocolate chips. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then place a loose piece of foil over the entire pie and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until pie is set.

Putting a new pie in first place in the tree house,

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Friday

My Favorite Things: Books Until Christmas

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This post contains affiliate links. See full disclosure policy here.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time, then you know that we love books around here. We read all the time. A fellow homeschooling friend of Chipette’s told her mom that our house is the only house she’s ever seen that has more books than her own! We are like a small lending library.

So last year when Christmas time rolled around, I decided that we would put school on hold and Holiday Homeschool for the month of December. Holiday Homeschool is where we focus on the Christmas season instead of our usual lineup. The kids are still required to do math, reading, and writing, but the rest of our day is filled with crafting, baking, shopping, and making presents for others. A favorite part of Holiday Homeschool 2012 was our book and a craft time. We would read a Christmas book, then do a craft that went along with the book.  This year I wanted to continue that tradition, but take it to the next level. Thanks to Pinterest, I came across an idea to count down the days until Christmas by reading a different picture book every night finishing with The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve.

I diligently set out finding picture books to read besides the handful that we already own. About half of the books were ones we read last year, but I was able to find some new ones as well. I didn’t want to leave Chipette out of the fun, though, so I found some chapter books about Christmas for me to read out loud as well. To add a little bit of fun to the entire process I wrapped the picture books in green paper, wrapped the chapter books in a brown-based paper. and stacked them up in the shape of a Christmas tree. Well if you squint your eye and lean to the left it looks like a Christmas tree, but the kids thought it was cool and that’s all that matters!

Book tree

Every night Magpie and Monkey take turns unwrapping the next book from the stack and Chipette unwraps a new Christmas chapter book when we finish the one before. I set a timer for 30 minutes, read the picture book, and read as much of the chapter book as I can before the timer goes off. Then the next night we do it again. I also have about five crafts to go with five of the picture books. When you read those picture books, then we make the craft the next day which adds a little bit of fun into the process. Our Books Until Christmas program has been one of the biggest hits of Holiday Homeschool 2013!

Here is the list of books we are reading this year. Please keep in mind that I did not purchase all of these. Most of them I got from the library, but I do purchase some of our favorites each year to add to our personal collection.

Picture Books:

Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett    

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

Paddington Bear and the Christmas Surprise by Michael Bond    

The Longest Christmas List Ever by Greg Spiridellis

Mary Engelbreit’s Nutcracker by Mary Engelbreit

The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden (This is a longer picture book so I read this one over two nights instead of in one.)

Night Tree by Eve Bunting

Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

Home for Christmas by Jan Brett

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

Santa’s Snow Cat by Sue Stainton

Santa Mouse by Michael Brown

Christmas in the Time of Billy Lee by Jerdine Nolen

The Berenstain Bears Save Christmas by Jan and Stan Berenstain

The Christmas Giant by Steve Light

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski

The Hat by Jan Brett

I Like Winter by Lois Lenski

Apple Tree Christmas by Trinka Hakes Noble

The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett

Santa’s Toy Shop by Al Dempster

Frosty the Snowman by Steve Nelson, Jack Rollins, and Richard Cowdrey

The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore (I love the version illustrated by Robert Ingpen!)

Chapter Books:

The Christmas Reindeer by Thornton W. Burgess

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L’Engle

The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

When Santa Fell to Earth by Cornelia Funke

Nancy and Plum by Betty MacDonald

Good and Perfect Gifts: An Illustrated Retelling of The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry and Barry Moser

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (I love the version illustrated by P. J. Lynch!)

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum

Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien

Papa’s Angels: A Christmas Story by Collin Wilcox Paxton and Gary Carden

Next week I’ll be sharing our crafts we’re making to go with some of these books this year.  If you are behind on my holiday posts, then check out this Skillet Apple Pie recipe and my simplified Christmas list printable.

Stay tuned for the next installment of A Few of My Favorite Things in the tree house,

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Tuesday

My Favorite Things: As American As. . .

Apple Pie.

While my mom and dad were staying with us for Thanksgiving, I asked her to do a couple of guest recipes for me, things that I don’t necessarily like to eat, but I know that others love to eat these dishes from my mom’s kitchen.

I don’t like to eat anything apple so it’s definitely not my mother’s cooking ability that makes me pass on her apple pie. In fact, it smells divine while it’s cooking, and according to Preacher Man, it is the BEST apple pie you will ever eat. And Preacher Man is not a fan of desserts so this is high praise indeed.

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So why is this recipe included in My Favorite Things blog series this month? Because cooking in the kitchen with my mom IS one of my favorite things to do even if I don’t always eat what we cook.

I do feel the need to give a quick warning before sharing the recipe with you. This is definitely not healthy and it’s not something you should eat every week, but the holidays is generally the time that we all splurge a bit and enjoy some desserts and treats that we don’t indulge in the rest of the year.

Here is what you need to make Skillet Apple Pie:

{We totally forgot to take a picture of the ingredients before we started cooking. Thanksgiving Day was a little crazy to be taking pics for a blog post.}

2 refrigerated pie crusts

2 pounds of Braeburn apples, peeled and chopped or sliced

2 pounds of Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped or sliced

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

First, put apples in a large pot with just enough water in it to cover the bottom and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat stirring frequently. According to my mom this allows the apples to partially cook before putting them in the pie so that there is no crunch left to the apples when you serve the pie. As you can see from the picture my mom chops her apples, but if you slice yours thin enough, then this step would probably not be necessary.

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Next, melt butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet. We used my 12-inch skillet for the blog post because my mom actually prefers a bigger skillet for this recipe, but a 10-inch works great as well.

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After butter is melted add the brown sugar to the skillet and mix well. Let the butter and sugar cook over low heat until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.

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Remove skillet from heat and place one of the refrigerated pie crusts on top of the brown sugar and butter mixture.

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By now the apples should have finished softening, so add the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the apples.

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Stir gently to coat.

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Pour apples into the skillet.

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Place the second pie crust on top of apples and cut slits in the top to vent.

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Liberally sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

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Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

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Dish it up and serve with vanilla ice cream. By the way, this is a great apple pie to make for a crowd because it will serve a lot more than a regular apple pie.

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Skillet Apple Pie

2 refrigerated pie crusts

2 pounds of Braeburn apples, peeled and chopped or sliced

2 pounds of Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped or sliced

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

First, put apples in a large pot with just enough water in it to cover the bottom and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat stirring frequently. Next, melt butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet. After butter is melted add the brown sugar to the skillet and mix well. Let the butter and sugar cook over low heat until the brown sugar is completely dissolved. Remove skillet from heat and place one of the refrigerated pie crusts on top of the brown sugar and butter mixture. By now the apples should have finished softening, so add the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the apples. Stir gently to coat. Pour apples into the skillet. Place the second pie crust on top of apples and cut slits in the top to vent. Liberally sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

The smell of cinnamon baking is one of my favorite things in the tree house,

Chelli

Friday

My Favorite Things: Christmas List

I love Christmas and this year I wanted to share some of my favorite things about the holidays, from traditions that my family enjoys to some amazing recipes that are great around the holiday season.
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The first thing I tackled this year was a new way of doing the kids’ Christmas lists.  My parents are enthusiastic gift buyers which means that every year my kids wind up with lots and lots of great gifts, but just too many. We don’t have the space for them and, honestly, I think it’s so many that the kids are overwhelmed and don’t play with them as much as they would a select few.
I had seen some ideas floating around Pinterest of lists that focused on asking for things from different categories. I really liked that idea so that Magpie, Chipette, and Monkey would have things on their lists that didn’t fall in the toy category. So I came up with my own Christmas list printable and wanted to share it with all of you.
It has categories for things something they want, something educational, something to wear, something they really need, something to share with their siblings or a friend (we usually pick a board game or puzzle to put in this category), something to read, and one really big gift that they want most of all.
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I pinned things throughout the year that I though the kids might like in all of these categories so that when the time came to fill out their list I had a selection of educational items, books, and games for them to choose from. We had a lot of fun just filling out our lists!
You can download your own version of my Christmas wish list right HERE.
Looking forward to a simplified gift exchange in the tree house,
Chelli

Tuesday

Tasty Tuesday: Simple Man

Last year was the Year of the Muffin in our house. Our homeschool co-op met on Friday mornings each week, and I needed a quick, grab and go breakfast since we live 30 minutes away. Through this situation I started searching out muffin recipes to try each week. Quite a few of them became family favorites including the Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins and Banana Chunk Muffins that I’ve already shared on the blog.

Well, Preacher Man would eat these “fancy” muffins as he called them, but finally he asked me, “Why can’t you just make a simple, basic muffin?” These muffins were born from that request.


Here is what you need to make Apple Spice Muffins:


2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (We prefer chunky applesauce.)
¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup plain yogurt 

Toppings (because I couldn’t just leave it simple, but they are really good without anything extra):

Powdered Sugar Glaze (Mix 1 Tbsp. milk and ¾ cup powdered sugar. Drizzle over muffins after removing from oven.)

Streusel Topping (Mix ½ cup flour, ¼ cup packed brown sugar, ½ stick softened butter, ½ tsp. cinnamon in a bowl with a fork or your fingers. Sprinkle over muffins before baking.)

First, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and spices in a medium bowl.


Add the egg, applesauce, melted butter, and yogurt to the flour mixture.


Stir until just blended.


Spoon into a greased muffin pan.


Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes.


For this post I added the powdered sugar glaze from above. Yummy!


Apple Spice Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (We prefer chunky applesauce.)
¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup plain yogurt

Optional Toppings:

Powdered Sugar Glaze (Mix 1 Tbsp. milk and ¾ cup powdered sugar. Drizzle over muffins after removing from oven.)
Streusel Topping (Mix ½ cup flour, ¼ cup packed brown sugar, ½ stick softened butter, ½ tsp. cinnamon in a bowl with a fork or your fingers. Sprinkle over muffins before baking.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and spices in a medium bowl. Add the egg, applesauce, butter, and yogurt. Stir until just blended. Spoon into the muffin pan. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for five minutes in the pan.

Preacher Man was a happy, simple man in the tree house,

Chelli

Thursday

Thursday's Thoughts: Mulan in the House

Cooking

FALL IS HERE! FALL IS HERE! Where we live it’s a little cooler than it normally is in the summer, but still warm enough for shorts and T-shirts. None of that stops me from cooking fall foods though. I’ve been making soups, hearty meat and vegetable dishes, and pumpkin flavored things for the past week like crazy. Here are our favorites from each category: Cheesy Chicken Chowder, Roast Chicken with Veggies, and Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins.

Reading

My lack of non-fiction reading is over! I’m currently in the middle of an amazing book about the women who worked in Oak Ridge, Tennessee at a secret government factory enriching uranium for the atomic bomb. It’s so interesting to read about these women who were called upon to do something for the war (they were not told what) because almost all of the men were fighting. It’s called The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win WWII. Definitely worth your time if you are interested in that era at all.

Listening

To the dog breathing deeply on the floor beside me and Chipette’s low voice coming from her room where she is making an American Girl movie with her dolls using my phone.

Thinking

About how well our homeschool is going right now. I’ve been adjusting and tweaking the past few weeks with scheduling and this week has been perfect.

Planning

We are leaving town this weekend for Corpus Christi, so I’m planning laundry that needs to be washed and what needs to be packed. Yippee for a mini-family vacation!

Pinning

Feel free to follow me on Pinterest using the button in the sidebar. I wanted to share some of my favorite finds this past week:

Homeschool: I am determined to be more consistent with nature study this year. When we do it the kids enjoy it so much! I quickly pinned this link to free nature study printables to get us started.

Home: I pinned this super cute, super affordable, and super functional idea for storing books. I can’t wait to buy a dish-drying rack.

Cooking: Chipette and I adore Panera Bread’s tomato soup, so I’ve been trying to find a good homemade tomato soup. The few recipes I’ve tried have been total fails. My good friend, Beauty Queen, sent me this pin for a spicy tomato soup. Beauty Queen loves to cook too, so I know she won’t steer me wrong. I can’t wait to try it!

Loving

Our new homeschool group. The homeschool group we’ve participated in the past two years is taking a break this year because of busyness in all the mom’s lives, but a new group started up in our hometown. It has been such a blessing to know that there are quite a few homeschoolers here in our neck of the woods instead of driving 30 miles to our other group.

Remembering

A couple of weeks ago we finally got Magpie signed up for taekwondo. She made the decision at the end of ballet last year that she wanted to do something different this year. She wanted to go from ballerina to being Mulan, a fighting girl! It fits her personality perfectly. Here she is at her first class:



Looking forward to a new week of productivity, loving, learning, laughing and cooking in the tree house,

Chelli

Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Zoo Crew

We visited the zoo this past Friday with some new and old homeschool friends. We had a blast!

  
Monkey is fascinated with alligators, but this albino one at the zoo had him a little frightened. This is as close as he would get to let me take a picture.
  


The girls and some of our best friends!
  


Monkey made new friends with some sweet boys. I’m glad he’s not so outnumbered with all the girls anymore!



Monkey and Miss Elizabeth Bennett


Chipette and Miss Jane Bennett: Best Friends


The zoo crew being silly after eating lunch.


The new African exhibit was open on this trip and some of the group got in touch with their tribal roots!


Chipette made a love connection with this chimpanzee. She sat down next to the glass and the chimp began to kiss at her through the glass. Chipette kissed back and for the next five minutes they swapped kisses back and forth. Quite a crowd gathered around them because it was so funny!


The nature center at the zoo had this alligator head on display. Monkey wasn’t afraid to touch it!


Before heading home I let the kids have a quick visit to the splash pad at the zoo. It was hot that day, and they had earned it!

Loving our new zoo crew in the tree house,

Chelli