super crunchy?

We've finally taken the step to grinding our own wheat. Our trip to Bob's Red Mill was successful and we purchased the NutriMill grinder, a bag of Hard Red Wheat, Soft White Wheat and Spelt Berries.



Breads do taste better using whole grain freshly ground flour. They are way more filling then using refined white flour. Our goal is to get off white flour completely but we're keeping some on hand until we get the hang of baking with whole wheats.

I made spelt bread today and it is delicious.


Here are the grains in the hopper waiting to be ground.


And what you we end up with. Fresh flour ready to be used! Smells good too.


I'm using my bread machine today as I do not enjoy kneading bread.


And into the machine and three hours later...


you get this...


Yum! I'll post the bread machine recipe below. I'm waiting on a book from the library by Peter Reinhart that is supposed to produce amazing whole grain breads.

100% Whole Wheat Bread for a 2lb loaf
1 3/4 C Water
2 Tbs Butter or Oil
1/3 C Honey
1 tsp. Salt
5 C Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tbs Vital Wheat Gluten (optional but I added it)
1 T Yeast

Load according to your bread machine. Mine calls for me to load the wet ingredients first followed by the dry and ending with the yeast on top. Program it for wheat bread, 2lb.

Enjoy!

what happens at sleepovers...

My daughters finally got their most desired wish - a sleepover! Three of their closets friends came over and ate junk food, didn't sleep, giggled way too much and made movies.

Here is one of their creations. It is a skit based on Julian Smith's hilarious "Malk".



They also did a western but I haven't been able to edit it yet. As tired as they were the day after, they are already planning another one! Kids...

school time

I've been home-schooling year round for a few years now. I hated the idea of taking breaks during the summer and then spending a month catching back up. So we just took breaks as needed and plodded on. My friend Melodie developed a year round school schedule that follows the church calendar and schedules in breaks every 7th week. This is based on the days of creation. God created the world in 6 days and on the 7th day He rested. So we have school for 6 weeks and every 7th week we rest (well the kids do, I'm busy preparing for the next 6 weeks).

This week is our rest week and so far we've been to Bob's Red Mill, had a sleepover and the OMSI museum today. Tomorrow is art school and then Thursday is a walk/picnic to a park as long as the weather is good.

When we are back to school, this is our schedule.

Monday, Wed, Friday
Read out loud Bible time (going through the Bible in 2 years)
New Bible verse to memorize that week
50 Stories Read Aloud
History - Middle Ages
Science: Maddie/Ava, Exploring Creation Flying Creatures; Lauren, Exploring Creation General Science
Shurley Grammar 7
Math Drills printed
Math: Maddie/Ava, Saxon 6/5; Lauren: Algebra

Tuesday, Thursday
Read out loud Bible time (going through the Bible in 2 years)
Bible Verse practice
Piano
Student Writing History - Middle Ages
Spelling/Vocabulary: Wordly Wise
Math Drills
Math: Maddie/Ava, Saxon 6/5; Lauren: Algebra

We also read: Trial & Triumph, Drawing with Children, a typing program. Ellie has Singapore Math, Teaching Reading at Home, and various other spelling, reading worksheets I print out from the web.

Lauren will be starting a Latin program as soon as I save up some more money and then a Logic class at Veritas Online in the fall (hopefully!) as well as volunteering at the local library.  It's really important to us that our children have a full and rigorous education. We'll be adding in more subjects as they get older. I love that I can tailor their schooling to their interests as well as their learning style. Homeschooling is great!

making a movie

The making of a western movie....the morning after the "best" sleepover with beloved friends.

our big day

We decided to go out to Bob's Red Mill to buy a grain grinder as well as the grain to grind. It's about a 45 minute drive so we thought we might do some hiking or other fun stuff and call it a day. Wow was it a day.

We started out in downtown Hillsboro at the toy store so Ava could buy some Valentines Day gifts. Then back in the car for the drive to Bob's. Once we got there we were starving of course so we ordered our very nutritious food and dug in. Amazing food!

Here we are waiting for our order:


Grae ordered a turkey sandwich and kept telling us how good it was. "Mom it has mayonnaise!"


Molly only enjoyed the root beer (which the lady gave us free!)


Then since we were not far away, we make the trek to Exodus Books, where I was just going to pick up one book. I walked out with that book as well as a Jamie Soles "Wells" CD and a new cursive handwriting book. The girls spent a bunch of their own money on books as well.

We had decided to go to a local state park but first stopped at the Oregon City Municipal Elevator.

While Maddie and I enjoyed the view, Grae was already thinking of his next adventure. We rode the elevator down.




We took the stairs back up to the waterfall and then over to the McLoughlin House.




Grae would not make a good pirate or soldier. Wrong end buddy!


Here is where I'm figuring out how many kids I can throw in the fountain.


Then we set off for the park where we found this on one of the trails.






So now we are back home, the house is clean, clothes picked out for church tomorrow, baths taken and we're relaxing. Almost bedtime. It was a great day but now I'm exhausted - at least it's a good day kind of exhaustion.

work out

Grae loves our new elliptical and when not jumping off furniture, can be found working out. I've been wanting an elliptical for awhile and have been saving up money and checking Craigslist. I'm thinking that a lot of people had the same idea as every time I would inquire about one for sale, it was already snatched up. Finally I spotted this one. After some research to make sure it was a good brand (very high ratings!), Brian and Lauren went to pick it up.

I now try to get in a good 30 minutes after my circuit training workout and so far I really like it. My circuit dvd's are: Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred, The Biggest Loser Workout: Cardio Max,The Biggest Loser: The Workout - Boot Camp

All of them are challenging and I can really feel my body getting stronger.