Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Chocolate Pancakes!!! ~~ YUMMY

In honor of yesterday's National Pancake Day (You've gotta love holidays like that!), I present our absolute favorite Chocolate Pancake recipe. My mom found this recipe a couple of decades ago, and WOW these pancakes are scrumptious.

Chocolate Pancakes

1 1/4 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda

My mother puts all the ingredients in a blender in the order listed. I just put them in a bowl and use a hand mixer. Mix until well blended. Pour onto preheated griddle. Turn over when bubbled on top. Because the batter is dark and chocolatey, it may be challenging to see if it's "ready" to turn. Make sure the bottom of the pancake is firm and the edges slightly dry out before flipping it over. ENJOY!!!

These are great with just butter (my mom's favorite way to eat them), or with your favorite syrup.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Wordless Wednesday ~ Outlaws










Valentine Play-Do

The kids and I get a little excited when it's time for a new batch of play-do. The regular salt dough recipe that we've used for years gets added "sparkle" with a sprinkling of glitter, red food coloring, and even a smidgen of peppermint extract that wakes up our senses. You can use heart-shaped cookie cutters for the full valentine experience, or just make your own shapes and figures. Here's the recipe. Enjoy!!

Valentine Play-Do

1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. oil
1/4 cup salt
few drops of red food coloring
2 - 3 drops of peppermint extract
glitter, if desired

Mix the first five ingredients together in a sauce pan over medium heat.
While it's still warm, mix in the food coloring, extract, and glitter.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Our Bible Curriculum

Over the years, I've had all kinds of ideas for doing different things for our Bible lessons. We've had elaborately planned lessons and we've had coloring sheets to go with our stories. Honestly, the kids basically liked all of it, but I couldn't keep it all going. After starting something really neat, it just wouldn't last very long, or it would be such a big effort that it was hard to do Language and Math studies after the big production. Ever feel like you are doing VBS continually?

I sat down and thought out exactly what I want to teach my boys through our Bible lessons. I want them to learn scripture verses, learn to worship, learn to pray, and learn to rely on God! We start the morning going over our Bible verses. We use the Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System with the notecards (http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/). It works wonders and is incredibly easy. Sometimes we practice Bible Drill, finding passages in our Bible. Then, we sing a song or two, like "You are My All in All" and "I've got the Joy, Joy, Joy." Finally, we talk about anything we would like to pray about, or mention specific requests that God has graciously answered. Then we pray. I will always pray, sometimes the boys want to pray, as well.

My absolute favorite thing about our Bible study is that it enables me to be consistent. We know what to expect every day, it's so easy, requires little preparation, and puts our minds on our Lord at the beginning of each day.