The Twelve Days of Homeschool...

A Celebration

...in honor of one of my favorite people: my mom. She is the most wonderful, beautiful, awesome, incredible, amazing (and so on and so forth), mother in the whole world! Well, at least that's my opinion. ;) So cheers to you Mom, I love you so much.


Anyhoo, we all know that birthdays are really all about food, and since I am somewhat grown up (at least I think I am), and can take charge of the kitchen, I wanted to do something really special.


To start off her special day I made orange and cinnamon cream cheese rolls. I love experimenting with different kinds of rolls, using my basic bread recipe and rolling it out with different toppings. I think these are my favorite so far!

The special lady with aforementioned rolls

I wanted to go all out with the decorating:


Totally the classic winter look

Dearest Mom

.....

The Menu

Garlic Parmesan Rolls with homemade Butter

Fresh Salad with Blackberry Vinaigrette

Steak Gorgonzola with Spinach and dried Tomatoes

Pasta Alfredo

.....

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
.....

I carved the butter in the shape of a rose

Everyone doing their best to smile at me despite the fact that I made them dress up for the occasion... No pajamas at this party.

My awesome parents

My brother and I.

T.J. here, is sporting the deer-in-the-headlights look; and as for me *gasp* can it be? Is she really wearing a Black Dress. Yes, I really am.

I think I hear sirens in the distance... could it be the FASHION POLICE. Only one thing comes to mind in a situation like this...

RUN.
OK, I'm back y'all. And for those of you who are wondering what planet I'm from, let me explain. Back in June, the dear Mortons hosted a Style Show and my mom taught a session on what colors are best for you. I am a Spring and so therefore am not supposed to wear black. Mom however, is a Winter so black is one of her best colors. So I was wearing it for her. Really.
Okay, back to the party

Ambiance

OhYah! How's that for a caption. As I was taking this picture T.J. said sort of quizzically, "your taking a picture of the candle?" To which Mom promptly replied "it's 'Art'...at least that's how it will end up on the blog ".

My dad is getting ready to open his online specialty wrapping business. Contact him for more information at Larry@WrapnRap.com. He charges more for the hand-drawn curly bow.

Oh! and as for the cow in the picture, that's my cousin LeAnn's cow. His name is Bo.

In case you were wondering.

White chocolate raspberry cheesecake

And I really didn't intend for it to look like a target. It just sort of happened.

Now this is definitely 'Art'

All kidding aside, I had so much fun making a special party for Mom.

My mother is a wonderful example of a Proverbs 31 woman, and I would like to take this opportunity to do what the children of a virtuous woman are supposed to do:

Bless you Mom, for all that you do and all that you are.

I love you,

Angela Marie

"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies... Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also and he praises her. Many women do noble things but you surpass them all... Give her the reward she has earned, and let her own works praise her in the city gates.

Proverbs 31:10,28,29,&31

Check out this great video...

Courageous

Hi Everyone,
I'm back! Yeah, yeah I know, long time no post. Sorry 'bout that.
But any-hoo, we had the most wonderful time this evening! (or should I say last evening as it is now just after midnight!) The last few weeks have been busy, emotional, and just a leeettle bit stressful. So it felt so nice to just kick back and take it easy. Most of our CSA customers are out of town, so we had a pretty easy delivery day which was a blessing. Dad has been in Tampa this week, but when he got home he was so sweet (of course he always is) and took us out to eat (Chick-fil-A, YUM) and then to see Sherwood's newest film Courageous. When we walked into the theater we saw the Davis family just going in; at least most of the Davis family (we missed you Auntie Laura).
If you haven't seen Courageous yet you need to! It was a very powerful film about fathers turning their hearts to their families and families turning their hearts to the father (both earthly and heavenly). I think one of my favorite parts in the movie is when one of the fathers gives his daughter a purity ring after she gives him her heart. You don't see this talked about much today, even in the Church. I remember the first time I ever heard of keeping your heart pure, I didn't know quite what to think! I wish that someone had told me about this when I was much younger, but fortunately I am blessed with a very gracious and understanding father who cherishes my heart. ~I love you Dad!~ But anyway, back to the movie. As Mom always says, "I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob." It was so funny! I think it was the best Sherwood film yet, though they are all good. Oh, and did I mention that Dad took us to Marble Slab Creamery for dessert? Can life get any better than this?! And just think, eternal life is uncomprehendingly better!

Love, a totally happy daughter of the risen King!

Also daughter of a courageous father, and wonderful and beautiful mother...

oh and did I mention I have a pretty awesome brother too?!

Just in case you didn't get it, I am totally blessed, and I am,

Angela

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9VT_NBIVfs

Corny Times

Okay so if cheesy wasn't bad enough wait until you read corny!

Sorry folks, we just couldn't resist.

For those of you (like myself) that don't understand this because it was before your time, this is from the movie Casablanca.

Ear's lookin' at you kid

~Countryblanket

Yeah I know, worse than cheesy, but that's just how we think 'round here.

Y'all come back now (if you can stand anymore)!

~Angelita

So cheesy...

...but I just couldn't resist!

Warning #1 This is a very cheesy post, so if you don't like cheesy stop here.
Warning #2 If you have never had the privilege of seeing "Finding Nemo" you probably will not get this.


So we have this really neat variety of squash in our garden that goes by a lot of different names around here: patty-pan squash, scalloped squash, flower squash, flying-saucer squash, and my grandparents just call it "that strange squash". But to me it looks kinda like a jelly fish, without the tentacles of course! And then it came to me....


"You will be my squashy, and I will name you squashy. Here squashy, here squashy-squashy."

I know, I know, so cheesy...But after all, they really do taste best with cheese sauce. :)

Over n' out,
Angelita

Our new secretary

Life

Hello all,
I hope everyone is having a great day. I am! It is a gorgeous sunny day here(rather hot though). Everyone is busy; Mom, T.J., and Zach and Benjamin K. are outside planting sweet potatoes (yum), poor Dad is struggling with computer problems, and I am here, of course, blogging. Lunch is simmering in the crock pot (pizza fondue), and my bread is rising in the oven, as soft piano music fills the house. This picture aptly describes how I feel right now...

Peaceful
The knowledge that we serve an awesome God who watches over and takes care of us should always fill me with peace, but sometimes I forget. But God is faithful no matter what. We all had a fresh reminder of this a couple weeks ago when a tornado came through our area. A big oak tree in our back yard fell right next to my Dad's office, on top of the lean-to and one of our green houses. If it had fallen a few more feet to the left it would have smashed right through Dad's office. The storm did not do too much damage to the house and we are so thankful to the Lord for protecting us and our animals and crops. So anyways, what follows is a collage of pictures of the cleanup!

This is the corner of Dad's office and of course the tree. Uncle Monroe came out one day (or rather two days) to take the tree down.

My wonderful parents found a good spot to observe

Uncle Monroe brought his family with him to help! Michelle here, is laughing at her son who was so facinated with the cows.

The roots stickin' up. There was a big 'fox hole' back there, and Joel thought it was supposed to be his new play house.

No, we are not child-abusers, the fence really is off. Joel was so cute though. They thought that the fence was on and so they told him not to touch because it was hot and so he started to blow on it to "cool" it off. LOL.

Uncle Monroe and Marcus takin' down the tree.

Joel loved Scrappy

If life gives you a tree, make firewood.

Literally

A totally over-used caption, but still apropriate...ART.

On Saturday some friends of ours came over to help with the clean-up. Thank y'all so much Deckers and Knudsons for all the work y'all did.

Dad, Dakota, and T.J. with the chipper.

It was such a gorgeous day outside! Keni and I took a walk around the lake before lunch.

Keni. You are awesome! I had so much fun with you and Sarah.

"Sniff" You may now view the remains. (Isn't that such a tragic word)

The impaled smoker lid

More firewood

Our most faithful servant...or what's left of it.

What's left of the greenhouse

Only the corner of Dad's office was damaged, but there was no damage done to the inside. God is so good!

Our poor grill, every time Dad would try to move it out of the way something else would fall off.

Any-hoo that's what has been going on around here. Sorry I havn't posted in a while, guess I'm not much good at this bloggn' thing.

I'll be back,

Angela

Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. ~Isaiah 40:31

Biblical Economics

We have just started working through this new curriculum on Biblical Economics from Vision Forum. It is a really great resource, and something I would highly recommend to everyone who wants to understand all that the Bible says about economic principles. Click here to find out more about it. ~ Mr. Larry

Really cute video of the story of Jonah

(scroll down to the bottom and pause the music first)