On the Menu

There is nothing new on our menu this week, just a return to old favorites that make at least 4 out of 5 people happy.

Lasagna
Salmon
Calzones
Penne a la Betsy
Spicy Pork Cutlets

I need simplicity and familiarity because this week I have to devote to preparing foods for Jesse's Eagle Scout ceremony. I've been perusing cook books, searching for a few appetizers that can be made ahead of time. His ceremony is next Sunday afternoon, and I'd like to have all the food prep done by Saturday. This gifted local yokel is making his cake, so my task is now to fill up the table with just the right extras.

Ideas? Please, share!

Linked up at Tasty Tuesday and Menu Plan Monday

Favorite Books

This is my kind of "show us your life" question at Kelly's Korner today. I don't have a whole lot to say about make-up or cleaning tips, but books? Yep. I've got a lot to say. That's why I have a separate SmallWorld Reads blog.

My favorite book ever? Here's a little hint: ""Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird." You can read all about my favorite book ever here.

Reading with children? Yes. Every day for the past 17 years. Read this post for some thoughts on that. And don't miss this post for some great links on where to find great books for your kids. Here's a little excerpt:

"I like this list of 100 Best Books, but I like the age-by-age breakdown here even better. And if 100 isn't enough (of course it isn't!), here is a list of 1000 Good Books for preschool-grade 12.

Paula's Archives is another great place for reading lists, such as
* Easy chapter books
* Literature to supplement history and
* Living books for science

What about books for babies through preschoolers? I think this is a great list from the NY Public Library. Scanning these titles, I feel a tremendous nostalgia for the days of Bread and Jam for Frances, The Carrot Seed, and Mike Mulligan. (On a side note, my 7 and 11-year-olds still like for me to read picture books to them. A few times a week I'll pull out an old favorite to read to them, and they love them just as much as they did when they were preschoolers.)"

Click on this link, though, to read it all.

And last, but certainly not least, here are some of my own childhood favorites.

I could go on and on about books. If you are looking for something to read, check out the link for "Reading Picks" at the top of the page. These are my Top Ten lists from the past few years.

And I'll end with one of my favorite quotes:

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.
~Anna Quindlen

Linked to Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner

Ending Things

I have a love/hate relationship with May. May is when our regular activities end, and summer picks up. After 9-10 months of regular activities, I'm thrilled for them to be over for a while. The "hate" part comes with the tremendous amount of stress surrounding the ending of activities. Everything has to end with some kind of Big Event.

Last Thursday evening was our American Heritage Girls spring awards-and-cross-over ceremony. This is the really big one. Caroline, my co-coordinator and I, are frantic for the week prior to this, even though we've been preparing for it for weeks—and even though we've been doing this for 7 years. With 65-70 girls in our troop, we have a lot to think about. We have leader gifts to buy and plan for, tally sheets to double-check, badges and service stars to put in baggies and label, and a dozen other things to remember. And then suddenly, at 10 p.m. on Thursday evening—it's over. Joy!

Friday I gave my World Lit/Geography class a final exam and then headed out to our co-op's end-of-the-year program. I had little responsibility for this one, other than displaying my literature circle's posters and watching my daughter dance and sing. But still, it was another place to be. But joy—our co-op classes are officially over for a couple of months!

Monday we had a family dinner for my high school World Lit/Geography class, which required cooking and buying stuff and coming up with a quiz show so I could pit the students against their parents. And joy—the students won! I wish I could say I was completely done with that class, but I still have a pile of final exams and essays to grade.

And Tuesday night was the Cub Scout end-of-the-year and crossing-over ceremony. Since Dr. H. is the Cubmaster, there was still more stress and frenetic preparation. Badges, pins, belt loops, food, supplies, emails, phone calls. And these faces:

That's the joy of it all. Dr. H. and I are committed to some intense leadership positions, but there is tremendous joy in the knowledge that, through these activities, the lives of these kids are hopefully being enriched. And, honestly, there is much rejoicing in our home when the activities take a summer break.

And while I'm feeling tremendously relieved that these Big Events are over, we still have two more coming up: our oldest son's Eagle Scout ceremony, followed two weeks later by his graduation.

But for just a couple of days, I'm savoring the satisfaction of good endings.

Linked to Finer Things Friday and Just for the Joy of It

A Basket of Strawberries

We picked two baskets of strawberries today from our very own strawberry patch. I keep thinking that we need to go to a local farm and pick, but when we're producing this much on our own—wow! I've never been a great vegetable gardener since we moved to the red dirt of Tennessee from the rich soil of Iowa, but somehow the strawberries thrive in spite of the soil quality and my lack of attention. If only I had the ingredients to make shortcake… (I see a grocery shopping trip coming up this evening.)

Linked up at Tuesdays Unwrapped, Outdoor Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, and 5 Minutes for Mom.

That Exorcist Head-Spin

This has not been my favorite week ever. I've been grumpy and stressed. We've had to be somewhere every evening. School has been haphazard. My heart hurts for hurting teens. I spoke sternly to grown-ups because they irritated me. I've felt bossy and mean inside.

I missed my favorite TV shows. I spelled a word wrong on my Facebook status. We don't have any good snack food in the house.

I have felt my head spin around like that chick in The Exorcist way too many times this week.

But suddenly, it all just seemed to evaporate this evening. My friend Sheila, who knows me very well, sent me a "praying for you" text. And a prayer from her is goooood stuff. She made me laugh today, even though I was on the verge of tears. And tonight another friend made me laugh, and another. And then nothing even mattered anymore. I came home and couldn't even remember what I was all riled up about earlier; and when I did remember, I didn't care. (Well, except for the misspelling on my Facebook status. I actually do care about that.)

I have a quiet evening ahead. I have people who love me, in spite of myself and even when I'm feeling mean. And that's a really, really good thing.

"Wordless Wednesday": Flowers Abound

This is by far my favorite time of year for flowering gardening. The weather is still cool enough for the most part and the ground is nice and soft from a couple of good heavy rains. The problem is that this particular few weeks of perfect gardening also correspond with the end-of-the-year rush, so I have much less time to devote to flowers than I'd like. Fortunately, most of these lovely plants pretty much take care of themselves each year. It's the weeds and annuals that need attention…

Linked up at: Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, and Outdoor Wednesday

Monday Memory: Scout

People keep asking me, "Are you so sad/scared/freaked out that Jesse is graduating?" and I keep answering no. But the truth is, it is getting harder and harder as the date gets closer. This week I am faced with the task of putting together a photo album of his scouting career in preparation for his Eagle Scout ceremony in just 3 weeks. This means I have to sort through dozens of photos—like those above—from 11 years of Scouting, from Tiger Cub in 1st grade to now, as an Eagle Scout. And of course that means watching my firstborn transition, over and over again, from a six-year-old to a 17-year-old.

So, yeah. I am feeling a little melancholy these days. But mostly just really, really proud.

*Sigh.*

On the Menu

We're heading into the time of year when all I really want to eat is pasta salad and fruity things. But alas, cooking must happen. People must eat. And it's sooo hard to keep weight on a 17-year-old vegetarian. Like his father, my son seems to burn as many calories as he eats, even while reading, sitting at the computer or playing guitar most of the day. My husband assures me that he was just as skinny at that age as our son is now; indeed, since Jesse wore Dr. H's high-school suit to prom and it fit perfectly, I guess that would be true. Still.

So last week I was going to have ribeyes when my parents came over for our regular Tuesday night meal; however, my Dad got some dental work done last week and is getting two teeth pulled this week, so I guess Randy and I will have to suffer and eat the steaks all by ourselves. We'll be grilling our steaks but making Pioneer Woman's mushroom sauce that accompanies her pan-fried steaks.

Besides that, we'll be having:
Indian Chicken with Lentils
Salmon with mashed potatoes (I don't really have a salmon recipe. I just marinate it for awhile in honey, soy sauce, olive oil, garlic, and ginger and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes)
Hamburgers on the grill
Easy Enchiladas

This is one of those weeks I'm really, really tired of food. I'd like to eat stuff like Lucky Charms, powdered sugar donuts, chops and dip, and instant pudding, washed down with diet Pepsi, all week long. Setting a good example can be a drag…

Linked on Menu Plan Monday

Meandering

* Good stuff at The Carnival of Homeschooling at Dewey's Treehouse. I especially like Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers' The Public School Parents' Guide to Homeschool Parents and this post from Lesson Pathways about homeschooling co-ops. I can't even imagine homeschooling without one!

* I never miss Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books.

* This bench at Knock-off Wood. I need Dr. H. to build it for me quickly.

* A great list of homeschooling-related memes, hops, and carnivals at The Homeschool Classroom.

* Petite Vanilla Bean Scones at Pioneer Woman cooks and Frangelico Layered Bliss cake at Eclectic Whatnot. I must make these delights ASAP. First, though, I must buy Frangelico and a whole vanilla bean. I don't happen to have those key ingredients hanging out in my cabinets.

* "Sharing" without being nosy at 1800 Centre Square. Great reminders from a woman I went to college with. Love her wisdom!

* New blog discovered: Lego Quest Kids. Looks like something Duncan will love to do.

* And a really fantastic series of posts by Samantha on Planning a Unit Study. I keep meaning to add this to my homeschool links page because it's so excellent.

(Yes. I am procrastinating. I've been doing it so long that I can't even remember what I'm procrastinating from.)

Weekly Wrap-Up

It's palpable. It's seeping in throw the open windows and infiltrating every fiber of our beings with a frightening rapidity: the end of the school year.

We still have all of May yet to go, but I'm pretty sure we're all on a mental summer vacation already. That's the downside of having all of our activities end during the last of April and first of May! Theoretically, the upside is that we have a whole month to dedicate solely to "wrapping things up," a term I use loosely. Theoretically.

I have been a math drill sergeant this week. Duncan (3rd grade) will easily finish his math book by the end of May. Laurel (7th grade)—I have no idea. Since we switched to ALEKS a couple of months ago, I don't really know where exactly she is. All I know is that she's starting pre-algebra next year, and I'm hoping she's ready. It's been a confusing math year. But I know that, as resistant as she is to math, she really does get it. She's stubborn, but very smart. It'll all even out in the end.

We finished our World War 2 unit as of yesterday. We started watching The Devil's Arithmetic, but I had to stop it midway through. The movie is about a Jewish teenager who is swept up with her village and taken to a concentration camp. When their hair started being cut off at the concentration camp, Duncan had a horrified look on his face. I realized that, although this movie is based on a children's book and is geared toward younger audiences, he is a little too young and sensitive for it. I plan to watch it later this evening just with Laurel.

We've been doing American History for 3 years now. I can hardly fathom that. I am soooo looking forward to returning to world geography and history studies. Sadly, we'll cover the next many decades (from 1945-present) in a month, but I rest assured in knowing that they'll go through American History again in high school and in college.

We had two fun field trips this week. Thursday we spent at Wilderness in the Smokies indoor waterpark (story here), and yesterday Duncan and I and friends went to see Walking with Dinosaurs, which was fantastic.

Just three more weeks until Jesse's Eagle Scout ceremony and a month until he graduates. I have a lot to do, so naturally I'm procrastinating as much as possible. We had his senior pictures taken last week, and I'm tremendously looking forward to seeing those and getting graduation invitations mailed out. I really need to start making lists.

(And stop blogging.)
(And stop hanging out on Facebook.)
(And stop talking on the phone.)

Linked to Weekly Wrap-up on Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.