tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22946519804352236722024-03-19T06:43:36.296-04:00Weird, Wacky, Wild, Wanda Willy Whoopie CushionOur little scrapbook of our family's life as we learn, love, and laugh together.Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.comBlogger272125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-55818614965392296802022-02-22T08:42:00.003-05:002022-02-22T08:42:36.122-05:00A Response to Protests and a Prayer For Our CountryI have really struggled with what to say and think and feel since January 29 when some truckers and sympathetic friends converged in Ottawa to let our government know that they represented many who wanted mandates to end. I have made no secret of the fact that I believe a person should have the freedom to choose their medical treatments, and preventative therapies, without fear of losing their Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-54040959321439182872022-02-14T13:53:00.005-05:002022-02-14T13:56:14.798-05:00Peanuts, Woodsmoke, and VirusesA friend recently shared a post to social media pointing out that exposure to peanuts can cause
extreme harm (even death) to kids at school. As such, schools tend to have
rules in place that prohibit anyone from bringing peanut products into that
environment. This ensures that schools are “peanut-free zones” and those young students
can learn without fear of illness.
The post went on
to say thatWandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-2850837911483594492020-08-08T14:02:00.001-04:002020-08-08T14:02:29.365-04:00Birdfeeder Battles(I just found this unpublished note from September 2016. I'm hitting "Publish" now...)I recently acquired
some bird feeders. Before investing too much I waited to see if the
birds would come. They did.
So I bought a more
durable feeder and some more expensive seed that would attract
colourful birds and songbirds.
Enter The Squirrel.
I spent a good portion
of yesterday morning Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-66502473921590449112020-04-05T12:58:00.001-04:002020-08-08T14:00:56.764-04:00Vanilla Bean Scones
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Vanilla Bean Scones
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman's recipe.
Because it's fun to bake with friends even from far away...Open up your favourite video conferencing tool and make a date to hang out and bake with your favourite people!
Materials needed:
3 baking sheets (at least Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-647207333092589442020-04-03T12:30:00.000-04:002020-04-03T22:35:38.457-04:00Sunday Morning in Isolation - Do Not Fear
(I'm publishing this ahead of time for those who want to print it and use it for their Sunday morning Family Worship.)It has been
said that there are 365 verses in the Bible that say “Do not fear”. My research
indicates that’s not entirely true, but the idea is certainly pervasive throughout
Scripture.
Take a few
moments to dig through your Bible to find verses where God is telling people Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-81025474679240368192020-03-28T23:14:00.005-04:002020-03-28T23:31:57.357-04:00Sunday Morning in QuarantineAs COVID-19 wreaks havoc on our world right now, Christians are sitting at home, trying to commune with other Christians as they worship and learn together virtually. Our church is "meeting" to pray together at 10:00 am, our usual meeting time on Sunday mornings.
I wanted to give my kids a more directed and meaningful way to pray and meditate on God's word, so I wrote up the following direction Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-13687254064106322902018-09-06T10:40:00.000-04:002018-09-06T10:43:04.537-04:00Grade 8 is making my head spin and it's only Day TwoIn case I ever forget... I love homeschooling!
Today we started reading our Science book, dealing with the history of scientific discovery. My youngest asked if we could make water for ourselves from hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms. As I flipped 300 pages into the book to the page about the Krebs Cycle, he went on to explain about wanting to build cities on places like the moon and Mars because Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-18479296052687693302017-05-26T09:02:00.002-04:002017-05-26T14:19:56.272-04:00Living in Light of EternityWritten to share with a group of Forever-minded homeschooling parents. Shared with all.
~
Forever
I used to be scared of
the idea of eternity. I would think about it and imagine “when
we've been there ten thousand years” that we would have “no less
days to sing God's praise than when we first begun” and it SCARED
me! As a little girl sitting in church, singing hymns that were
Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-67091583796751960872016-06-07T10:03:00.000-04:002016-06-08T08:24:43.082-04:00Kid laughsI went through our week's schedule this morning with the kids. This included a brief description of the new wrestling class that the boys plan to take. My daughter did not want to do wrestling because she didn't want to kill people or have people kill her. I explained that wrestling is more about controlled movements where you move your opponent's body so that certain parts of them are on the matWandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-31738894239443994482016-05-28T19:41:00.000-04:002016-05-28T19:41:36.065-04:00Cool Garden Pasta for a Hot Summer Day
Too hot!! Today was too hot for warm food. But alas, I had to use the stove. In the future, I'll make this one up in the morning or even the night before. This is great cold (for dinner or as leftovers) but we couldn't wait and ate it nearly cold.
And so, to make Cool Garden Pasta for a Hot Summer Day...
Cool Garden Pasta for a Hot Summer Day
Ingredients:
1 lb bow tie Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-224005234574280612016-05-07T11:30:00.001-04:002017-02-15T10:44:45.139-05:00Sleight of HandA few years back, my husband and I had tickets to see a magician in Niagara Falls, Ontario. His tricks required a lot of skill:
The assistants needed to physically be able to contort their bodies into weird spaces.
The magician needed to be physically skilled enough to move his hands quickly and adeptly to hide or reveal something.
But there's another skill that is at the heart of every Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-82846281396344841292016-03-04T10:35:00.000-05:002016-03-04T12:59:22.295-05:00Hearty Chicken Kale SoupYesterday was such a busy day at our house. (Thursdays generally are, through the winter.) I have to get our dinner prepared before 12:30. Yesterday, I had a vague plan for dinner, but at 12:00 I started panicking (ever-so-briefly). I knew I wanted to make some kind of crock pot dish with chicken and kale, but I didn't yet have a recipe in mind. A quick Google-search for "chicken kale crockWandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-62169887173120140732016-02-16T00:22:00.000-05:002016-02-16T00:22:38.593-05:00Finding a Spouse, Homeschool-Style
I wrote this Feb 7, 2015. I'm not sure why it sat unpublished for over a year, but I want to remember it down the road...~It's so fun to sit back and just listen
to my children, letting them chatter away.
The youngest needed some “board game” time with Dad
the other night, so I took the older two out to the local coffee and
doughnut shop. We lingered over coffee and hot chocolate while we Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-80168182956068882642016-02-16T00:04:00.003-05:002016-02-16T09:10:06.307-05:00Grandma's bag of marshmallowsI have to tell you one of my favourite stories of my Grandma Hazel...
When I was a little girl, I lived in the same city as Grandma Hazel and Grandpa Ralph. They often visited our house, but just as often, we ended up at their house. I have many fond memories of sitting at Grandma's kitchen table, sipping tea and nibbling toast while we played Password. (I just loved that plastic red window Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-4691670404580029752015-12-14T10:57:00.002-05:002015-12-14T10:57:54.293-05:00Bereans and burritosThe youngest just inadvertently came up with the perfect mascot for our little school...
We were discussing comparing what we hear around us with what the Bible says. I told the kids that this is what the Bereans did in Acts 17:11 - "...they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." (ESV)After a bit more chatter about the Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-19902799806849724762015-11-17T15:16:00.000-05:002015-11-17T15:17:22.057-05:00When you're just not sureWhen the world seems to be spinning out of control and you don't know what to think, remember these simple words:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
(Mt 22:37)
Love you neighbour as yourself.
(Mt 22:38)
If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them. (Ja 4:17)
And go from there.
You are Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-14940980841984961022015-11-06T14:22:00.002-05:002015-11-06T14:26:55.707-05:00Because I want to remember the silliness, too
7:30 am
The girl: "I think it's one of those days where I just want to make a lot of noise all the time."
She's singing random syllables to the tune of "On Top of Old Smokey" now.
It's going to be an interesting morning.
8:45 am
More from the girl...
She: Propaganda!
Me: Did you just say, "Propaganda!"
She: Yep!Me: Why?She: I don't know... It just came into my head, Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-48672156229187984072015-11-04T16:19:00.003-05:002015-11-04T18:56:46.533-05:00No timeThis is the most challenging idea that I've confronted myself with lately.
I've been mulling it over for a few weeks and I'm writing about it now so that I will remember it. This *new concept will likely challenge you, too.
*Okay, it's not really that new. But it's kind of rocked my world, so bear with me in my use of superlatives.
I must warn you though:
If you like telling people how busy Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-46778764378266770252015-09-14T11:45:00.003-04:002015-09-14T11:51:30.816-04:00On procrastinatingMom: Have you guys studied for your tests yet?
Girl: Yes
Boy: Yes
Other Boy: *silence*Mom to other boy: Are you procrastinating?
Other boy: I haven't yet, but I'm going to!
As the rest of us giggle: Wait, what does "procrastinate" mean?
Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-91597375939734563072015-09-14T09:11:00.002-04:002015-09-14T21:15:04.498-04:00Tomato Skills
This just happened between the 13 year old boy and 11 year old girl. Read with a faux British accent.
~
Do you have tomatoes skills?
Yes.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how are your tomato skills?
13.
That's impossible.
No, it's not. I have great tomato skills.
What kind of tomato skills do you have?
All of them.
Which skill are you best at?
All of them.
Do you know what tomato skills areWandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-72959361326774809992015-09-11T12:22:00.000-04:002015-09-11T12:22:21.084-04:00Let justice roll
Image of a USA Stamp,photo taken by Thomas E. Franklin
I have teared up twice today while telling the kids about the many people who died one day 14 years ago. It's so hard to remind children that things like this can happen. I followed it up by telling them that there is also so much good in this world, but we often don't hear about it. (Good people tend not to toot their own horns much.)
Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-6643976318570596202015-08-31T11:11:00.001-04:002015-08-31T11:12:33.851-04:00Acknowledging That ALL Lives Matter(You may find something that you disagree with here. If you do, it's fine to share your opinion, but please do so in a kind way that promotes conversation instead of shutting it down.)~Darren Goforth, a 47 year old man who had been a police officer for 10 years was killed this weekend. Reports say that it appears to have been an unprovoked attack, simply because Goforth was in a cop's Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-548497999146725912015-08-25T16:18:00.000-04:002015-08-26T09:04:29.038-04:00Glazed Vanilla Bean SconesThis is a fully-bad-for-you, totally-indulgent, not-healthy recipe, so any Paleo or gluten-free diet people can just read for funny comments, drool, and move on. The rest of you should just go ahead and print this one off because you're going to be the hit of the next pot luck with this recipe.
Vanilla Bean Scones
Scone Ingredients:
2 vanilla beans
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 cups all-purpose Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-58952712868387825072015-08-24T17:17:00.002-04:002015-08-24T17:29:54.956-04:00Paleo "I'll have another" Choco-Peanut-Butter Bites"Mom, can I have another one of those little circle things?"
I just made these... No sugar, but so tasty, as evidence by the quote above, just spoken 10 seconds ago by my girl.
"Mom, can I have another one of those little circle things?"
Peanut Butter Brownie Balls
Ingredients:
1/2 cup dates
1 cup ground almonds
2T cocoa powder
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
Instructions
Add hot Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2294651980435223672.post-81048527010914929982015-07-17T13:41:00.002-04:002015-07-17T16:43:44.140-04:00How to Get a Free Gigantor Hot Fudge Sundae, in 16 Easy StepsHow to Get a Free Gigantor Hot Fudge Sundae, in 16 Easy Steps
1. Meet a boy.
2. Decide he's cute.
3. Make sure he thinks you're cute.
4. Invite him to see The Lost World with your youth group.
5. Wait for him at the back of the theatre since he said he'd be late coming from his softball game.
6. End up sitting next to him since your youth group saved seats next to each other for you.
7. Wandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949988094416061716noreply@blogger.com3