Good Morning {a catch-up post for the new year}

Here we are nearly at the end of January.  My plan to post once a week hasn't met with reality.  I thought after the first of the year life would slow down enough that I could pop over here more.  Hasn't happened.

We started Caleb on the ABeka 1st grade DVD curriculum a couple weeks ago and I'm happy to say that he is doing very well.  Granted, he needs almost constant supervision, but that is pretty much to be expected with a boy his age.  Long gone are my simple days of quiet little girls calmly doing their school work.  Caleb would rather wiggle and move while he does his.  That's ok.  We deal with it.  As long as he understands what is expected of him, he works with enthusiasm.  I love that about him.  He is learning to write in cursive, learning to read, doing math (read: yelling the answers at the TV screen to beat the other students), and singing the Bible songs with complete abandon.  Ask him what his favorite class is and he'll tell you it's Bible.  He's a kid after my own heart.  I had the mistaken notion that the DVDs would free me up for other things.  Instead, I'm spending more one-on-one with him than I have since he first came home.  But it's great and I'm loving it.

Our school day is way longer than I like this way.  Charlotte Mason would not approve.   The girls work on all their independent work in the mornings and don't get time with me until after the lunch dishes are done.  Some days we are still working on their phonics, spelling, or literature until nearly four o'clock.

Meanwhile, Lacy is in her last semester of homeschooling.  Quite honestly, that seems impossible!  She's the most diligent, self-motivated student I've ever taught.  Why didn't I get a whole houseful of Lacys?  I have to constantly remind her to not put too much pressure on herself.  I don't set deadlines for her.  She sets them for herself.  The big news for her is that she's been accepted to Pensacola Christian College for the fall with a plan to study nursing.  It's a long haul over there from here, but the quality of education she'll receive is going to make that sacrifice worth it in the long run.  I have no idea how I will keep this household running with both Abby and Lacy gone.  So I just won't think about it.

On the sewing front, I've taken a major step back from Cradle Moon projects.  My goal there was to help Abby and Jonathan with their outgoing expenses.  God brought in a huge amount of funding for them and my contribution was a rather small part of that total.   At some point I'll get it cranked up again with the sales going toward another good cause....possibly a plane ticket to Lesotho.

I found and ordered the fabrics for Ellee's crib quilt.  Jeremiah's are being a bit more elusive.  Hannah and I are working on that.  With the girls at 21 and 20 weeks pregnant, there is still time.  Abby wants sweet, girly, and cottage-y for Ellee.  Hannah wants a light, bright, simple nursery with a Noah's Ark theme for Jeremiah.

Ellee's crib quilt fabrics:

Hill Farm by Lecien

   

                                               Hannah-20 weeks                            Abby-20 weeks

Now the recipe for the coffee cake you saw up there.  This is from the newly revised Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook that Abby left at our house.  I wanted to bake a simple coffee cake for breakfast and this one looked exactly right.  We inhaled it.  Shamelessly.

Buttermilk Coffee Cake

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup butter (room temperature)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/3 cup buttermilk or sour milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9X13 baking pan; set aside.  In a large bowl, stir together flour and brown sugar.  Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs.  Reserve 1/2 cup of the mixture to sprinkle over the batter.  Stir baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg into remaining crumb mixture.  In another bowl combine buttermilk and egg;  add to crumb mixture stirring just until moistened. 

Spoon batter into prepared baking pan.  Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture and chopped nuts.  Bake for 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Makes 12 or more servings.

Love,

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