Reading 'Riting 'Rithmetic

Liberty seems to be getting healthy, though she was still cranky and needed a nap today. She probably could take a nap every day! She even fell asleep in my arms today. It was so sweet, even if she is almost 50 pounds!

The girls also have a new little friend who comes over almost every day asking to play, and its been a good encouragement for them to get their work done early in the day so that they can play with her in the afternoon. It helps Ainsley the most, as she is the one who has both the most work to complete, and is the slowest worker.

Last night's dinner was quite yummy too. I made a cross between swedish and italian meatballs. My girls will never eat meatballs in spaghetti, even though I've tried to convince them that meatballs are just like little balls of hamburgers! So, I thought maybe I could introduce them to meatballs at home like the ones they used to love at IKEA. Only we didn't have sausage, or ingredients for cream sauce. So we just baked up the meatballs in the oven and had a variety of dipping sauces. Of course Ainsley said at the beginning of the meal that she didn't like meatballs and wasn't going to eat them. She knows she has to try everything on her plate, but she was convinced that it would take her eating them many more times before she would like them. Well, all it took was a little A1 sauce for Ainsley to eat both the meatballs on her plate and ask for more! Victory :) All the girls had seconds, and are looking forward to the mini meatballs that I made for their lunches tomorrow.

On the school front, the girls are doing well. They had a Scantron test last week, and though I haven't officially gotten the results, I know Ainsley did very well. She did MUCH better on her math than on her placement exam! We've really been working on Math this past month, and I feel like she suddenly has the confidence in her ability to do math. It is just wonderful! Its very similar to the way she started reading, actually. And I knew that the moment would come, but it feels like its been a long time coming. In fact, she missed so much in the placement test, even on the second grade level (yet scored 100% on things like multiplication!) which is why I asked for the second grade level to be sent. I hoped we'd be able to get through 2 years of math this year. And just yesterday, she did the end of the year test in the second grade Math book and passed it!!!! I saw the areas where she needs work, and we will go over those couple of areas while we wait for the third grade Math to arrive. I asked the teacher to order it yesterday! Now I am hoping that we can get through third grade Math by December, and then maybe we will actually begin 4th grade Math this year!

And her writing is improving, and its not such a struggle to get her going in the morning. All around, this is shaping up to be the best year of homeschooling yet.

Oh, the recipe for the meatballs!

Around 2 pounds of ground beef
2 eggs
enough bread crumbs to bind the meatballs, approx 1/2 cup
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
sprinkle of garlic
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbs dried onion
A dash of chili pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and lightly spray cookie sheets with Pam
Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl with your hands
Roll into small balls, about 1 Tbs or less of mixture (we did large ones for dinner and small ones for lunches)
Bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes turning about halfway through
Serve with a variety of dipping sauce, make extra to add to spaghetti sauce, and for lunch the next day! We ate ours with cheater baked potatoes (I microwaved them first for 15 minutes then through them into the over with the meatballs.)

Yummy!

Or, "Why I Will Never Ever Buy Canned Sloppy Joe Mix Ever, Ever Again."

I have always like sloppy joes. It was one of my comfort foods growing up, along with fondue, refrigerator biscuits, pigs in a blanket, macaroni and cheese with tuna, and artichokes. But a few months ago I had a hankering for sloppy joes with nary a package of mix or can of sauce in sight. I knew it had to be fairly easy to make from scratch, but wasn't sure where to start. Then I sat down to watch 30 minute meals with Rachel Ray. Lo and behold, she was making Sloppy Joe Dimmaggios! She added hot dogs to hers, which I knew my kids would never go for. And I was missing a few ingredients that she used. So I have now made it quite a few times since that first craving and tweaked the recipe more and more.

Here is my super duper yummy sloppy joe recipe:

2 lbs hamburger meat or ground chuck
Several sprinkles of dried onion
A generous sprinkling of mesquite steak rub
1 can organic tomato paste
1/2 jar spaghetti sauce, not w/ meat
4 Tbs worchestershire sauce
1 Tbs Soy Sauce
3 Tbs Ketchup
1 Tbs A1 sauce
1/4 cup of dark brown sugar

Enough water to create a sauce, usually about 1/2 cup

Brown the meat, either with a bit of olive oil or without, crumble it into the pan and let it sizzle to create a nice browned layer on the bottom, simulating grilling it on the barbeque (usually 6-7 minutes). Toss in the dried onions and the steak seasoning while the meat browns. Then flip it, break it up and let it cook through on the other side (another 4-5 minutes). Drain the fat if necessary. Pour in the tomato paste, sauce, sugar, etc. Stir to cover the meat, adding enough water to create a nice sauce, a little thinner than you think you want the final product to be. Then simmer for about 7 minutes.

Toast buns, put on plate, dump a heaping amount of sloppy joe mix on the buns. Eat yourself silly and swear off pre-packaged sloppy joe mix!