pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

A friend of mine gave me this yummy recipe! I tweaked it a bit and made it gluten free. I love that they are not overly sweet--I don't feel sick after I eat one . . . or two or three . . .

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. canned pumpkin
1 c. unsweetened applesauce
0.5 c. butter
1 egg
2.25 c. gluten free flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
0.5 tsp sea salt
1 Tbls. pure vanilla extract
0.25 c. pure maple syrup
1 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life brand)

Mix all the wet ingredients then add all the dry ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Enjoy the fall!

why we homeschool

It’s the million dollar question that I am frequently asked. I have the 30-second answer that goes something like this, “We really like hanging out with our kids and want to be involved in all the best parts of their day—they grow up too fast.” But if I had time to share my heart, this is what I would say . . .

First, let me preface what I am about to share with this—I do not think homeschooling is a formula to make sure my kids turn out more “godly” than the next kid. Homeschooling does not ensure that my kids will choose to embrace my faith. While teaching our kids to love the Lord and to have strong character is the most important thing on our checklist, homeschooling—nor anything for that matter—does not ensure this. That being said, I have plenty of friends whose children attend public school and they do a great job teaching them and showing them who Christ is in their lives. Homeschooling is not for everyone—but God did call our family to homeschool.

On to the long answer of why we homeschool:

1. God

God called us to homeschool. Tim’s sister (with 11 kids and counting) has always homeschooled. They are one of the coolest families we know—and their kids are amazing. She was my first encounter with what homeschooling could look like. I started attending homeschool conferences when my oldest was three-years-old. I look forward to these conferences every summer--they encourage me and confirm our choice to homeschool each year. The following verse spoke volumes to us: 

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 6:5-7

We took this verse literally. For our family, we didn’t see how we could do this when someone else was with them during the best part of their day.

2. Character

I have to tell you, homeschooling brings out the worst and best in me. I’ve had to deal with my own selfishness, lack of discipline, lack of patience, anger, pride—you name it—and homeschooling has brought it all to the surface. When I’m with my kids 24/7, I can’t hide these negative character qualities.  I have to actually deal with them. I have to ask my kids for forgiveness. The same goes for my kids. I can’t tell you how many times we have stopped in the middle of our school day to deal with a character issue. What I love is that we actually have the TIME to do this. Yes, math may not get done on this particular day, but if I can teach my kids how to work out their differences and to respect one another, that to me is more successful than knowing every single multiplication fact. I am preparing them for real life—marriage, difficult co-workers, the cranky clerk at Wal-mart, etc.

3. Our pace

My oldest child (age 9 as of October 2013) has been a struggling reader from the beginning. We have gone through FIVE different language arts programs. F.I.V.E. Reading has finally started to click, but she is still not quite at grade level per the state standard. Her 7-year-old sister reads well beyond her ability. Did I do anything differently with each of them? No. They are just different kids with different abilities. God does not create cookie cutter children. When a teacher has 30+ students on his/her hands in a classroom setting, there is not much room for individual pacing. I realize the schools have “special” programs and such and I believe they really do the best they can under the circumstances. But, no one cares about my child as much as I do. I can tailor the curriculum to suit my child’s need. And if it doesn’t work—I can try something NEW! I am not forced to try and make it work and see the love of learning drain from my child.

4. Outside activities/interests

I love that my kids can participate in sports or other interests (our kids take gymnastics, piano, Spanish and art lessons) before their dad gets home from work. We have dinner together every night. We aren’t torn in different directions trying to fit these extra activities in. Also, we can go on field trips anytime we want—if we are learning about the solar system, we can take a quick trip to the planetarium; want to know more about reptiles—let’s go to the pet store after lunch. We have so much flexibility. Our church has some homeschool classes that we are involved in--it's a great way for our kids to be involved in a community of kids and for we moms to support one another.

5. Lifestyle

The big joke about homeschoolers is that we homeschool in our PJ’s all day. We don’t . . . well, not all of the time. But it’s nice to know that we could! There are so many things about the homeschooling lifestyle that I love . . . where to start? I love that we can sleep in if we’ve had a late night. I love that we don’t have to rush out the door early in the morning. I love that we can cuddle under a blanket on the couch and read together while we are still wiping the sleep out of our eyes. I love that we can vacation ANY time of the year—we tend to stay home during the summer and vacation when everyone else is in school—less crowds! I love that if we are studying pond life, we can drop everything and take an afternoon field trip to the pond to see what we can find in the water. I love that I can take my children grocery shopping with me and teach them math while we shop. And my favorite lifestyle factor that comes with homeschooling is NO HOMEWORK! When my husband gets home from work, they are ready to make memories with dad. Those memories do not involve working on a project or writing assignment until 7:00 at night. Those memories involve going on nature walks, bike rides and going out for frozen yogurt—all on a weeknight.

For those of us God has called to homeschool, He calls us for different reasons. Sometimes we know exactly what that reason is--for others, we might not know with certainty why He called us to this task. Years ago I heard of a homeschooling mom that had died of cancer at the age of 43, leaving several school-aged children behind. She may not have known at the time why God had asked her to homeschool, but my guess is that He put homeschooing on her heart because He knew those kids needed precious time with their mom--time that He knew was going to be short. 

If you've ever felt the nudge to investigate homeschooling, I'd love to talk to you! I love answering questions and pointing moms to resources that have encouraged me. Just shoot me an email! 

rv adventures: yellowstone--tetons--salt lake city: (part 2)

If you missed PART 1 of our trip, go here.

While in Salt Lake City, we stayed at the very clean Pony Express RV Resort. It was 10 minutes from downtown. Wi-fi and full hookups included. We loved our time in Salt Lake City--there is SO MUCH to do there for families! We crammed as much as we could into the two days that we had. 

Our favorite activity was going to This is the Place Heritage Park. The cost: adults $10; kids $7. We spent five hours here. It was so worth the money and the perfect complement to our American history studies this year. 

This watermill still works--though they didn't have it running for us today.

This train picks you up at several train stops within the park and takes you to the next stop. 

Seth was thrilled.

Panning for gold. We loved this authentic setting which included a miner's tent and gear nearby. The kids each came away with a small bag of Fool's Gold. They loved this!

A real blacksmith in action. This was amazing to see!

A trip to the barber shop. Faith got to be "shaved." Shaving cream and toilet water included. This guy was great. He taught the kids all about the history of barbers and the other duties they were responsible for--including tooth extraction and bloodletting.

Highland Cattle. A Scottish breed. I had no idea cows could be hairy.

The cabinet maker shop. This shop also sold coffins. 

The sign reads, "FOR SALE. Only Slightly Used."

The pantry.

The drug store office.

Our kids learned about the "Dunce" punishment. Horrible!

Plowing the field was hard work!

"Mom, did they wash all of their clothes this way?"

Little children learned how to milk a cow using this bear game. To get the bear to the top of the ropes you had to quickly move your hands one quick jerk at a time.

We made designs in leather at the saddle shop.

We played many fun old-fashioned games. No Monopoly here!

The above three pictures are just a few of the views from the Salt Lake City Public Library. I'd read about this library online before we left on our trip. It's five stories high, has a rooftop that you can run around on and check out some incredible views, has a cafe, store and some amazing children's play areas. From the library, we were able to ride the TRAM for FREE to the Planetarium. This was pretty close to a train ride, so Seth was excited--again.

We are glad we took the time to tour Temple Square. Our kids had a lot of questions after they saw multiple paintings of Bible stories on the walls and wondered how the Mormon religion differed from Christianity. Tim and I do not know everything about the Mormon faith, but we took this opportunity to get educated together. A friend of mine that grew up in the Mormon faith sent me a Facebook message while we were on our trip. (My friend is a former Mormon) She told me about this place:

Utah Lighthouse Ministry

Utah Lighthouse Ministry was founded by Sandra Tanner--who happens to be the great-great-grandaughter of Brigham Young. While in her teens, she began investigating the Mormon faith and eventually left the Mormon church. Her testimony is very interesting and can be found HERE.

We went to the Lighthouse Ministry and were able to talk with one of Sandra's colleagues for quite some time. She was able to share with our kids in simple terms the differences between Christianity and Mormonism. We picked up some literature and an amazing DVD that compares/contrasts Joseph Smith to Jesus Christ. It was very eye opening.

I have several friends who are Mormon and I love them. Mormons have done an amazing job of putting families first and creating strong bonds. They are some of the most generous people that I know.

We visited the Clark Planetarium which is FREE! They make their money by showing IMAX films. Since we'd done the IMAX thing in West Yellowstone, we opted to save our money this time. The kids got to walk on Mars and the Moon for a fun picture.

This play-by-play of our trip would not be complete without a little RV action. Several forts were built during our down time--leaving Tim and I no easy way to prepare dinner and walk around. 

In the mornings, Seth and Paige cuddled up over a heater vent to get warm.

I highly recommend taking an RV vacation! The memories we've made with our kids over the past year will not be forgotten. It's a great way to homeschool! Now if only we could figure out how to do this full-time for a couple of years.

rv adventures: yellowstone--tetons--salt lake city: (part 1)

A year ago my husband was on Craigslist one night and thought he'd look at RV's, ya know, because he had nothing better to do. He loves the challenge of finding a great deal (and is very good at it), and he ended up finding one--so, he bought it. Suddenly the word vacation took on a whole new meaning. It's turned out to be one of the best investments we've made for our family. (Despite living in a microscopic amount of square footage.)

We've taken four 2-week trips over the past year--though this is the first one I've blogged about in detail--per my family's request. So, if you are looking for info on Yellowstone, The Tetons, Jackson Hole or Salt Lake City, this post is for you!

This is the general route we took (we do not live in Reno, but without making public where we live, Reno was on our route). On our return trip, we dropped down a bit so that we could check out Salt Lake City. Let me just tell you that there is nothing interesting in Nevada to see. The only memory we have of Nevada is fierce winds that my husband had to constantly fight and that caused our diesel mileage to drop to 7.5 miles per gallon. Ugh.

Here are a few apps that we have found to be SO helpful in our travels (even without an RV)!

USA Rest Stop Locator 

What we really love about this app is that it tells us what rest stops have a free dump station and free wireless--among many other things. 

Gas Buddy

We use this app in our hometown too. While out on the road, it will tell us where the cheapest gas/diesel is and map it for us. When we knew we were going to need to fill up soon we would check the towns ahead. We literally found 30 cents per gallon differences between towns that were located 15 miles apart--totally worth it to plan your fuel stops!

AllStays Overnight Walmart Parking

Walmart is a great option when you don't know how much driving you'll do in one day or where exactly you will end up. It's nice not to have to search for a camping location when all you plan on doing is stopping and sleeping and then moving on. Not all Wal-marts allow overnight parking, however we have found that the majority of them do. You can't put your slides out, your jacks down or camp for the day, but you can stay overnight. And because we are bound to have forgotten something that we need on our trip, it's nice to be able to make a Wal-mart run in your jammies--and no one looks at you funny for wearing your jammies into Wal-mart.

Did you know that you can find apps for all the National Parks? Yep, you can. They provide must-see spots and plenty of history to go with it!

We stayed at Madison Campground near the West Entrance. It was the only campground still open this late in the season that would handle a 38-foot RV. We loved this campground!

This was our first day checking out some steam. Our kids weren't quite sure if the water really was hot. And being the homeschooling parents that we are, we had to let them investigate. This was about the only safe place we found to do it. Just like all the signs say--it's hot!!!

Seth didn't want any part in testing the "stinky" water, so he stuck with the boardwalk.

   

Norris Geyser Basin

Firehole Falls

Artist Paint Pots. Be sure and take the time to see these! The gurgling of the "paint" is loud! My kids thought this was so funny (and stinky)!

These guys are everywhere! Including in the middle of the road . . .

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is beautiful!

I highly recommend this hike down Uncle Tom's path near the Grand Canyon to see the Falls. It's close to 400 stairs, but it's not as bad as some of the signs say. Our 4-year-old did it on his own and survived. It's a beautiful view!

To say Mammoth is stunning would be an understatement. This was my favorite place in the park. I don't know how anyone cannot believe in God after they see this place--who else could dream up these amazing features!?

The Boiling River was Tim's highlight. You won't find it on a map anywhere. If you visit the Mammoth Visitor Center, they have a little slip of paper with directions they will give to you. The river is about 2 miles north of the visitor center. You park in the lot and have to walk about a third of a mile to the "hot" spot of the river. Only Tim and Faith remembered to bring their suits, but the rest of us stuck our feet in. Such a fun memory!

Jackson Hole, WY is the cutest (expensive) little town! Lots of fun shops, art galleries and restaurants. And a large toy store that our kids had a blast playing in . . . no purchases were made here as everything was marked up by a third of the price. We found a gift shop with a ton of Yellowstone/Teton scrapbooking goodies--I snagged a few. We only ate out twice on our 2-week trip and both times happened to be in this town:

Mountain High Pizza Pie 

I read about this pizza place on a blog somewhere before we left--it was great!

Pica's Mexican Taqueria

We came across this place in the downtown area while we were shopping. We ordered the chicken enchiladas for an afternoon snack (along with plenty of chips)! They had plenty of sauce and were delish! I am a salsa person and their salsa was AMAZING.

Where we stayed:

The Lazy J Corral was essentially a parking lot with full hook-ups. It was 10 miles from Jackson Hole. There were only a couple of RV Resorts within Jackson, but they were twice the price (and also just a parking lot). Since we spent most of our time away from the camper, we didn't mind the parking lot (it was quiet) and didn't mind the 10-minute drive, it was worth saving so much money.

Getting to Mormon Row in the Tetons was quite the challenge after the rain. This truck is not 4-wheel drive and Tim didn't want to get stuck. As a result, he had to floor it through a few puddles to make sure we didn't get stuck. It was a bouncy ride to say the least. This was one of the highlights of our trip for the kids--I wish I had their shrieks and laughter on video--though I don't think I could have held my phone to video it well. 

The Tetons were incredible! We never saw the tippy tops of the mountains due to the clouds, but what we saw was breathtaking. One of our highlights was seeing a moose!

Check out PART 2 of our trip here--Salt Lake City.