Blog Under Construction part 2

Ok- I managed to edit my HTML and even get a 3 column blog. Then I figured out how to adjust the columns. Now I have to figure out how to put in a background color and shrink my REALLY large Homeschool Gardener Header. I mean it's huge really. Can anyone chime in and tell me how to edit the HTML for this one? In simple terms please-I'm no computer geek but after this I might be. Be patient with me.

Blog under construction

Please excuse the blog while we make some adjustments.

Homemade Steak Sauce and Wine Glass Flowers

Morgan and Patrick worked on some Math this morning. I'll post more on Patrick's Math issues in another post. Morgan returned home this afternoon after our Art Class and decided to make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. My independent girl. We doubled the recipe so she was able to practice her fractions. Really does 2 dozen cookies last in anyone's house anymore.

This girl needs a Kitchen Aid mixer of her own for her birthday.

Don't they look delicious?

When I went shopping yesterday I was shocked to find that A-1 Steak Sauce was over $5.00 for one bottle! What's up with that? So today I decided to make my own. It definitely was not A-1 but this recipe was so incredibly good that I could have had this for cocktails tonight. Ok-so the color looks like diarrhea-get past it. Once it's on your plate and mingles with the steak it's just incredible. Here is the recipe:

1/4 cup of orange juice

1/4 cup grapefruit juice (or use all orange juice)

1/2 cup raisins (these act as the thickener-do not omit)

1/4 soy sauce

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 Tbsp Dijon

1 Tbsp grated orange peel

2 Tbsp ketchup

2 Tbsp Salsa

Bring all the ingredients to a boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Allow the mixture to cool, pour into a blender and blend untill smooth. An immersion blender works great too. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

Ah yes and art class today. The kids used oil crayons and next week they will water color over the top of their art. Here's Tae's beautiful flower garden.

And Patrick's ginormous flowers overlooking some ?cabbage?

Then there is Morgan's. Pretty Daisies and Zinnia blowing in the wind and she must have made this flower garden just for me. Let's look closer. Don't those Tulips look distinctly like WINE GLASSES? Hmmmm-she even included the Red wine. She is my favorite daughter for a reason you know. However, she did mention to the entire class that if this was really Mommy's garden...those glasses would be empty!

I'm rethinking the favorite daughter mantra.

Sunday Hike

Blogger didn't want to play last night so I wasn't able to post these. The DH took the kids on a hike yesterday to a place called Rattlesnake Ledge. There are no rattlesnakes so I'm not really sure how it got it's name. I stayed home because watching the kids climb those high rocks gives me chest pain and I'm not fun because I'm to paranoid that they will fall. I'm realistic about that. And don't tell me to get over it because it's a mother's perogative! So just enjoy the pictures and let me have my worry moments.

Cool fungus on a tree.

An Old foundation that the kids found. I wonder what spirits live here?

View through the trees.

Found Treasures.

Falling off the mountain.

Holding up the mountain. Goofy kids.

At the Summit

Pete and Stewie having a rest from all of their running.

The little man at the top. Chest pain, chest pain, chest pain.

Help, I've fallen and can't get up. And a picture of the dog's butt.

Hah! Just kidding.

A cool log. Notice how green the little tree is to the bottom left of the log. Spring is Here!

Little man walking the path.

This wasn't on the hike but in our backyard. More climbing. My smallest child learned to climb the tree into the tree fort/ledge. Chest pain, chest pain, chest pain.

When did he get so big?

Springtime Chores at the Almost a Farm

Springtime has come at the Almost a Farm Homestead. The weather was great today and I needed or should I say was dying to get outside and get dirty. The chicken coop was getting really smelly so we decided to get the spring cleaning done. Yes, even chicken coops need a good spring cleaning. We took down all the plastic that was providing snow protection for the chickens because it was pretty well shredded by now. Next year we'll have to figure something else out to protect the coop a bit. The outside pen needed to be raked out and the chickens were not happy to be locked in the coop while we did this. They did a great job of composting the pine shavings that were in the pen area all year. They made some great mulch for us and all of it went right into the garden. The shavings of litter that were inside the coop then get moved out to the pen area so the chickens can then compost that. It was still too fresh to use in the garden.

Patrick was a big help this morning.

The nice clean pen area.

The wheelbarrow all loaded up and ready to be dumped in our garden. Look what a great job the chickens did composting this mulch for us.

Our Rooster Cotton. He was very indignant this morning and kept squacking at me. He's really the dumbest bird I've ever met. I usually wear blue pants but the other day had on a pair of red pants. The stupid bird was acting like a bull and kept charging my pants like I was a Matador with a red cape. The dang birds feathers also fall over his eyes so he can't see half of what he's doing. He keeps flicking his head trying to get the feathers out of his eyes and honestly it looks like he has a nervous twitch. I'm beginning to like this bird less and less.

I dug up some of the pen area and the girls were very happy to find some nice fat worms. Of course they see me coming with a shovel and run the other way like I'm going to beat them with it. Chipmunk is the only one who has figured it out. Shovel turning over soil = some nice fat worms. Except she's almost been decapitated several times as I dug the shovel into the ground. She won't move out of the way. Stupid chicken.

The flock waiting to check out the clean coop.

Headless chicken.

Just kidding. It was preening itself on the chicken chair.

See? Nice clean coop.

Now this is the stupid Rooster Cotton. He went into every nesting box, turning around a couple times, kept squating like he was going to lay an egg. He's either gender confused or is a good man in wanting to fluff up the nest boxes for his ladies.

More Rooster spinning. Stupid Chicken-er Rooster.

We also laid out plans today to expand the chicken coop into the other part of the barn to give the girls a little more space. With 12 new chickens coming at the end of May, we need a space to brood them and I don't want to keep the babes in the house this time. While it worked well keeping them in a dog crate last time the chicken dust was horrible. I also want the other chickens to be able to see them without pecking them to death.

The husband plowed out my garden today too. The chicken fertilizer will make my garden lush and green. There's nothing like freshly turned soil. This year I'm going to try squared plots instead of the rows I usually plant. I think it will make greater use of the space we have.

Tae even had his hoe out helping Dad. We had some nice ashes from our fireplace that were added to the garden too.

The weather was good and Morgan and the neighbor girls had an impromtu game of soccer. They won their soccer game this morning 9-3.Yeah!

The ice has finally melted off of our pond. As always, some of the rocks on the edge have heaved in the frost and snow and need to be placed back. Next weekend will get the pump and filter up and running and get it cleaned out. Once the water temperature hits 50 degrees we can start feeding the fish again. That's usually the beginning of April and it's only a light feeding to start as their digestive system is still in hibernation. Some of my Koi are over 18 inches long and just beautiful and we never know if they've survived until the water clears up. So far in three winters, we haven't lost any yet. During the summertime, they eat right out of my hand.

The pool that you see in the background is being opened next week. Much too cold to swim but it will give us a chance to put the solar cover on and hopefully have it warm up by June.

Free Friday for homeschool. Morgan and Tae had a lot of fun playing Monopoly. My little bugger was counting his own money by the end of the game. I'm not sure who won but Tae sure had a lot of real estate the last time I checked.

Adoption Etiquette

There are no secrets in my life-heck I blog everything there is to know about our family. My concern lately comes from my kids and others carelessness in questioning about how they became part of our family. Years ago, when we were deep in the throws of adoption, I sank every ounce of energy into adoption advocacy. I'm still a huge supporter but life takes you in different directions depending on what your family's needs are. I ran a parent adoption support group for three years through our local adoption agency, did much public speaking, fielded phone calls from anxious parents who's adoption was delayed yet again. I enjoyed it. It was where I was supposed to be and what my calling was at the time. I have been blessed to have many such opportunities in my life. An oldest child with Tourette's Syndrome, special needs advocacy, public school mediation with the state, caring for dying parents, service dogs for my hearing impaired husband, a nursing career, battling lyme disease and so much other stuff that it would make a really good book. Someday I'll write that unless someone else wants to jump in.

My two youngest children are adopted from South Korea. Morgan is now almost 10 and Tae just turned 5. The past several times we have been out at stores or elsewhere, someone inevitably asks a question that makes my skin crawl. Most are just curious about the adoption process-I realize that, but do they not realize that my children are standing right there?

There comes a point when the adoption and how they came to you is not longer important. It will always be very special but it just doesn't consume us like in our earlier days. They are just our kids. Morgan is a normal 9 year old. She plays soccer, meets with friends, writes songs and loves to play outside. Her adoption into our family rarely comes up as conversation. That's not to say that we don't talk about adoption, her birth family, life in Korea or her culture. Mostly, we just live life by enjoying what our family has become.

My favorite question (not really) is, "Are they real brother and sister?" Now I know what people are asking by this-are they biologically related. Does it really matter and why do you need to know this? Isn't it enough that they love each other? Families are formed in all different fashions and whether my children are biologically related has no bearing on what being a family means to us. Would anyone dare ask this question if all three of my children were caucasian? I assure you, my children are "real brother and sister" in every sense of the word. They love, they fight, they make up, they play and they appreciate. Yes, they are brother and sister.

Then there is the other question, "Why did the birth mother give him/her up?" The reasons for this are as diverse as our methods to homeschooling. Is my children's birth history something for you to know? Shouldn't my kids be the first to hear about their birth history and then shouldn't they make the decision on whether to share that information with perfect strangers or even with family?

In all honesty, sometimes I'm taken aback, still, even after almost 10 years of being an adoptive mom, on how to answer these questions. Lately, it's just been the standard, "Why do you ask?" A few times I've even said, "Maybe sometime we can talk about that but right now isn't appropriate. " I had one father even think that I hadn't told my kids they were adopted. I think the kids have pretty much figured out that they are not adopted but thanks for that.

Questions about adoption are fine and I'm more than willing to answer them. In fact, I'm happy to. But realize that children don't need every nuance of their lives exposed, nor to they want to talk about it at a field trip, while they are out grocery shopping or when they are at a soccer game. Let the kids be kids and answer what they feel is appropriate. Know that we are not trying to be evasive-we just want to be the family we were meant to be.

Field Trip to the Culinary Arts Museum

Our field trip today was to the Johnson and Wales Culinary Museum in Providence, Rhode Island. I was a little leary of this because really, what would we do all day...look at refrigerators? But I was pleasantly surprised at all they had to offer. It really turned out great and the kids were genuinely interested.

The Three kids sitting on the steps waiting to go into the museum.

Mr. Potato Head greeted us in the lobby with his bowl of pasta.

Erin our tour guide showed us around.

We entered through the Diner.

I even was able to have my picture taken with Emeril Lagasse. Snicker.


Morgan and Tae loved this. Tae thought it was a thing to make a large wedge of pizza! It was a board for processing butter. The butter would be spread out on this and worked back and forth with the rolling pin. The excess water from the butter would drain out the point at the bottom. I guess dryer butter is better.

This was a replica of a tavern. Most everyone walked right through this part without noticing but the wood still smelled like smoke and alcohol...just like a tavern. Look how worn the swing door is.

I want one of these pie racks for my kitchen.

This was totally amazing. The culinary students had some of their creations on display. This Lion King Sculpture was made totally out of .....bread. No kidding.

This cake was so detailed all in fruit.

It's all frosting. Look at the grapes and pumpkins. I wonder how long it took to create that?

This was my favorite display. It was an old fashioned kitchen from the 1940's. Now I do love my modern conveniences but I just loved this display for some reason. It looked so homey. See the white pot sitting on the table? I still have my mother's enamel pot that looks just like that.

Some of the very cool restaurant and kitchen machines we saw. Wish I could remember what these were.

The Culinary Country Fair. It was mostly a display of food and animals at country fairs. It had some things for the kids to play with too like Skeeball -that was a huge hit.

I so wanted to take this bread carrier basket thing. It would look great in my kitchen.

This was some kind of candy processing machine-maybe cotton candy. Tae thought it was a huge mixer like my Kitchen Aid. He wanted to know how much brownies they could make in that.

This was very cool too. It was one of the first molds that the Hershey company used for making chocolate bars. Imagine how long it took them.

My Dad used to have a lunchbox and thermos like this.

The Dandy Diner.

The Little Chef's Diner-the kids had a blast here.

More things.

After the Museum we went to Roger Williams Park and had a picnic lunch.

Then we headed over to the playground and met some friends from our homeschool coop.

Good Homeschooling Times with Friends!

Even er...um...Galactic Batboy had a great time.