Things That Make Me Smile 3/30/18

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Jake (12), Alyssa (10), Zac (8), Tyler (6), Nicholas (3)

Happy Friday! This week Tyler celebrated his 6th birthday, we did many science experiments, we had a birthday party for Alyssa and Tyler, and we made many memories.
  

1. Me: "Trust me."

Alyssa: "I know I can trust you, because you gave me life."

2. Tyler and his cinnamon roll cake.

3. Alyssa, eating homemade garlic bread: "Every time I take a bite of this bread, my mouth explodes with flavor."

4. Tyler, the day after his birthday: "I was waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for my birthday. Now I'm going to have to do it aaaaaaaaaaalll over again."

5. Tyler: "Mommy, what's this word?"

Me: "Danced."

Tyler: "Danced? There's not even an S."

Me: "Sometimes the C makes the S sound."

Tyler: "Huh. That's strange."

Me: "That pretty much sums up the English language."

6. Zac looking for teeth in his shark tooth dig kit.

What made you Smile this week?


* Some of the links in the content above are affiliate links. If you click on a link and purchase an item, I may receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I recommend products or services that I have used personally and all the text and opinions are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 225.

Planet 316

Two of my kids' favorite types of reviews are books and apps. When we're able to combine the two it's super exciting, and that's just what happened this time with Planet 316 and Worthy Kids/Ideals with their Planet 316 Story Bible and the companion Planet 316 Story Bible App. My kids were thrilled to receive the Story Bible and eagerly flipped through its pages. My daughter read a couple of the stories to her little brothers and soon the other boys wandered over to admire the brightly colored pages. 

It wasn't until the next day that the real surprise came. I handed them the tablet and they saw the pictures come to life.

     

The book is hardcover with thick, glossy pages. The illustrations are brightly-colored and whimsical and fill most of the pages, overlaying the text in empty spaces like the sky, walls, and ground. The book includes over 100 stories of the Bible starting with Creation in the Old Testament and ending with The Return of Jesus in the New. While the accounts are biblically accurate, they are told in a kid-friendly, story-telling way. Most of the stories are concise and fill a two-page spread, but there are a handful that are longer, such as the story of Ruth, Noah and the Flood, Jacob and Esau, Joseph Saves His Family, and The Last Supper, among others. With over 100 events of the Bible referenced, the common stories are included, for sure, along with some that may not be quite as well-known--Israel Asks for a King, The Capture of Jerusalem, Nehemiah Rebuilds the Wall, and more.

The applicable Bible reference is listed under each title. You can read the actual accounts to glean additional information or use it as a tool for older kids.

The Story Bible is a beautiful book in itself, but the augmented reality adds a whole new level of enjoyment. You simply download the free app, scan a page, and watch the stories come alive as the pictures pop off the page. There is music and sound effects, and the experience is enhanced more as you interact with the app by touching various pictures and listen to the characters talk and animals make their sounds. You can watch a ship getting tossed in a raging sea, the smells of Jacob's stew wafting to Esau, Samuel's oil pouring as he anoints David as king, Elijah's offering getting consumed by fire from Heaven, and a dove descending on Jesus as He was baptized.  

The Planet 316 Story Bible and the companion Planet 316 Story Bible App really is a neat combination. Using the app can be a bit finicky at times, especially for little ones. Juggling your device along with trying to keep the book open without the pages turning can be complicated. It would be beneficial to make the Story Bible spiral-bound to ensure the pages don't flip. My little guys enjoy watching the augmented reality, but they need help using it.

The Story Bible book is a wonderful resource and is a treasure to own. The stories are short, cover the facts, and are perfect for little ones. They can be used at bedtime, Bible classes, or just time together. The free augmented reality app is so fun, but really, it is just an additional bonus as the book itself is worth the purchase.

This is a book we will enjoy for many years. 

You can watch the app in action here:

You can connect with Planet 316 on the following social media sites:

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You can read more reviews about Planet 316 and Worthy Kids/Ideals on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.

Things That Make Me Smile 3/23/18

Jake (12), Alyssa (10), Zac (8), Tyler (5 1/2), Nicholas (3)

Leighton and I went away alone this past weekend (for the first time in 4 years!)(thanks for being so wonderful and watching our crazy crew, Dad and Mom! <3 ), so I wasn't able to get a Smile list posted until today. This particular week was full of Smiles as we celebrated both Alyssa's 10th birthday and Tyler's Special Day alone with Mom for his 6th birthday. So busy, so fun.

1. Tyler: "I had water in my mouth and my head was upside down, and I swallowed. That's just weird, right? I was fighting gravity."

2. Nicholas: "Mama, you not little yet."

3. Zac: "Nicky is like a cheetah. He gets too much energy and runs so fast. He has sharp nails, too, but they never retract like a cheetah."

4.

5. Alyssa, eating her birthday cake: "Mom always works magic with cakes."

6. Jake, about something Nicholas did: "I thought it was ridiculously cute."

7. Tyler, drinking Berry Sprite, making a face: "That's powerful."

Me: "If you don't like it, we can get you something else."

Tyler: "I do like it. I like powerful drinks."

8. Alyssa: "I want a new, big chapter book to read. I've been craving one."

9.

10. Me: "Hey, what happened to my apple?"

Nicholas, walking into the kitchen: "You talking 'bout dis apple?" {smiles mischievously and takes a big bite}

Me: "Yeah, that apple."

11. Tyler, banging on the table: "I was smacking it as hard as I can, and I didn't even get hurt! {smacks it again} I was smacking it even harder than I can that time, and I still didn't get hurt! I'm so cool."

What made you Smile this week?

Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology

We have had the opportunity to review products from Apologia many times over the years, and each time we've been thoroughly impressed. From science curricula to daily planners to biblical worldview courses to grammar and writing resources to heart-convicting books, their products are always top-quality and highly sought-after. In fact, they consistently earn awards for their resources, specifically their elementary science courses.  

This Christian company believes "that every educational subject in your home school can and should be taught from a biblical worldview built on the solid foundation of God’s Word and centered on Jesus Christ." It's always best to use products that reinforce your beliefs. That is one of the many reasons I was excited to use Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology in our home.

Apologia was extremely generous and sent us the entire set of this curriculum:

• Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Text 
• Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology MP3 Audio CD
• Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Junior Notebooking Journal
• Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Notebooking Journal

There are 14 lessons that cover an intro to anatomy and physiology, the various systems of the body, health and nutrition, blood, and growth and development. Your students will learn everything from the strongest muscle in the body to which vitamin the bacteria in your colon produce to the purpose of dendrites to why you get dizzy after spinning in circles and more. The hands-on experiments get the students exploring about taste testing, learning Braille, testing fruits and vegetables for vitamin C, analyzing a chicken bone after vinegar exposure, crafting a stethoscope, creating a trivia anatomy game, completing a science fair project, and other fun ideas. 

The textbook makes it simple for the parent to teach the curriculum. The text is written directly to the student with a conversational tone. The book is engaging and gives multiple opportunities for the students to stop and retell what they've learned. The narration is written at the students' level (ages 6-13), but incorporates many more advanced terms that are relevant. More complicated words include a pronunciation guide and definition in the text. Like the other books in the Young Explorer Series, this one is full of  hands-on activities and scientific experiments. The pages are sprinkled with Try This! boxes that encourage the students to explore what they've been learning in a practical, interactive manner.

An MP3 Audio CD is included to accompany the text. The author of Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology, Jeannie Fulbright, reads the textbook.  She has a pleasant, easy-to-listen-to voice, which makes it enjoyable for the students to follow along in their books. The Audio CD replaces the need for a teacher or parent to explain the book and would be helpful while driving or other times when a parent may not be able to instruct. Jeannie references pictures, illustrations, and diagrams, so it is beneficial to be looking at the book. Because the parts of each lesson are divided into tracks, you could use a combination of parent-led portions when you have the time and CD-led lessons when life is too busy.
    

The curriculum follows a Charlotte Mason methodology. Instead of depending on typical workbooks that need to be filled in with answers, it focuses on notebooking where the students can uniquely express themselves as they learn and record the information in way that they personally will retain. Apologia offers two notebooking journals for the course. The Junior version is designed for younger students or those with limited writing skills. It has coloring pages and fewer spaces for written text, but also includes other interesting pages, like labeling parts of the body, simple crossword puzzles, vocabulary puzzles, copy work pages, extra experiment ideas, and more.

The second notebooking journal is for the older kids. It has more places to personally record notes and incorporates some short answer question pages. It includes copy work pages, labeling activities, and crossword puzzles like the Junior book, but at a slightly more difficult level. The additional experiment pages are identical to its counterpart, making it easy to do with multiple kids of all ages.

This study (which is the same format as the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics study that we've enjoyed) has been perfect for our family! We prefer to do as much schoolwork as a family as we can. I love these times as it often leads to deeper discussions, whether about the text or a parallel topic. I read the lessons to all the kids (ages 12, 10, 8, 6), but only the middle two work through their respective notebooking journals. It's funny, because the two without the books are happy not to have to do extra work, and the two with the journals are happy because they enjoy the activities in them.

Of course, everyone's favorite part is the experiments! The book is filled with all types from simple activities like trying to complete tasks with your fingers taped together to more involved experiments like mummifying apples. There are easier small exercises throughout the lessons and then one big project at the end of each one. There is a list of all the necessary items at the beginning of the book and thorough directions that accompany each activity. 


This video shows just a portion of the activities that are included in the first 4 lessons of the book:

We're having so much fun Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology!

You can connect with Apologia on the following social media sites:

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You can read more reviews of this curriculum set on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.

Lactation Cookies

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Have you ever heard of lactation cookies?

I admit, the first time I heard of these cookies many years ago, I thought they had breast milk as one of the ingredients.

Nope. Not the case.

In actuality, they're cookies eaten to increase milk supply and are full of all sorts of healthy goodness.

A cookie that's good for baby and good for me??? Yes, please! (Really though, you had me at cookie.)

I nursed my babies a total of 89 months. That's nearly 7 1/2 years of breastfeeding.

God designed women's bodies in a miraculous way. Most times, if a mom is exclusively breastfeeding, she will be able to produce sufficient milk for her baby. Sometimes though, she might need a boost in her supply. And who could turn down cookies if they're going to help you feed your baby, right?

These cookies contain galactagogues that are believed to increase milk supply: oats, flaxseed, and brewer's yeast. They have iron, fiber, omega-3, vitamin B, and many other nutritional benefits and healthy calories that are not only good for nursing moms, but the whole family, as well. I still make these cookies for my family, especially during road trips. It gives everyone a bit of a treat during the drive without completely loading up on sugar and helps them stay fuller longer because of the whole grain oats. And if you're looking for an even healthier snack, you can cut back on the sugar, too. In fact, these are so versatile that you can change it up based on what you have on hand. Toss in some extra nuts and seeds, swap the almond butter for peanut butter, increase any of the galactagogues, use semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips, add in some wheat germ, or even substitute all-purpose flour for the whole wheat. My crew isn't crazy about big chunks of nuts in their baked goods, so I pulverize them (the nuts, not the family, ha) in my food processor. That way we still get the flavor and nutritional benefits.

The cookies are soft, but dense, and full of flavor. They freeze beautifully (both raw and baked) and are a perfect gift to take to a new mom to help her boost her milk and give her a healthier snack to grab during those crazy first few weeks with a newborn. The recipe makes about 4 dozen, so there's plenty to share with the new mama and some leftover for yourself.

Or just do what I do and make a double recipe. Because if your family is anything like mine, these cookies won't last long.




Lactation Cookies
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour                   
1 teaspoon baking soda                                       
1 teaspoon cinnamon                                     
1 teaspoon salt                                                 
3/4 cup almond butter (or peanut butter)                               
1/2 cup butter, softened                         
1/4 cup sugar                                         
1/2 cup brown sugar                               
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brewer’s yeast
1 cup milled (ground) flaxseed
1/3 cup water
2 eggs
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate chips
1 3/4 cup rolled oats

Directions:
1. Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
2. In a large bowl, beat peanut butter, butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, brewer’s yeast, flaxseed, and water until creamy.
3. Mix in eggs.
4. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
5. Mix in nuts and chocolate chips. Slowly mix in oats.
6. Place tablespoon-sized balls of dough (I use a cookie scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheets and lightly press down each ball.
7. Bake 12-13 minutes at 350°F.


Recipe adapted from Kathleen Major, PNP, RN.

* Some of the links in the content above are affiliate links. If you click on a link and purchase an item, I may receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I recommend products or services that I have used personally and all the text and opinions are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 

Things That Make Me Smile 3/9/18

Jake (12), Alyssa (9 1/2), Zac (8), Tyler (5 1/2), Nicholas

Happy Friday! We had a pretty typical week filled with Legos, reading, and lots of Smiles. How about you?

1. Nicholas: "Mom, you're my best brudder." (brother)

2. Tyler: "I'm hungry."

Me: "How can you be hungry? We just ate dinner."

Tyler: "Mom, I'm pretty much always hungry. When I'm not hungry, I'm stuffed, but when I'm not stuffed I'm hungry."

3. Nicholas, out of nowhere: "Three, two, one, I love you! I love chili!"

4. Tyler, singing: "Rock a bye baby in the tree top. When the wind blows really hard the cradle will fall and go splat on the floor! And then they get a new baby from the baby store."

5. Tyler: "I love pulled pork sandwiches! Except, I forgot what pulled pork was."

6.

7. I told the kids that they were spending the night at my parents' house. Every two weeks, one child gets to spend the night, but this particular night, they all were.

Me: "I'm getting ready to go to Gramma's."

Nicholas: "No, I going to Gramma's. You not going to Gramma's."

Me: "We're all going now, but you guys are spending the night."

Nicholas: "I going, just one little boy. Just one. One little boy Nicky. Just Nicky and Gramma."

8. Reading with Nicholas.   

9. Me: "Are you dressed so we can go to the store?"

Zac: "Yes, I'm wearing black pants and this shirt."
Nicholas: "Dat's a terrible idea."

What made you Smile this week?

Things That Make Me Smile 3/2/18

Jake (12), Alyssa (9 1/2), Zac (8), Tyler 5 1/2), Nicholas (3)

I'm working my way through my catch-up posts. This was the overlap week with the vacation with my parents. On the way home we made stop at The Gateway Arch in St. Louis (my first visit!), let the kids run off some energy, and did some geocaching. As much as we all love vacation, it's always good to be home.  

1. Nicholas: "If I wash my hands on the wall, dat would be 'larious. Dat would be so silly."

2. Zac: "Tyler just did one of the nicest things he could do. He had two elephants stuck together (animal crackers) and gave them to Nicky."

3.

4. Tyler, about his reading book: "I already read this story, but I don't remember it because I read it tomorrow."

5. Nicholas, about a picture of Leighton when we were first married: "Dat not fahder! Dat not my daddy!"

6. Nicholas, after he ate the leg off a sandwich cut into the shape of a gingerbread man: "Oh, no! My foot ouchie! I can't walk!"

7.

8. Me, trying to keep Tyler focused on reading: "What's the next word?"

Tyler: "I don't know. I haven't read that word in years! Years, I tell you!"

9. Nicholas: "It's a frocodile, not a adigator." (crocodile and alligator)

What made you Smile this week?

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Our family loves cinnamon rolls. 

We make them for Christmas. We make them for Father's Day. We make them for Leighton's birthday. We make them because it's Tuesday. We make them because it's raining. We make them to celebrate. We make them just because. 

We don't need a reason to make cinnamon rolls, really. 

To be honest, the family is thrilled with any variation of this beloved treat. Bread, muffins, pancakes . . . 

Cake.  

This cake has been a family favorite for years. Moist yellow cake with sugary cinnamon swirled throughout and topped with a sticky glaze. It's all the deliciousness of cinnamon rolls in a fraction of the time. 

Tyler picked this cake to celebrate his 6th birthday a couple weeks ago. Each of the kids have looked at this picture as I'm typing this and have asked when I'm making it again. Hmm, maybe I'll throw it together in the morning and call it coffee cake, ha. With a name like that, it's totally acceptable for breakfast, right?

If you love cinnamon rolls, you need to make this cake. Then you can have a piece for breakfast, too. 

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Ingredients
Cake:

3 cups flour

1/4 teaspoons salt

3/4 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups milk

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/3 cup butter, melted

Filling:

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients for the cake until thoroughly combined. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 cake pan.
2. Mix together ingredients for the filling and drop by spoonfuls around the batter. Swirl the filling with a knife.
3. Bake the cake at 350° for 30-35 minutes, or until done.
4. Combine the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the warm cake.

Things That Make Me Smile 2/23/18

Jake (12), Alyssa (9 1/2), Zac (8), Tyler (5 1/2), Nicholas (3)

We have been SO busy the last couple of months. It's a good busy though, making new memories and Smiling a lot. Because of it though, I am quite a bit behind with my lists. 

This week we went to Missouri for a vacation with my parents. So much fun! We met my uncle and aunt at a pizza place and arcade, experimented at the science center in Springfield, released butterflies and held lizards at the Butterfly Palace, did some geocaching, ate at Lambert's Cafe, played lots of games during the rainy weather, and more. We had such a fantastic time as a family. Here are a few more of our Smiles.   

1. Alyssa: "That's crazier than meatball pie!"

2. Nicholas, watching Alyssa paper quill: "It's magic!"

3. Nicholas, wanting a light on: "Daddy? Can you turn the kitchen on?"

Leighton: "How do you turn the kitchen on?"

Nicholas: "You push the button!"

4. Nicholas calling a heron a flamingo. 

5. Nicholas, asking me when dinner would be ready: "Is it 40 minutes, babe?"

6. Nicholas, looking at the bouquet on the table: "Daddy love you? Daddy love you wif fowers?"

Me: "Yes, he does."

Nicholas: "I don't love you wif fowers. I just a kid. And a baby."

7. Nicholas, loudly, pointing to a man in Walmart: "Daddy, is dat Santa?"

8. Tyler, about baby animals: "They're so cute!"

Nicholas: "Wait. I so cute."

 

What made you Smile?