Kiddo's Special Butter Cookies

This week, just in time for Try a New Recipe Tuesday, I'm posting kiddo #4's delicious butter cookies. They were really good and a great surprise!  :) (and she offered to type this entire post herself! She's talented AND sweet!)

Cookie dough
3 sticks butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and salt.

Gradually add the flour; beat until well mixed. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Separate the dough into 4 pieces, then roll out each piece on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4-inch thickness. Cut or mold the dough into desired shapes.

Place the shapes on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cookies are light brown.
                                     
(optional frosting)          Vanilla Frosting
                                     3 cups confectioner's sugar
                                     1/3 cup butter, softened
                                     2 teaspoons vanilla
                                     2 tablespoons milk

                              

In a small bowl, combine butter and sugar         , 

                then vanilla, then milk.                                                         

   (ENJOY!)

Linking up with the Gathering Spot, Kids in the Kitchen, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, Domestically Divine Tuesday, Raising Mighty Arrows,Addicted to Recipes, Homemaking Wednesdays, Living Well Wednesday,NOBH, Judy H-J's Thoughts, Wisdom Wednesday , Favorite Things, Modest Mom, Full Plate Thursday and Melt in your Mouth Monday and Show Off Friday and Tuesday's Table and Look What We Did and Titus 2sday,  Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Crafty Spices, Better Mom,Create with Joy, Thursday's Treasures, Tasty Thursdays and Wonderful Food Wednesday and Mondays with Countrified Hicks and Tuesday How to Party and the Tried and True Recipe Party and Kids and Mom in the Kitchen and Family Fun Friday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop andAll My Bloggy Friends and Hearts for Home Blog Hop and Foodie Friends Friday and Family Fun Friday and TGIF Linky Party and Food on Friday andHip Homeschool Moms, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home andGood Tastes Tuesday and Thriving Thursday and Friday Flash Blog Hop




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Free Printable- Punctuation

I am always being creative in making learning manipulatives for my children.  I have found that hands-on learning works much better for my kiddos.

I made matching cards with the picture of each punctuation mark, another card with the name of it and yet another with its function.  Each is in a different color.

Just click here to go to the google document and it is yours to download!  :-)

Linking up with  Homemaking Wednesdays, Living Well Wednesday,Family Fun Friday and TGIF Linky Party, Family Fun Friday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop andAll My Bloggy Friends and Hearts for Home Blog Hop, Raising Mighty Arrows, Titus 2sday,  Mom's Monday Mingle, Monday Mingle, Crafty Spices, Better Mom,Create with Joy, Thursday's Treasures, and Friday Flash Blog Hop

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Homeschool Mother's Journal/Weekly Wrap-Up November 2

Not only has another week gone by, but it is now November.  Wow.

Last weekend was our church's family retreat.  You can see more photos here.  It was an extraordinary and uplifting time for all of the families involved.

Monday was back to the grind, with Kiddos 1 and 2 having their online classes and Kiddo #4 finished two more Christmas gifts in sewing class.  But, we did find time in the afternoon to paint our pumpkins.  I posted more photos of the kiddos and their pumpkins here.

Tuesday was more schoolwork, of course, and we also went outdoors and identified every tree on the street by its leaves.  I found a free printable that had all kinds of leaves on it.  The kiddos really enjoyed trying to figure out each and every tree.  There were so many different varieties just on this one street!

On Wednesday, Kiddos 3 and 4 learned long division!  Phew!  I survived, lol!  :-)  Seriously, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and they really have caught on!  :-)  On Wednesday evening, as we were watching the final game of the World Series, Kiddos 1 and 4 made us all a chocolate chip cookie "cake."  Kiddo #1 frosted it and it was cut up so quickly that I didn't get a photo of all of his decorations on it.  It was delicious.  :-)

Thursday was Halloween, of course.  It was a bit difficult getting the kiddos to concentrate on their work during the day, but Algebra and long division were worked on diligently after a bit of coaxing from mom.  ;-)

We do celebrate Halloween, but explain to our children the origin of the holiday and that it was called All Hallows' Eve, meaning the night before All Saints' Day.  I read an excellent article here that explained about children in pre-Reformation England going door to door for Soul Cakes and how many believe that began the tradition of going door to door.  It is a really good piece that explains a lot about the origins of the holiday. 

Our children dress up in wholesome, modest costumes and enjoy walking the same streets that their dad delivers mail to each day. (they tired out LONG before the end of daddy's route, lol)  Hubby and I walked with them and we enjoy the time together.

Kiddo #1 did not join us again this year. He helped his grandfather give out candy at the house.  We missed him, but understand that he feels he is getting too "old" for the custom.  :-)

Our Princess Belle

Eagles Player, LeSean McCoy

and our green crayon (no, we didn't turn him upside and try to color, lol!)

Lots of smiles all around

My posts this week:

Try a New Recipe Tuesday (linkup your favorite recipe(s)!)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Surprise

TOS Review- Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns

Wordless Wednesday- scenes from family retreat

Thankful Thursday- pumpking painting, leaf identifying and more...

Bow of Bronze Review- My Beloved and My Friend

Field Trip Friday (come share your outings with us!)

What we are looking forward to in the next week:

Lots of 4H activities on Saturday: monthly meeting, toy making and cooking!  :-)

Field Trip the the historic Peter Wentz Farmstead

Reading some new books

Enjoying this beautiful fall weather

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  God bless!

Linking up today with:  Homeschool Mother's Journal, Weekly Wrap-Up, NOBH, Show-Off Friday, Learn and Link and It's a Wrap, Friendship Friday and Friday Connection and Family Fun Friday and T.G.I.F. Linky Party and Let's Homeschool High School and This Week

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Field Trip Friday- November 1

Wow!  It's November!  When did this happen?  :-)  But it is also Friday....and that means it is time again for Field Trip Friday!  I love seeing all of the wonderful places that you visit with your families.  :-)  I am happy to be joining my friend Jen at Chestnut Grove Academy for her wonderful linkup.

Last week, children were brought on a wonderful camping trip with hiking, teepees and learning how to split wood as well as a trip "back in time" to a 300 year old home, complete with reenactors and displays.

What wonderful memories you all are making with your children!

I look forward to seeing what vacations, outings and field trips will be shared this week....



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Bow of Bronze Review: My Beloved and My Friend

Today I am reviewing "My Beloved and My Friend: How to be Married to your Best Friend without Changing Spouses" by award-winning authors Hal and Melanie Young.  They wrote another favorite book of mine entitled "Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys."

I am not a fan of "marriage" books, or at least I wasn't until I read this one.  Some I have picked up in the past seem to imply that if everything isn't 'awesome' all of the time, there is something wrong.  Hal and Melanie, on the other hand, say that having a true and lasting friendship with your spouse will make those "not so good" moments much easier to bear.

"But why do we treat our mates differently than our friends?  Probably because we let ourselves.  Either we never took the time to develop a friendship with the one we would marry, or we just let ourselves drift apart.  We let ourselves become emotionally distant while geographically close, like co-workers or roomates.  We work together or live togeher, but really have nothing in common.  Regardless of the reason, there's no time like the present to start making your mate your best friend." (pg. 31)

Hal and Melanie's writing style is honest, open and conversational.  You will feel like you are sitting at the table with them.  They have been married for almost 30 years.  One of the keys to their long marriage? Keeping God at the center and saying focused on Him through the good times and bad.  Hal had life-threatening cancer, so the Youngs have definitely had their share of "bad" times.  They stress the importance of going through life as a couple, not 2 separate individuals who are in a union.  They believe in the "us," not the "you" and "me" and can truly say that they have been best friends for 30 years.

"We can choose to enjoy one another, choose to see each other as our best friends.  this is really, seriously, one of them most satisfying things you will ever do.  Make your mate your best friend." (pg. 46)

The chapters in the book are as follows: (and yes, this book even covers topics not covered in other books because they are considered "controversial")

• Leaving and Cleaving
• How to Be Married To Your Best Friend
• In Sickness and In Health
• On Submission
• Fidelity and Loyalty are Not Mutual Funds
• The Physical Aspect
• Children and All That
• Money- Yours, Mine, Or Ours?
• The Division of Labor
• The Spiritual Aspect
• Being of One Mind
• How to Fight So You Both Win

"When you use your disagreements as an opportunity to talk over issues and come to a better understanding of one another, discussing and working over the differences to reach a point where you can both stand together, it will tend to make you both more Christ-like.  And when you've got someone who is that much in agreement with you, that much on your side, it's a real joy and encouragement!" (pg. 231-232)

Love is doing, not feeling.  This is so very important for couples to realize after they come off of the "honeymoon high."  Hal and Melanie say this about it:

"Love for our mate is a command, and something which can taught and learned.  It's not a rush of feeling, but rather a conscious choice of action and thought.  In fact, that should be a source of hope for us-- we can be loving even when we don't feel especially affectionate." (pg. 91)

The book will be officially released on Valentine's Day, but is available now for pre-order ($12) and will delivered in time for Christmas!  You will not be disappointed with this book.

Click here to see what others on the Launch Team had to say about the book.




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Thankful Thursday- October 31

On this day, I am thankful for so many things, among them:

the painting of pumpkins

searching for and identifying leaves outside

siblings helping each other with schoolwork


homemade bingo cards

Halloween costumes made from scratch

Linking up with Aurie and her Counting our Blessings linkup,  Raising Homemakers and Modest Mom and Raising Mighty Arrows and Just the Stuff Ya Know


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Hearts for Home Blog Hop- October 31st

Happy Halloween or as we like to say in our house, to focus on the real and Christian meaning of the day, Happy All Hallows' Eve!  :-)

Welcome to the Hearts for Home Blog Hop!  I am thrilled to be a co-host with 20+ other awesome bloggers!     :-)

The most clicked on post from last week was:

Trusting God, Trusting my Husband from First Comes Love

Three of my favorites, among all of the others posted (they were ALL wonderful!) are:

Pie Fries with Apple Pie Dip

5 Easy Colonial America Map Activities for Kids from Education Possible

Halloween Dice Game from Gift of Curiousity

Were you featured this week?  If so, congratulations and help yourself to one of our "I was featured" buttons to display on your blog.

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Are you ready to share your posts this week?  Let's go!  Use the form below to enter your links.  Posts can be anything that shows your heart is for your home: homeschooling, homemaking, parenting, marriage, faith, family, crafts, etc.  Please just kindly link back to this blog or display our Hearts for Home button in your post or on your sidebar.

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