April Homeschool

As Summer draws near, our time inside is limited and therefore not much book learning is accomplished. But eager minds are drinking in all the new and exciting things that nature teaches us this time of year. From a few of the days we did do something structured indoors....

Arctic Habitat

Ocean Habitat

 We created habitats and then classified all our animals into the correct one. Besides the Arctic and the Ocean, we also did the Jungle, a Farm and the Woods/Mountains.

Capital/Lower case letter match

I had fun making these :)

And the boys love matching them together!

MadCounty Mama

April Photo Blast

I haven't had the time nor the motivation to do much online lately.  But I'm hoping to get back to it!  Enjoy some photos from April with our family:

Helping with dishes

Purple toes!

Easter morning

Happy Easter!

Going on an egg hunt

Princess with her helpers

"Ah-Ha!" as he pounced on every egg

Friends

self-portrait!

Family dinner

Future Basketball Star!

Target practice w/ rubber band gun

Watering apple trees and herself

MadCounty Mama

Weekly Menu - April 16th

We had a wonderful weekend at home.  PreacherMan made it in Friday night.  The weather was gorgeous Saturday and we spent much of it outside. I was able to get a couple items marked off my 30 day Spring Cleaning list. I also took a car load of clothes to the Love Inc clothing closet and several boxes of unused items to the thrift store.  Woo-hoo for Spring cleaning!

Monday - Cilantro Lime Shrimp w/ fresh veggies & rice

Tuesday - Fruit Salad, cottage cheese & banana bread

Wednesday - Chicken kabobs w/ Waldorf salad

Thursday - Lasagne w/ Green beans

Friday - Breakfast night has moved!

Saturday - BBQ Pork Sandwiches, baked beans and coleslaw

Sunday - Grilled steaks, rebaked potatoes, green salad

Happy Cooking!

MadCounty Mama

Frozen Mocha Dessert

This dessert is rich, creamy and yet delicate. It is so easy to make and I just love peoples' reaction after that first bite!  The recipe comes from my high school home economics teacher - we made this dessert for many school functions.

Frozen Mocha Dessert

1 1/2 cups Oreo crumbs
3/4 cup chopped pecans, divided
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tsp instant coffee
1 T hot water
2-8oz pkg cream cheese
1-14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup chocolate syrup
1 - 8oz tub cool whip or whipped cream

Combine crumbs, 1/2 cup pecans and butter; pat into 13x9 pan.

Dissolve instant coffee in hot water, set aside.
Beat cream cheese till light and fluffy; blend in coffee, sweetened condensed milk and chocolate syrup.

Fold in whipped cream and spread over crust.  Sprinkle with remaining pecans and freeze.

Remove from freezer 10-15 min before cutting. 

And always have a helper!

MadCounty Mama

Weekly Menu

Happy Easter! I know it was yesterday but we had such a busy weekend I wasn't able to post anything till now!
We will be having lots of Easter leftovers this week - makes it easy on me for sure.

Just a little update of the 30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge:
*Every time I clean an area in the house I look for unused things that can go away.  So far I've collected a grocery bag full of this and that!
*Kids love helping you clean! Get them in on the action and things will go quicker!

This week's menu:

Sunday - Easter Dinner: Ham, rebaked potatoes, fruity jello, green salad, deviled eggs, homemade rolls, Frozen Mocha Dessert (recipe to be posted later this week!!)

Monday - Leftovers - Ham sandwich on rolls and green salad

Tuesday - Leftovers - Ham and potato bake

Wednesday - BBQ chicken, fruit salad w/ good friends!

Thursday - Hashbrown Casserole, from last week that I didn't make

Friday - Chicken and pasta dish

Saturday - Pizza

MadCounty Mama

Free Groceries!

I recently started clipping coupons seriously.  And since we started getting the daily newspaper again - I get to check out sales ads right away.  Being a stay at home mom has some pretty great advantages.
1. Shopping on days when no one else is out.
2. Hitting the sales early!
and the list can go on and on.
Last week I scored a coupon for Campbell's cream of Mushroom soup $0.69/can.  Reg price $2.19
I went to use the coupon and couldn't find it. I had cut it out of the paper, brought the paper with me to the store and forgot the ad. Whoops!
Then I discovered it was not at home sitting neatly on the counter-top (where I am sure I left it), it was nowhere to be found.  After complaining to my mom on the phone; she suggested going thru my garbage...ew ew ew. But I was desperate for a great deal so I donned some plastic gloves and went searching.  Sure enough I found it! =)  I took off for the grocery store, cleaned out their shelf and went to buy my goods. The coupon wouldn't scan.  What??? I was at self checkout so one of the young men working came over to help me. He couldn't get it to scan either but told me he would adjust my total.  I ended up saving $15 on 10 cans of soup. I probably won't have to buy that soup again for a year now!
Back at home I happened to check the dates on the rest of the coupons and found out why mine wouldn't scan.  The coupon wasn't good until the next day.
So maybe I need a bit more practice on this couponing thing....
Today~ By shopping this weeks sales ad and scouting online for manufacturer's coupons check out
my awesome pile of FREE, yes I said FREE, groceries!

Want to know how I did it?
It takes a little time and effort but shopping sales and couponing can really pay off. Some of these items were outright free, while others were free by how much I saved off the regular price.

Here goes:

Buy 3 Kelloggs cereals Get 1 gallon of milk FREE
---cereal Reg 5.19-5.49 Sale 2.99
---Manufacturers coupon for $1 off 2 boxes - final price ea 2.65
---price of milk $4
Buy 1 Nature Made vitamin Get 1 FREE
Buy 5 Hillshire Farms products Get $5 off instantly
--- Turkey Polska Keilbasa Reg 5.79 Sale 3.99
--- bought 5 packages got $5 off - final price ea - 2.99
Pop-Tarts Reg 2.99 Sale 1.99
---Manufacturers coupon for $1 off 3 boxes - final price ea 1.65
Dole Pineapple Reg 2.19 Sale .77
---Bought 7 cans Saved $10 and got another coupon with purchase for $1 off 5 more cans
Golden Oreos Reg 4.19 Sale 2.99
---Manufacturers coupon for $1 off when you buy milk and cookies
---final price 1.99 but I count it free b/c of the $4 saved on milk
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
---Reg 3.59 Sale $2
---.41 shy of a BOGO free deal

A $1 off coupon may not seem like much but when you add it to a sales price, buy in bulk and/or use as many as possible in one trip; the savings really adds up! I ended up spending $10 less than my total savings (Ex. Spend 20 save 30). To me it was a great shopping trip. But I also want to lower that total spending even more.

Happy Couponing Friends!

MadCounty Mama

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge

A friend posted this challenge on FB and I decided to join along in the fun (that is if you can call Spring cleaning fun).
Here's a link to the original post. I printed off a copy and then add/subtracted to fit my needs.  And yes I know I am a few days behind in getting this posted but I just decided to accept the challenge last night! And I have already done a couple items on the list so technically I'm ahead! ;)

30 Days to a Clean House

1. Windows & Windowsills

2. Cabinets

3. Dust Trim/Vac Stairs

4. Lights/Fans

5. Bedding

6. Under Beds/Furniture

7. Door knobs/dust frames

8. Garage/work bench

9. Washer/Dryer

10. Rugs/Pillows

11. Floors

12. Tubs/Showers

13. Curtains/Blinds

14. The car

15. Garbage cans/recycle bins

16. Front porch/shutters

17. Sinks/Toliets

18. Walls/Ceilings (cobwebs)

19. Dust bookshelves/TV screens

20. Oven/microwave

21. Defrost freezer

22. Master closet/drawers

23. Office

24. Grout

25. Winter things away

26. Shampoo carpet

27. Kids Closets

28. Pantry

29. Countertops

30. Medicine cabinet

Wish me luck to stay on track!
and Happy Cleaning Ya'll!

MadCounty Mama

Homemade Ranch Dressing

I found a similar recipe and then adjusted it to fit my needs.  I use my Tastefully Simple products because they are the best!

Homemade Ranch Dressing

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 Tbsp Onion Onion™
1/2 Tbsp Spinach & Herb Dip Mix
1/2 Tbsp Garlic Garlic™

Whisk all ingredients together and chill for 2 hours before serving.  Makes 1 1/4 cups.

Great for dipping fresh veggies or on a baked potato!
Enjoy!

MadCounty Mama

Homeschool in March

March went by very quickly for us! Having PreacherMan gone during the week has taken it's toll but we are pushing thru.  It is a blessing that he has a job and knows we are taken care of!
Along with studying the Solar System, we are learning the Old Testament books. I remember doing this in Sunday school and I still can sing the song that I was taught. One day I was looking around on Amazon (BTW - Amazon is my BFF in the cyber world!!! seriously!) and I found a CD and songbook from Wee Sing for Bible songs. I had this in a cassette growing up along with the song book.  I ordered it and right away my kids love listening to other kids singing and the upbeat music that is played. There are also some poems on the CD that after listening to just twice, Spice (almost 3) is reciting some of the lines!

They really got a kick out of the Old Testament song since I had been singing it to them for a week already. They were very impressed that I knew the same song as those kids!!! :)
Here Spice is coloring the books by category and Sugar is solving a number code puzzle that tells the first 8 books. 

Sugar and I decided in January that the reading lesson book we had been working thru was just now doing it for us anymore. So I went on the search to find something different. I found a blog that was just perfect for us - she uses a whole language approach (with slight phonics).  There is also a free sight word program with printables that is fun and Sugar is cruising thru it!

Practicing spelling sight words with play-doh!

Reading to little brother :)

Decided he wanted to make lunch for us! :)

Math workbook - Less than, Greater than

 MadCounty Mama