A moment

Have you ever had a moment that made you stop and think?  Today I had that moment. 

Miss K and the boys have clogging on Tuesdays.  We gathered up everyone’s shoes, coats, diapers, treats, Kindle… everything we would need for the 3 1/2 hours we would be gone.  Then we loaded everyone up in Big Delores (the Suburban). 

It had been snowing all day long and wasn’t going to let up any time soon.  I hadn’t wanted to go to dance at all because of the weather but I knew Miss K needed to be there as this is her last class before their first holiday performance set for Friday.  So, I scraped the snow off the car as it ran to get warm and defrost the windows.  Then we were off.

We had just made it out of the neighborhood when I realized how bad the roads were and I suggested to the kids that we should probably say a prayer.  Miss H enthusiastically offered to say it.  She had just finished and asked Heavenly Father to keep us safe as we entered the on ramp of the freeway.  Suddenly, Delores’ big rear end was fishtailing. 

I panicked!  And yet, I was calm… and I did everything WRONG! 

Everything started happening in slow motion.  It’s amazing how much you are able to think about in times of panic! 

Should I hit the brakes?  Do I turn into it or out of it?  What am I going to hit?  How do I stop this car?  Please don’t let us hit anything!  Oh no!  Here comes the air bag! 

I don’t think I said anything out loud but all of these thoughts raced through my mind.  Obviously the answer to braking… NO!  But I did.  I should have turned into it, but I turned out.  What did I hit?  Absolutely nothing! 

And I remember the entire time hearing Miss K screaming.  When we came to a stop in the ravine/shoulder (not sure what to call it) she was still squealing.  It is so unlike me to be cool, calm, and collected in a situation like this but I surprised myself today.  The other kids all seemed to be alright and I just rubbed Kayla’s arm to reassure her that we were ok.  We would be alright.  She was next to me in the front seat, crying.  Normally, I would be too but something kept me strong.  We sat there for a minute collecting ourselves while Little C kept asking why I would do such a thing.  “Why did you do that, Mom?  I don’t like that!  Why did you make us slide into here?  We almost hit the wall!”  It’s true.  We ended up about 4 feet from a brick wall.  He told me, “You shouldn’t do that, Mom.  I’m really freaked out now.”  If you know C you understand why this is funny.  He said it in such a monotone voice.  You just have to know him.  Even K laughed at his effort to sound ‘freaked out’. 

After explaining to him that this was not something I had intended to do, I tried backing out of the ravine.  No luck!  The tires just kept spinning.  K asked what we were going to do now to which I didn’t have a good answer.  I had left my phone home with Miss A.  I couldn’t call the police.  Since we had ended up perpendicular to the on ramp the only thing I could think to do was to have Miss K wave someone down.  I rolled her window down and had her start waving.  But before anyone stopped, someone on my side of car was walking toward us.  He had seen it happen and parked just up past the on ramp to get out of the way.  He made sure that we were all ok and called 911 for us. 

He was our angel today!  Well, one of them.  He was a young Hispanic man with earrings.  Little C wanted to make sure he wasn’t a bad guy.  I assured him that he was there to help.  And he insisted on staying until help arrived.  I felt so bad for him because the snow hadn’t let up at all and it was 29 degrees outside.  All the poor guy had on was a sweatshirt.  But he waited. 

At one point he had me borrow his phone to call Anthony.  Luckily he answered!  He doesn’t usually answer the phone if he doesn’t recognize the phone number.  Anthony really wanted me to try backing out again in 4-high.  I tried but had no luck.  We had been waiting about a half hour at that point. 

Another 15 minutes went by and FINALLY they came… a blaring ambulance and a fire truck.  I should probably have been embarrassed.  They blocked the entire on ramp for this.  One of the firemen (or maybe the EMT?) got into the driver’s seat and after some struggle and 3 other firemen/EMT’s pushing, they freed Big Delores!  MORE ANGELS! 

They didn’t bother with an incident report or anything… just sent us on our merry way (I’m sure they had plenty of other incidents to take care of).  Only now it was Miss H crying.  She was scared when the man was getting us out of the snow because the car went really squirrely again several times. 

We chose not to make the drive to dance even though we could have made it in plenty of time for Miss K’s class.  She was pretty shaken up. 

I never got too emotional about this one and I’m not really sure why.  So not like me!  I cry at everything. 

EVERYTHING!

So, while I didn’t get too shaken up, it still made me really think.  How blessed I was today!  Did our prayer work?  I choose to believe that it did!  Obviously I meant for nothing at all to happen but it could have been so much worse.  The girls attribute the car stopping without hitting the wall to angels.  They believe angels stopped it.  Why not?  I choose to believe they are right. 

How blessed am I in my life, in general?  Wow!  I can’t even begin to count the ways.  But I can say that almost every night I thank my Heavenly Father for two things.  First, I thank him for my family’s safety and my own.  Safety in every sense of the word.  Yes, we get hurt… but in general we have been blessed with safety.  Second, I thank him for our health.  Sure, we get sick but no one has any major medical issues to deal with. 

Not that I’m terribly superstitious but I really hope I didn’t just jinx myself by saying that.  *Knock on wood, right?* 

I just felt inspired by the events of today.  I needed to share my humble testimony of the Lord.  He hears and answers our prayers!  Not always the way we expect but he did send mortal angels to minister to us in our time of need.  They didn’t have wings or halos.  They weren’t even dressed in white but I’m telling you, they will be blessed for their efforts.  I don’t know how and I wish that I could repay them myself. 

This time of year always seems to bring out the good in a lot of people. 

 

Latter-day Learning

**This is an affiliate post.  I was offered this curriculum to use for free in exchange for an honest review and feedback.  I was not required to give a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own.  If you decide to purchase this curriculum by clicking on any links within the post, I will be paid a small amount which would be greatly appreciated.**

Coming up with a curriculum for each school year can seem like a daunting task.  There are so many choices for each subject and there are always going to be those that just don’t work for your family, which is a bummer when you spend the money for something you won’t use.  It’s my least favorite part of the year. 

This year we started with a new curriculum called Latter-day Learning (this first link will take you to the main page for Latter-day Learning… no affiliate link).  Before I tell you how much we love it what we think of it, let me tell you a little bit about it.  This is a curriculum designed to be used for ages 4-12 as a group (family) setting.  That is why they refer to it as The Family School!  You can get the printed version or the digital version and print it all out yourself (that’s the way I do it.)

It’s a 6 year rotation and I believe they have 2 years available for purchase right now.  Latter-day Learning encompasses ALL subjects except math and language arts.  When I say ‘ALL’ I mean:  history, literature, science, geography, art, and music.  That is amazing!  Also, each lesson is tied to a gospel principle to help them understand it in a way that Heavenly Father would want them to understand it with an eternal perspective. 

Most homeschoolers that I know, including myself, try to have all their kids learning together as much as possible.  It’s not hard to have them all learning the same things in the subjects covered with Latter-day Learning.  The trick is getting each child to learn on their own level while in the group setting and it can be done!  Math and language arts, however, would be difficult.  You can’t teach a 12 year old and a 4-year-old the same language arts or math concepts.  If said 12 year old is learning pre-algebra for instance, the 4-year-old may get left behind.  Unless you have a genius 4-year-old.  In that case… have a ball!  ;)

Now I’m getting anxious to just say this:

We LOVE it! 

When I first started homeschooling I didn’t think I wanted it to be about religion at all.  School was school… secular only.  That was my mindset because that’s what I knew.  My mind quickly changed when I realized I wanted my kids to have spiritual growth as well.  And not only in addition to the secular but the spiritual became MORE important!

 

Since starting school again myself last month I’ve come to realize how much I depend on my spiritual knowledge to gain a clearer understanding of the secular knowledge. 

Age wise, I have to say that my 5 year old is not quite ready for this.  He has a learning style unique to him that I haven’t quite figured out yet.  He’s an interesting case, that C.  So, he will participate in the parts that look and sound fun to him but that happens probably less than 10% of the time.  All of my girls are actively engaged in this curriculum always!  They absolutely adore the lessons and I am so impressed at how much I am learning myself.  The lessons are very thorough and even though they say up to age 12, I find that they are easily adaptable for older kids as well. 

Miss K has been able to choose from several different types of essays to write.  I love that they give examples of each type of essay and a run down of how it would be graded.  K did a Five Senses essay about her dance studio.  That was fun!  In fact, reading over the different types of papers and essays has helped ME in my writing for my own classes. 

I think the favorite overall subject so far has been Literature.  Fairy Tales are up first in Year 1.  Who doesn’t love a good old fashioned fairy tale? 

If you are wondering if this curriculum might be a good fit for your homeschool you can take a gander at their sample lessons. 

There will be follow up posts in the coming weeks and months just to update you on our progress of this curriculum and how we are doing with it. 

This has truly been a blessing to my family.  Everything is laid out for me.  I don’t have to do much prep work at all other than making sure I have everything ready and reading each lesson ahead of time to make sure I understand what is being taught.  I don’t think I can ever go back… this program is everything I have ever wanted for my family and more.  And it is so easy to adapt it for different ages and comprehensions.  My two oldest girls take notes during the lesson while my youngest daughter is just present, listening.  Sometimes she will draw a picture of what is being talked about.  The application activities are geared toward both younger and older children.  I usually assign my oldest the activity for ‘older children’ and my youngest the one for ‘younger children’.  Miss A is stuck somewhere in the middle so I often let her choose whichever one sounds more appealing to her.  About 50% of the time she chooses the older activity. 

So, now that you know how much we love Latter-day Learning, what questions do you have?  Is there anything you want to know?  Anything I didn’t cover? 

 

 

 

 

12 Years Old {Please consider donating!}

Miss K is 12 today! This year for her birthday she would like to give instead of receive. We have been blessed by so many 'angels' in our lives over the years. K recognizes this and would like to take a turn helping others. From now until Thanksgiving she will be collecting new clothes, new toys, and gift certificates (Target, Walmart, or Toys R Us). She will be donating all items to various organizations throughout the Christmas season. (Toys 4 Tots, Angel Tree, needy families, etc.) We will keep you posted about the progress, where the items are going, and what she chooses to buy with gift certificates and such. Please let me know if you would like to donate!

 

College! {Part 2}

{If you missed Part 1 click HERE}

After doing some research for online degrees and coming up empty, I set aside the thoughts for school. 

Then last Spring I got a call from my Relief Society President.  She had just been told about a new program set up by the church and BYU Idaho.  The program is called Pathway.  She explained what she knew about it at that point which wasn’t much.  She only knew that it was extremely affordable and all online.  {Except for the first year… I’ll explain later.}

Sounded like just what we needed!  But I was surprised that Anthony hadn’t said anything about it.  He is on the high council for our stake.  Surely they would have been informed of this wonderful program.  Maybe it was too good to be true. 

After talking with my RS president I immediately called Anthony at work to ask him if he’d heard about it.  He said yes but didn’t know enough about it to say anything and honestly thought it was another opportunity we would have to pass up because of where we are in life right now.  School just didn’t seem to fit in.  He knew there was going to be a fireside about it coming up and we planned to attend.  It was highly recommended that all members of the high council attend just to learn more about it. 

The fireside took place in June (I think?).  All the logistics were explained; the cost, the program itself, the possibility of transferring after the first year… everything!  By the end of the fireside we both knew that it was exactly what we BOTH wanted to do!  The fireside was held at the Salt Lake Community College Institute Building and it was a full house!  It actually was a 2 day deal.  The first night was for those of us 31 and over.  The second night was for anyone 18-30.  While there I saw my 9th grade seminary teacher who now teaches institute.  That was fun.  I was surprised he remembered me… the OLDer me.  Old, as in age.  It’s been close to 20 years. 

WEIRD! 

When I knew him he hadn’t had any kids yet.  I learned that he now has five, though one passed away.  **Heidi, if you’re reading this… He told me to tell you hi!**

Anyway, we went home and signed up right away.  Tuition wasn’t due until the first day which wasn’t until September 16th so we had a while to gather up funds.  Unfortunately, when you’re as tight as we are you just don’t have even a dollar to pinch so we had to get an advance at work.  That makes for itty bitty checks the following two pay days ;).  But, what can ya do?

One of the greatest parts about this program is that you don’t have to have a high school diploma or even a GED.  There are also no tests (SAT’s or ACT’s) required.  You just have to be a member of the church and take the Pathway courses required.  After the Pathway year (3 semesters) is done, you can transfer to another school or continue with BYU-I. 

So, here’s how it works.  For the first year everyone is on the same ‘path’.  We all take the same classes and during the same semesters.  Every Thursday there is a “Gathering”.  This program is available all over the world in various locations but only opened up this year in Utah.  I believe there are two locations.  The one we attend got such a great response (far more than they expected) that they had to put us (ages 31+) in a different location than originally planned.  Both groups were supposed to meet at the same location.  From what I understand, they expected about 80 students TOTAL to sign up for this location but got over 300.  They sent us old folks ;) to a local high school seminary building.  The other Utah location is in Sandy and I don’t know what kind of response they got. 

Once in our respective ‘classes’ overseen by specially appointed Pathway Missionaries (a real calling in the church now) we are taught by a fellow student that leads the class.  Each student is expected to lead at least once over the course of the program. 

I’m extremely nervous about that! 

While most of our school work is done online, the Gatherings are just as important and count toward the final grade.  Missing more than 1 or 2 Gatherings can really affect your grade.  Since we need a B average to pass and integrate into the regular BYU-I online courses. 

Right now, we are taking Book of Mormon 1 Religion class (Institute) and Life Skills.   18-30 have to take Institute at the community college.  31+ take it online.  A whoppin’ 5 credit hours. 

AND WE’RE DYING!!

We are total wimps!  I don’t know if I could handle a full time schedule.  I thought this would be so easy.  Anthony and I are both feeling very overwhelmed but in a good way.  We are having so much fun. 

I can’t explain the spirit that has been with us.  We’ve been teased about going to BYU and being closet BYU fans.  If you know us (especially Anthony and the kids) you know that we are huge Utah fans.  But I am telling you, the spirit is with us and we are learning so much spiritually.  BYU-I makes sure to include the spirit in every lesson.  It’s amazing! 

I feel so blessed to be a member of this wonderful church and know the true gospel.  We’ve only been to two Gatherings so far but already I feel a connection to some of the class members.  And even online, we are required to participate in group discussions and get to know each other a bit.  We are having so much fun and can’t wait to see what will come of this. 

It was brought to our attention by the missionary couple that we’ve been assigned to that we are “an elite few” in knowing about and being able to participate in this amazing program.  If you mention the Pathway Program to people, most have no clue what it is.  They’ve never heard of it.  So, we feel extremely blessed to be a part of it.  I hope that it can bless many more lives in the near future. 

And that, my friends, is my ‘pathway’ to college.  It finally feels right!  It finally feels doable!  And now I know that THIS is why it wasn’t right before.  Anthony and I are doing this together and I already feel it bringing us closer in a way. 

And hey, I can now say that I married my college sweetheart!  ;)  We were just married before the college part. 

The best part of this for me is that my kids will see us doing this.  I hope it will serve as an example for them.  Maybe because they watch us on our roads to getting degrees they will want to do the same.  

 

COLLEGE! {Part 1}

Not in a million years would I have ever guessed I would be going back to school.  After graduating from high school I was DONE!  Sure, I took a couple classes at the local community college… Photography and American Sign Language.  I think I took a College Skills class as well.  Nothing too major. 

Then I got married.  You know what comes after marriage… the baby in a baby carriage. 

So I quit. 

And no, I wasn’t sad.  Not the tiniest bit! 

My family was started and we were going to be ok.  I would be the stay at home mom and Anthony would work.  It was planned that way from the beginning. 

Anthony had never been to school either beyond high school.  He went on a mission, got home and got a job, started dating me, we got married, and then he started a couple of classes at the community college as well. 

Just before Miss K was going to turn a year old we moved to South Carolina with my parents.  They were moving there for my dad’s job and we didn’t have anything tying us down here in Utah so we went.  It probably wouldn’t have been something we would have even considered if not for the fact that Anthony had served his mission there.  He had always wanted go back and live there for a while… this was our chance! 

He continued school at a college there in Florence, SC.  He wanted to be an architect.  I continued being a SAHM.  We lived there for almost 2 years with my family.  Anthony worked at Sears as a salesman and was called as the Seminary teacher for the kids in our branch.  There were a whopping 3 of them, my sister and two other girls (they were sisters).  But he LOVED it! 

When my dad lost his job and they decided to move back here to Utah we considered moving out on our own with our then two kids.  We had talked about what we would do if a situation such as this arose.  We would stay.  But when it came down to it, we knew we wouldn’t be able to afford to stay on our own.  Plus, I just really didn’t want to stay without my family.  I knew it would be really hard on me.  We would miss so much in Utah… birthdays, weddings, Thanksgivings, Christmases, barbecues, reunions, and so much more.  I wanted to be able to be a part of those things.  I wanted my kids to know their cousins and be part of their lives.  Anthony knew transferring his credits back to the college in Utah would be a hassle and that most of the credits that he’d completed wouldn’t transfer.  Some he had already done twice because they didn’t transfer from Utah to SC. 

I won. 

Had we been able to afford to stay I am pretty sure I would have lost that battle.  But there was just no way. 

Anthony was right, many of the credits wouldn’t transfer.  He was frustrated and we just needed money.  His job had him working late hours sometimes.  School was not an option right then. 

Things started looking up for us financially when we started our own business in 2005.  Everything looked to be on the up and up for a couple of years…

But the economy had a different idea in mind. 

Since that time, it’s been rough for us.  The economy has hit us hard and we have been struggling for years.  We’ve toyed around with the idea of Anthony going back to school since that time but when it came down to it, the time just wasn’t right.  He needed to work as much as possible for whatever little bit of money he could get.  So, he has. 

Then, about a year ago I looked into school for myself.  It’s not something that I ever even WANTED!  I never had a desire to go to college.  Then this weird thing called homeschooling happened.  It has opened my eyes to a new world of learning and actually enjoying it!  It’s possible! 

However, the time wasn’t right.  All the degrees I looked into at the community college required at least some courses being taken at the school.  I needed online only. 

{{… to be continued…}}

{Click to see Part 2}

 

Rocket

There I was, slumbering peacefully in the wee hours of the morning on Labor Day.  Eight in the AM is the wee hours on Labor Day.  Anthony, C, H, and K had gone for a morning run. 

Little B awoke and came in to snuggle like he normally does.  And, as usual, the questions started… Where’s Dad?… Why is he running?… When will he be home?

**Front door opens**

The first thing I hear is, “Can we please keep it, Dad?  He’s so cute!” 

Any mom knows what those words mean… it means they found something.  Either a cat, a dog, or even worse… a critter. 

B and I go out to see what all the fuss is about and all the while my mind is already made up. 

NO! 

We were not going to keep ‘it’.  Whatever ‘it’ was. 



‘It’ was a kitten.  We are guessing around 6 months old.  And ‘it’ is a boy.  We checked.  ;)

I still had the NO ready.  We already have a dog and another cat.  But C had a perfect name already picked…

Rocket!

And so, before I could even put up a fight the dumb thing was already named and had food in his face.  They had found the poor little guy on the parkway.  He was starved for both attention and food.  A couple of other people had already come across him.  One couple was going to take him to the shelter and a couple of elderly ladies had gone to get him some food.  They were returning just as the kids came upon the cat. 

And the rest is history!

Never mind the fact that I’m allergic.  We have a cat already so what the heck!  Twice the itchy eyes, runny nose, sneeze attacks, and periodic hives… BRING IT ON!

But really, the kids were attached before they even got in the car to drive home from their run.  How do you say no to that?

We tried introducing Sissy, the other cat, after Rocket had a few minutes to get to the know the main floor of the house.  How did that go, you ask?  Let’s just say… Sissy was not amused. 

Next we brought in our gigantic lab, Moe.  We knew he would be gentle… and he was.  He sniffed, Rocket hissed, Moe backed off, came in for another whiff, Rocket relaxed a bit and then…



Rocket got a slobber bath. 

Isn’t that what everyone wants?  To be covered in dog slobber and wet nose snot from head to toe?  {Yuck!}

Anthony thought he’d take a turn, too.  ;)



But Rocket loved it!  To this day he still waltzes over to Moe and begs for a ‘bath’.  They are good buddies now. 

This kitty is super playful.  The kids are having a blast with him!  Just yesterday he climbed into this empty water bottle package.  C called it Rocket’s ‘portal’.  I’m not even sure where he picked up the word ‘portal’. 





Welcome to the family, Rocket!

 

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Freddy the Frogcaster–Book Review

{Click image to see where you can buy this book.}

Sally Croaker is the weather forecaster.  Freddy has adored Sally’s forecasting ways since he was just a tadpole.  He is also very good at forecasting the weather… just not on TV. 

But what happens when Miss Sally goes on maternity leave?  Enter the popular Polly Woggins (love the names in this book)!  But with her inaccurate forecasts how will the Mayor know if he’ll be able to hold his Leapfrog Picnic? 

Can Freddy give him an accurate forecast?

----------------------------

This book is darling!  My little boys and Miss H really liked it.  And it got them all wanting to learn more about weather and how it is forecasted.  The book is also chock full of fun weather vocabulary which we will define, in our homeschool, when we do our weather unit coming up.  ;) 

Books like this are always welcome in our homeschool library.  The storyline was fun and fresh and the characters were memorable. 

**I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.  I was not required to give a positive review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

 

Our 2013-2014 Curriculum

**This post has some affiliate links.  By clicking on certain links and purchasing the product I will receive a small percentage which would be much appreciated!**

This post has been a looong time coming.  WHEW!  Finally! 

I should have had this up during the summer but for the life of me I didn’t know what I was going to do for certain subjects.  One of the many reasons
I love homeschooling… so many options!

When my girls were very young and we decided to homeschool, we chose to allow them a lot of play.  If they showed an interest in something we would absolutely take the time to learn about it.  It was scary, I admit.  I wasn’t positive that that the day would come when they would come to me and ask for more.  More studying?  Who wants that?  I was told the day would come.  “Trust the process.”

It came earlier for some than others but guess what… it came! 

My girls are now asking for more.  Especially Miss K.  She is so ready to start the scholar phase.  To be honest, I think she was ready long ago.  I feel that she is slightly resentful of our first few homeschooling years because she was ready long before I was ready to let her be. 

You’ll notice in her schedule that she has a lot more than the other girls.  

Remember, we homeschool.  That is very different than school at home.  We aren’t trying to get through any certain book as fast as we can in order to take an end of year test or make sure they are right on track with their peers.  Instead we move at a pace that is comfortable for each child and make sure they grasp each concept before moving on.  That could mean they fly through a subject’s book in a month or it could mean we’re working on it for 2 years.  It could also mean we decide to toss something out that just isn’t working for us.  It happens!

School for us includes real life.  Living is learning, believe it or not! 

So, without further ado…. Here is our MAIN curriculum!  LIFE!  The one that we center everything else around. 



And secondly… The Family School! 

The one we do all together.  The boys aren’t quite ready for this one but little C participates when we are doing something that looks fun and interesting to him.  

This is from Latter-Day Learning.  It is an LDS curriculum that is pretty much all-inclusive.  It covers History, Geography, Literature, Science, Art and Music.  The only things you really need to add are Math and Language Arts.  The reason they aren’t included is because this curriculum is designed to include children from ages 4-12.  Math and LA are level based which would make it hard to incorporate with such a wide variety of ages.  I love that it incorporates both spiritual and secular together.  Each lesson is based on a Gospel Principle. 

I will tell you right now that we are absolutely LOVING it so far.  But I’m not going to go into too much detail right now.  There is a more in depth review of this curriculum in the works.  Stay tuned…

Miss K’s curriculum:

Math – Life of Fred (Fractions, Decimals and Percents)

Language Arts – The Giggly Guide to Grammar (I would link you to the Amazon page for this item but it doesn’t come with the parent CD on Amazon.  Find it somewhere else for the better deal :))

Tech Class – Mobile Apps for Beginners

Religion – Discover the Book of Mormon Grades 4-7  A more in depth review of this coming up as well. 

Drawing – ARTistic Pursuits, Elementary 4-5 Book One  Again… an in depth review coming shortly.

This is what I love about homeschooling.  Miss K is so interested in learning more about the Book of Mormon and she wants to be an artist.  We are able to customize her education to those interests and dreams.  I don’t have A or H doing drawing because they haven’t shown the interest in it like K has.  Miss A is starting to show an interest.  Take a look at her curriculum and you’ll notice in her choice of Tech classes.

 

Miss A’s curriculum:

Math – Life of Fred (Elementary Series)

Language Arts – informal lessons by Mom :)

Tech Class – Drawing, Sculpting, and Animation Foundations

Miss A really wants to focus on having beautiful handwriting this year so that is one of the things we will be working on.  She would also like to learn cursive.

 

Miss H’s curriculum:

Math – Life of Fred (Elementary Series)

Language Arts – informal lessons by Mom

Tech Class – Engineering Foundations

Miss H didn’t really have anything extra she wanted to work on.  I am perfectly fine with that! 

 

The Boys curriculum:

This year for the boys we are going to focus on the letter sounds and numbers.  For B we will also focus on shapes and colors as he has not mastered them yet.  We will also do a lot of little projects to keep them busy while the girls are working. 

 

In addition to everything already mentioned, we plan on continuing with Nature Study.  This is something that I believe comes pretty naturally to kids anyway so it’s not hard.  They love exploring the outdoors.  Finding bugs and spotting birds are favorite pastimes for my kids. 

We are having so much fun already this year.  I just know it’s going to be our best homeschool year yet!  We’re off to a great start.  How about you? 

Not sure how this box got here and I can’t get it to go away.  So, I thought I’d write in it.  Hi!  ;)

 

 

 

Half Marathon

Have I ever told you how much I look up to my kids?  They may be shorter than me for now but WOW! they really amaze me!

 

Ever since last August when Miss K ran a 10K with Anthony she has been dying to do a half marathon. 

Dying… WHO BEGS TO DO A HALF MARATHON?  SERIOUSLY?

Well, since Anthony was going to train her up for one, little A wanted to do it as well.  Yes, I have crazy kids.  At first Anthony thought it would be best to have A do the 10K while he ran with K for the half… Great plan, IF you have someone to run the 10K with the other child.  He tried to convince me to do it. 

PSHHHH!  See how well that worked out for him?  Ha ha! 

So, he had no choice but to train her up for the half as well, which is what she really wanted so she wasn’t at all sad about that.  :)

I admit I was nervous.  I even asked their pediatrician if it was ok for them to run such a distance at their young, tender ages.  He said it was fine so long as they listen to their bodies.  As long as they can talk while running they are fine. 

I was still nervous.

During the training runs Little A had all the energy in the world which is nothing new to us.  She’s always been a little firecracker.  When it comes to anything athletic she just seems to have a natural ability to do… whatever.  K has to work harder for it but I think she appreciates it more for all the hard work she puts in to it.  Little A would run circles around K (all this according to Anthony, of course… I wasn’t there ;)) and still have energy to spare when they got home. 

CHILD!… you do realize you just ran 8 miles, right?  Sheesh! 

And Miss K surprises me every day!  She just really loved every exhausting training run they did.  The jealous bug bit her in the butt for only a short time until she came to me one day and said, “I’ve decided it’s a lot more fun to be happy for somebody than to be jealous.”

Proud momma moment right there! 

Her runs were even better after that epiphany, too. 

The night before the race, Little A was so nervous.  She came out of bed to us sobbing.  She was scared and couldn’t sleep.  We assured her that this run was absolutely not a mandatory thing.  She was welcome to back out at any point.  A little lavender on the feet and hug later she was feeling much better. 

I had been told the night before to be at the park where the race ended at 9:30.  That way I would be sure to see the girls and Anthony cross around 10:00 am. 

Well, that only works if your children cooperate and VOW to not cross the finish line until at least 9:45. 

There I am, 9:32, parking… right then!!  And my sister calls to let me know that she just watched Little A cross from a distance.  She hadn’t made it to the finish yet either.  UGH! 

So, I have no pictures of her crossing the finish line.  :(  And I just knew I had missed Anthony and Miss K. 

Once I found A at the finish (and apologized for not being there just 5 minutes earlier) she told me that it was just her.  Anthony had run her across the line and gone back for K.  A had finished in 2 hrs. 21 min.  About a half hour later Miss K came along.   2 hrs. 50-ish min. 

WOW!  13.1 miles… CHECK!  They inspire me.  So much so that I even went and got me some running clothes.  Not so much because I really want to run.  I still think it’s devilish.  But for the sheer fact that I would like to see my husband once in a while!  I figure I have to run to hang out with him.  Tuesday night was our first run.  It was the devil!  But I finished a 5K.  Go me! 

But back to my girls… they are amazing!  So inspiring that complete strangers asked to have their pictures taken with them.  They got 1st and 2nd in their division.  (I think they were the only ones in their division to be honest but who the heck cares!)  Still #1 in my book! 

 

Sour Cream Fruit Dip

My cousin introduced me to this recipe at our last family get together.  I fell in love with it immediately!  It’s so easy, you’ve got to give it a try!

• 16 oz. sour cream
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix it all up and there you have it!  Does it get any simpler?  I think not.  I could have eaten the entire thing without the fruit… though I highly recommend the fruit.  ;)

The Way He Eats His Grapefruit–A Marriage Tale

So there we were… the new couple… the newlyweds.  Asked to give a talk in church. 

Oh man!  I don’t do talks.  Not good ones, anyway. 

Luckily, my topic was US!  They asked me to introduce us as a couple and just talk about our relationship. 

In preparation for my talk, I remember running across a story.  A story about grapefruits.  And it seems that when you are asked to give a talk or a lesson, you always find that you learn far more for yourself than you can ever teach to someone else. 

This grapefruit story was exactly what I needed.  And have since needed several times since. 

We all know the ‘correct’ way to eat a grapefruit, right?  Cut in half with a little bit of sugar on top… eaten with a spoon.  Isn’t that how we all eat them? 

You see in this story that I found, the husband ate his grapefruit all wrong.  He peeled it… like an orange.  Then he ate it section by section… like an orange.  I mean, WHO DOES THAT? 

The wife thought this was ridiculous and ridiculed her husband every time he ate a grapefruit telling him he ate it wrong.  She would ask, “Why do you eat your grapefruit like that?  You’re doing it wrong!” 

He would shrug his shoulders and say, “It’s just a grapefruit, honey.”

When I found this story in preparation for my talk, I realized that I was being THAT wife.  The one that ridiculed and belittled every move that my poor husband made.  He had no idea what he was in for when he married me.  And I can say the same for myself… I had no clue! 

Who was this man that brushed his teeth like that?  And what happened to the guy I was dating?  The one that I heard fart a total of THREE times in just over a year… on ACCIDENT!!  All of the sudden I was hearing 3 every hour!  Sometimes not just hearing if you know what I mean.  WHOOWEE!  ;)  The honeymoon ends, he’s got the girl and WHAM!  He let’s loose!  UGH!  (Still working on that one…)

And dinner?  Every night?  I’m supposed to know how to cook, too?  If you’re hungry, YOU make dinner! 

Suddenly, I realized what I was doing to this poor man.  The man that I loved!  I was embarrassed about it.  But I gave my talk, story included and got rave reviews afterwards.  Now I had to try and live up to what I had preached.

Sometimes I do well, and most of the time I don’t.  Just bein’ real.  And Anthony always reminds me, all these years later, “It’s just a grapefruit, Brooke.”  Any time I start picking at his faults (mostly quirks) he says it.  It helps me to realize when I’m picking on my kids also.  So what if they like their grapefruit different than I do.  It’s not wrong, just different. 

{And yet, totally wrong… cut in half WITHOUT sugar!?  BLECH!}

But I realize that I need to look past the way they eat their grapefruits.  Realize that if everyone ate theirs the same way I do the world would be a very boring place.  I didn’t marry me, I married Anthony. 

So today I say I’m sorry.  To my husband, to my kids, to anyone else whose grapefruit eating ways have been demeaned by me. 

I can truly say that I am glad you eat your grapefruits the way you do.  Peeled, cut, chopped, pureed (weird), grilled, in a cup from Costco, with sugar, without sugar, or otherwise. 

Happy GRAPEFRUITING!!

 

Something New

I have wanted to learn photography for as long as I can remember.  Cameras have always been an important thing throughout my life but it wasn’t until last year that I finally justified getting a DSLR. 

And there is no looking back now! 

I’m already plotting to get another one (a nicer one!)… probably later rather than sooner, unfortunately.  :(

But for now I am having a blast with the one I’ve got. 

Last week I said something on facebook about wanting Photoshop and lo and behold a friend ran me her old copy of CS2 right over.  She had upgraded and didn’t need it anymore.  And that, my friends, is the beauty of the internet! 

Little did I know that Photoshop has such a learning curve!  I’ve been watching tutorial after tutorial on YouTube, all the while confusing myself even more with all the information that’s trying to fill my little brain.  I only have so many nooks and crannies to fill in that thing.  ;)

And so… a week and half later, I have finally edited my first two photos! 

GO ME! 

So, without further ado…

Before

After

Before

After

I’m tired.  My poor husband has fallen asleep downstairs waiting for me to finish my edits so we can watch a movie.  (It’s been a couple of hours… ;))  Yes, I said a couple of hours… for TWO, count them… TWO photos to be edited. 

I’m pathetic.   

Both pics were taken the same day… within the same hour, within the same 10 minutes… probably more like five minutes.  No, she didn’t change shirts.  It really is the bright yellow color in the first picture.  But I really really LOVE the way the second edit turned out.  The vintage-y feeling of it makes me happy. 

And no, I don’t have a favorite child.  She was just the only one willing to go on a mini session with me. 

Isn’t she beautiful? 

So, now I need feedback.  Any photographers out there with some advice? 

Postpartum

For the past few days I’ve had a nagging feeling that I need to write about my experience with postpartum.  I don’t know why.  It’s not something that I ever meant to share with anyone, let alone family and strangers alike.  And yet, here I am.  Maybe there’s someone out there that needs to know they are not alone. 

That being said, I hope that by sharing my experiences I will not become the target of any harsh words or unkind remarks in regards to this very real situation.  It is a very real and sometimes very scary place to be within yourself. 

When I first found out that Anthony and I were expecting our first baby we were over the moon about it!  I admit that I was nervous.  I knew that starting a family with him meant there was no turning back.  And by that I mean this….

…There was a time in the beginning of our courtship and marriage that I was, admittedly, in love with someone else.  This someone else had gone on an LDS mission, I met Anthony a very short time later, ping ponged my feelings back and forth between the two of them and finally realized at some point that Anthony was the one that I was supposed to marry.  I know others in my family saw it very differently but this is the truth.  {More on that when I start on our Love Story}

Knowing that I was supposed to be with Anthony didn’t make it easy to write the Dear John letter to the missionary.  It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life and even as a married woman, I had an extremely hard time letting go of those feelings.  Any time that I was upset with Anthony for whatever reason, my mind would race back to the missionary.  Sometimes I would even create reasons to be upset with him.  There was actually a time that I thought about divorcing Anthony in the hopes that I would still have a chance with the other guy. 

I thought having a baby would fix all of this.  All the old feelings for the other guy would magically disappear and life would be perfect.  It was my point-of-no-return. 

It doesn’t quite work that way, as I found out. 

I was thrilled to be pregnant!  It was exciting to be starting a family of our own.  And Anthony couldn’t have been more ecstatic!  He had always wanted to be a daddy.  He had written about his desire to be a father in his journal during his mission. 

Postpartum depression wasn’t something that I ever thought about until my birthing class when they talked about it a little bit.  Now, I’m not one to feel invincible.  I am very much aware that something… ANYTHING could happen to me or someone that I love at any time.  And I often worry that something will happen.  I’m pretty much just one giant ball of worry at any given moment.  I’m always thinking of the worst case scenarios.  However, I never really worried too much about postpartum.  I didn’t consider myself at risk for depression… at least not then. 

Now, when I look back, I think that I was already at high risk because of the emotional conflictions I was having within myself at the time. 

So, baby was born, everything went beautifully, she was perfect, and we were elated!  I went through the normal ‘baby blues’ kind of thing, got the nursing thing down after a couple of weeks, and we were just happy. 

Except that I wasn’t. 

Just before having my beautiful baby girl was when Andrea Yates (sp?) had drowned her 5 beautiful children in their bathtub.  Do you remember this in the news?  I remember looking at my perfect daughter and realizing something… this child is completely, 100% dependent on me.  For everything!

I realized that I could do anything… and she would be powerless to stop me. 

It was an overwhelming feeling.  This feeling of being 100% responsible for another human being was just too much.  It’s not that I wanted to hurt her, I loved her!  I just knew I was in complete control.  

At first, I thought this was all just part of the baby blues.  But when it went on for more than just a couple of weeks I knew something was wrong.  I tried to hide it until I just couldn’t anymore. 

Finally, I told Anthony.  He immediately gave me the first of many priesthood blessings for this issue. 

When another week or so went by and things hadn’t changed much I decided to call my doctor.  The nurse told me she didn’t think I had postpartum after explaining things to her.  But I knew better.  I tried to believe her but I knew…

There came a point that when I was upset with Anthony in the early weeks of my daughter’s life that I would think, I should just scratch her to make him mad. 

Please don’t judge… I was in a place that wasn’t right for me.  I absolutely knew that wasn’t the right thing to do and yet, I just wanted to get through to him.  I knew that hurting her would get his attention… FAST!  Thankfully, I never followed through with the thought. 

{{Please know that I never, ever did anything to hurt my daughter.}}

He loved that little girl in a way that I didn’t know a father could love his daughter.  It was truly magical to see in those moments that my head was in the right place.  But in those moments that I wanted his attention all on me, it was all I could do not to throw a fit!

Things continued this way for several more weeks and I received a few more priesthood blessings from Anthony over that time.  Those blessings helped me to realize something… I was jealous!  Jealous… of a sweet, tiny little baby.  A baby that I brought into this world.  A baby that I love and adore!  I believe the blessings absolutely worked the way that they were supposed to and I was able to recover without the help of medications.  However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t think they are necessary.  

In one of the blessings I remember being told in one of the blessings to ‘not be idle’.  I talked to Anthony about it afterwards and we decided together that I needed a hobby.  Something to make me think happy thoughts.  Something that kept my mind on the positive… not dwelling on the negative and allowing idle thoughts to enter my mind.  So, I began scrapbooking… again.  I fell in love with it and Miss K is the only one that has a scrapbook.  Once I had two kids I was far too busy to scrapbook.  :)  (I was never going to be THAT mom!  But I totally am…)

Please, please, please if you are struggling with postpartum, PLEASE seek help from a professional.  I wholeheartedly believe that the nurse I spoke with was wrong in telling me I wasn’t suffering.  And yes, I was able to overcome it without medication but looking back, I think it really could have helped. 

There is absolutely NO SHAME in confiding in your doctor about any postpartum issues.  Ask questions, be aware, be HONEST! 

I’ve been lucky to have not had any postpartum issues with any of the other babies.  The chances of suffering it a second time are pretty high.  So please seek help if you have any signs at all.  Remember… NO SHAME! 

 

Orangesicles!

Miss K has wanted to make popsicles all summer long.  The other day she got her chance!  She found a recipe on Pinterest that she wanted to try.  It was extremely simple and ever so tasty!  Mmm! 

All you do is mix the following ingredients together, pour into your molds, freeze, and enjoy. 

• 6 oz thawed orange juice concentrate
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Source:  A Night Owl Blog

Peach Cobbler {and Tillamook Ice Cream}

Did you know that July is National Ice Cream Month?  It makes sense.  July… it’s HOT! 

But I didn’t know there was a whole month devoted to the tasty, frozen treat.  I first learned when I reviewed this book.  After all, it was Ronald Reagan that declared July as National Ice Cream Month.  What a great man!  ;)

And now you know… if you didn’t already.

Did you also know that Tillamook makes just about the best ice cream out there?  It’s totally true!  {Yes, they sent me coupons for free ice cream but only asked for honesty.  The opinions made in this post are 100% mine.}  I was first introduced to Tillamook when they asked me to help them out with a Back to School Healthy Eating Campaign (see my post here).  They sent me a bunch of coupons for Tillamook products.  Of course I had seen them before in the store but always passed on them for the less expensive brands. 

All the products were great but once I got a taste of their ice cream…… OH BOY!  I had a hard time going back to the store brand (which always seems to be on sale).  So I was elated when they contacted me again to do a review of the ice cream.  Our absolute favorite is the Marionberry Pie Ice Cream.  WOW!  Chocolate Peanut Butter is a close second.  The kids and my father-in-law really like the Banana Split flavor.  That one just didn’t do it for me but to each his own. 

And then there’s the classic…. Vanilla.  Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate that some folks prefer the old classic.  Miss K, C, and B are some of them.  But if I’m going to do plain ol’ plain… I prefer Vanilla Bean to regular Vanilla.

 

But there’s got to be something to go with it.  So Sunday night we decided to pull out the dutch oven and make a cobbler. 

We were all in heaven!!  It’s just what we needed after a dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches because mom (that would be me) forgot to put the roast in before church.  Whoops! 

This is the simplest recipe you’ll ever find.  Our good friend Kevin taught us the butter thing.  Before that we had always used a can of Sprite.  Never again, my friends.

• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1 large and one medium can of peaches
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
• Vanilla ice cream (Tillamook Vanilla Bean is best! ;))

Heat briquettes ahead of time.  You’ll need 24 total.

Spray your dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray.  Pour peaches into oven.  We poured all the juice from the large can but drained the medium can. 

Sprinkle cake mix evenly over the peaches. 

Melt butter and pour slowly and evenly over cake mix trying to cover the entire thing.  (It can be tricky.)

Place lid on oven.  Cook outside with 10 briquettes underneath and 14 on top.  That’s about the equivalent of a 350* oven.  Cook for about 40 minutes. 

Serve with ice cream and enjoy! 

Our Pathetic Garden

Gardening has never come naturally to me.  Growing up my mom and dad grew tomatoes.  Maybe they grew other things as well… I remember tomatoes.  I was never really part of the process.  Plants grew, it was brought inside (from either the garden or maybe the grocery store?), food was prepared, and I ate it.  That’s what I know. 

Anthony grew up with the master gardener himself… his dad.  He grew everything.  Anthony remembers rows and rows and rows of corn, lots of potatoes, tomatoes, squash, peppers and much more.  He helped to till the dirt many times over the years.  However, he doesn’t seem to have picked up the green thumb gene.  It must skip a generation.  It’s the only logical explanation. 

I personally have only heard stories up until now about this infamous garden my FIL grew each year.  My in laws moved from their home around the same time Anthony and I got married.  They had lived in rentals until a couple years ago.  This is the first year since then that they’ve had a garden to speak of.  I’m jealous!

Since moving into our home over 7 years ago we have tried to grow a garden 5 times.  Each time we got nothing!  Actually that’s not exactly true…

Garden #1 – The plants grew and actually produced but we weren’t diligent enough to keep up with the weeds.  Then we kind of forgot about the vegetables.  Yep, we’re awesome!

Garden #2 – Tried a new thing (supposedly weedless) … Square Foot Gardening.  We followed directions to a T!  Went to the nursery for transplants, planted, things were growing well for a couple of weeks then we had a late freeze which stunted the growth of the plants.  They all lived the duration of the respective plant’s life span and even got a few flowers but never produced anything.  The plants were too small. 

Garden #3 – SFG again… nothing grew.  All were transplants again but didn’t grow.

Garden #4 – (last year) – same as the year before.

Garden #5 – (this year) – Tried a traditional garden again.

Well, it kind of worked.  This time we did it all from seed.  We started them inside where they all took off like champs! 

But I knew better than to get my hopes up.  All we knew was that we were desperate for something… ANYTHING… to grow.  Which is why we grew radishes.  (Yuck!)

HECK!  We would have planted SPAM seeds if we thought they might grow!!!  Seriously.

Anyway, I was right in not expecting much of my seedlings.  Once I got them outside they all shriveled up and died.  All but one…

BIG MAX!  He’s so big I can’t even get him all in the picture.  {That’s a lie… I just don’t want to step back far enough for you to see that we never got our grass put in.  Shh!}

He is the winner!  A pumpkin plant.  The bees like him, too.  

So, we may not get anything to actually eat from our garden but by golly, we’ll definitely have something to carve this Halloween!

But I did plant seeds again.  This time I just planted directly into the ground.  Most of it didn’t grow.  They didn’t like my black thumb.  But we did get a few things. 

Corn…

(What is this?  Is it flowering already and we won’t get corn?  Anthony says it’s normal… I’m skeptical.)

Lettuce… (Italian Blend.  Way too strong tasting for us.)  See all that extra space around the lettuces?  That’s where other plants were planted but didn’t grow. 

Radishes… (no pics because they’ve already been harvested.  We got a total of 4!  I think I planted at least 15. :))

Another variety of pumpkin… (Little Max)

These ones are in the SFG box.  Growing slowly and slightly yellow.

Garden Beans… (no beans yet)

Oh, and look what Big Max is doing!  Hooray!

But look what else he’s doing… Boo!  :(  Maybe it’s normal?  {Please tell me it’s normal!}

**Things that were planted but never grew… tomatoes, carrots, peppers, spinach.  Cucumber and Cantaloupe were also planted and actually started growing but didn’t stand a chance against whatever pest decided to come and eat them while they were still too young and innocent to defend themselves.  Stupid bugs!**

Did you plant a garden this year? 

 

Training Wheels and Two Wheelers {and potty training}

B was a beast to potty train!  We started trying several months ago but he just wasn’t going for it. 

He absolutely could, but he absolutely would not!

It was extremely frustrating.  He would be wearing big boy underwear, wet in them without telling anyone, then go change his pants.  We were constantly walking in random puddles on the floor and his bedroom smelled like a urinal. 

It was bad!

So… back in diapers he went! 

And then one day a couple weeks ago he just decided, on his own terms, that he was going to be a big boy and start using the potty.  He had a few accidents here and there but nothing like before.  We promised him that if he didn’t have any accidents at all for a week we would buy him a new bike.  He has admired C’s since Christmas. 

Long story short… he did it!! 

And now he has a new bike.  It’s not the Lightning McQueen bike he preferred… we may have steered his little eyes in another direction when we saw the price difference.  ;)

And of course he needed a new helmet to go with it.  What a stud!  These pics were taken Sunday evening in the parking lot of the church.  On the way home he said, “I like my new bike.  I love it!  It’s my favorite toy.”  And he was so proud of himself when he fell and just brushed it off and hopped right back on the bike. 

One more important thing to note is that Mr. C is now riding a two wheeler!  He didn’t do the training wheels very long at all.  About a month and a half ago we were at the church riding bikes when one of his training wheels fell off.  He seemed to do just fine without it so Anthony took the other one off and that was that!  It was pretty incredible.  C never even needed anyone to hold the back of the seat. 

It’s amazing how quickly these little boys are growing.  I love them so much! 

The PERFECT Burger!

I don’t know about your neck of the woods but here in mine… IT HAS BEEN HOT! 

I’ve always said that I much prefer the cold to the heat.  I’m pretty much a bear in reverse.  Hibernation happens during the summer months for me.  Otherwise I turn into the Wicked Witch of the West. 

Seriously…

Don’t ask Anthony about the Lagoon incident.  It was reeeaaaally hot that day.  The end.

So anyway, the nights have been nice lately.  A little thunderstorm rolls in, cools things off a bit, don’t have to worry about watering the lawn or the pathetic garden.  And then it’s hot again. 

But I really didn’t mean for this post to be about the weather.  Let’s talk burgers!

Anthony has perfected the art of burger grilling.  He is the burger master!  The king!  It all started when we kept seeing pins on Pinterest with these delectable burgers.  We’d look at the recipe and think… hmmm, we should try that someday. 

And then one day we did.  There was no looking back from there. 

So, although I couldn’t even begin to tell you which one was ‘the one’ that we actually went for (they were all so similar), I can tell you that Anthony has got this down to a science.  No true measurements or anything just one of those “to taste” recipes, really.  And of course his secret ingredient… BACON! 

And so, for your viewing (and tasting) pleasure, I present to you…. THE PERFECT BURGER!!

And some Sun Chips but really, you could switch that out for whatever… totally optional. ;)

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Ground Beef (he likes to use 85/15)
• Mozzarella and/or Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
• Seasoning salt
• BBQ Sauce (Anthony swears it has to be Jack Daniels Original No. 7)
• Bacon, cooked 3/4 of the way and chopped
• Bacon Grease

Make sure the grill isn’t too hot.  These need to cook fairly slow so that the inside is done at the same time as the outside.  You don’t want these babies to burn!  Nothing worse than having the outside charcoaled and the inside still red. 

Cook bacon about 3/4 of the way.  Not to the point of crispy.  Chop into small pieces.  OH and save the GREASE!  Anthony swears by this!

For every pound of ground beef you’ll add approximately 1/4 to 1/2 lb. bacon, 4-8 oz. cheese (whichever kind you prefer), 1 or 2 Tablespoons Seasoning Salt, and 1/2 to 3/4 of a bottle of BBQ sauce.  Then get your hands in there and just mix it all up!  It’s a messy process. 

Form into patties.  One pound makes exactly 7 burgers for us.  This is just the right amount for my family.  The burgers are thick!  Form a deep well in the middle, this is important! 

Once burgers are on the grill pour bacon grease into the well. 

Flip when that side is done (after a few minutes) and continue cooking on the other side.  Obviously, right?  (You never know… there are people that sue McDonald’s for having hot coffee… don’t most people prefer it that way?  Just sayin’.)

These burgers are so tender they literally fall apart in your mouth!  I think it’s the slow cooking that does it.  OH MAN!  They are GOOOOOD! 

Seriously, go make them.  Enjoy!