Thursday, March 22, 2007

Welcoming Spring

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your comments on my herb garden!! I'm always happy to hear from fairy fans and especially fans of The Secret Garden! I've been reading it out loud to the girls and Benjamin. Mary has found the garden and met Colin...my favorite part of the book!

This afternoon we ran some errands and when leaving Costco, noticed a field filled with these pretty yellow flowers (AKA weeds!) I'm not sure what they are, but they remind me of Buttercups.


We've been trying to work more in our Nature Journals. Today we drew some spring pictures with our watercolor pencils.

Here is Emily's picture...what a pretty blue sky!


Grace wrote a little spring poem...

The Fox Hunter

Bunny hop away,
Chicks hide in your nest,
Fishies swim far away,
For the fox hunter is coming.



Benjamin drew a picture will lots of different spring time critters.


Phillip is making me post this picture....it's the robin from The Secret Garden. The poor thing!


Later in the evening, we had chicken salad sandwiches, boiled eggs, chips and lemonade for dinner.


For dessert I made a Lemon Pudding Cake. I used to make it all the time when we first were married. The top half is light and spongy and the bottom half is a creamy lemon pudding


Here is the recipe...

Lemon Pudding Cake

2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 350.F Beat eggs whites until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, beat yolks slightly. Beat in lemon juice and milk. Beat in remaining ingredients until smooth. Fold in beaten egg whites. Pour into ungreased 1 quart casserole dish. Place casserole dish in larger pan (I used a 9x13 pan). Pour 1 inch of hot water in pan. Bake 45 minutes or until golden brown. Remove casserole from pan. Eat warm.

We had Peeps too. It isn't spring without Peeps! :0)


Would this be a good time to mention that we haven't had shower or laundry lessons this week? We have had some lessons on selfishness and lying though! Oh and burping really loud at the dinner table. All I can say is "thank goodness the weekend is here!"

33 comments:

Suzy said...

your such a good mother...I love the things that you do with your kids....so rewarding and these are the things that they will remember.

Portrait of Peter said...

You share in the fantasy of childhood and the joy in so doing is in the faces of the children too.

All the photo's including the poem are really wonderful too.

Blessings to you all as the weekend commences.

Terri | Sugar Free Glow said...

Lemon pudding...YUM! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Blessings~

Lisa said...

Delicious post, Kelli! Enjoy your weekend! *Smile*

Lila Rostenberg said...

Thanks for a lovely post about Spring!
The recipe sounds wonderful and looks good too!
I enjoy seeing the spring-time journals...just LOVE that robin!!!

Paula said...

Please let your kiddos know that I think their pictures are just wonderful!

BTW, dealing with those character traits will bring many more rewards than the laundry and bath lessons. :)

Have a blessed weekend.

Susan P. said...

Kelli, I seriously want to come and live at your house! You make every day so special for your family! Please, pretty please;)I wouldn't even mind the burping! LOL

Tracy said...

Thank you for the recipe! It sounds delicious, and we will try it this evening!
Oh, and the paintings are beautiful. The poem, too.

dot said...

You may have future artists in the family!

The lemon cake looks so good! Thanks for the recipe.

Peeps are my favorite!

Karen said...

Very nice pictures, Kelli. I especially love the poem. I'm with Susan, can I come, too????
Aaahhhh, life lessons, fun, huh.

Ash said...

Oh that looks yummy. I will have to try that recipe. I love that poem and the pictures, such talent!

Amber said...

We have been doing a lot of Spring time crafts for school too! The lemon pudding looks yummy!!

Lori said...

I liked all of your spring pictures and drawings your kids made.

Thanks for sharing your recipe. I will have to copy that down and try it. You supper looks so yummy!

Candy said...

Kelli, I LOVE your tablecloth in the second last picture and I love your vase in the first pic. All very beautiful pictures!!! :)
Im heading out of town soon...just wanted to wish ya a lovely weekend!
Hugs,
Candy

Sharon said...

Thanks for posting your children's pictures. I enjoyed looking at them!

Also, the recipe sounds yummy!

Lena said...

This is a wonderful post Kelli. I loved the poem and the children's artwork.
The flowers in that pretty pitcher look so cheerful.
I just happen to have a few lemons left from a bag I bought at the store the other day. Just enough to make your lemon pudding cake!
Thanks for the recipe!

Lucy said...

Mmm, that pud looks good.

What are peeps? Those little bird things on the dessert dishes?

Marci said...

Your children did a great job.

You might look up wild mustard. That is what your flower looks like to me. =)

Julieann said...

I agree with what was said above--You are such a good mother:)

I tell my kids that honesty is one of the most important things to me---I tell them, they have to always tell me the truth--they may get in trouble--but it won't even compare to what will happen if I catch them in a lie---so far--Tony has Lied once and has learned telling the truth is far better.

I never thought of serving a boiled egg with dinner--I will boil eggs and crumble them on the salad---I will have to try that Kelli.

Can you believe I have never read The Secret Garden--isn't there a movie too?

Anyway, have a wonderful Friday--Yay!!!! It is Friday:) Oh--Kelli, about your homeschooling, do you do it on weekends too, do you take off for summer--I am just curious---I homeschooled a little in the past--and was just curious. Also, yesterday, the firemen came with there firetruck to the school and the children learned all about the truck--do you do things like that? Take them to the firehouse and such--Homeschooling can be so intimidating to me--I always think I am going to forget something--Anyway, I give you so much credit--you are doing an excellent job as a Mother :::clapping:::

Julieann:)

Jenn said...

awww...what a cute welcome Spring dinner.

Jenn

Carole Burant said...

Such budding artists your children are:-) I haven't read the Secret Garden in years...I should go to the library and see if it's available there. The Lemon Pudding Cake looks soooo good, thank you for sharing the recipe:-) As for those lessons you DID learn this week....typical, very typical! lol This mama remembers those kind of lessons very well! hehe xoxo

Tracy said...

Kelli,
Thanks again for the recipe. We DID make it tonight and everyone loved it!

Christie Belle said...

I love reading about all the sweet things you do with your family. You have such neat ideas. The dessert looks yummy! I just sent Jason 2 boxes of Peeps for part of his Easter care package. You're right, it's not spring time without Peeps. I love your kids pictures, so cute.
Enjoy the weekend,
Christie

Melissa said...

The pictures are great and I love Grace's poem. Purple peeps look so yummy. I'll have plenty at Easter :D

Jennifer in MS said...

Such a sweet post! I loved the kids artwork and the food looks delicious! We love lemon desserts so I'll have to give this a try!

Have a great weekend!

CONNIE W said...

Kelli, I enjoyed the artwork so much. I save almost all of my grandkids' artwork because it's so very special to me. The dessert sounds so good. I will be trying out the recipe.

Amy O'Quinn said...

Oh...I love all this! Nature Journals are something I plan for us to do each year, and then we fall so short. But thanks for sharing yours. Also, I love the little eggs in the cups! You make even the little things special!
BTW, the photo on my latest post isn't my living room, but it's definitely my style! I found that particular photo on All Posters, and thought it was beautiful...definitely gives me some ideas! LOL
I hope you have a wonderful weekend, dear friend!
Hugs,
Amy

Susie said...

I love your blog! How I wish when I homeschooled, they had blogs! This is way of posting all your memories for all time! Your children can go back when they get older, and look at this! How wonderful! You're doing a wonderful job! Thanks for sharing!

Trella said...

I love the children's nature journals and the food looks yummy!

Blessings,
Trella

Kimberly said...

Ok, because I am such a fan of TSG myself, I'm sending you the link to the curriculum unit I wrote a few years ago for the book. http://www.ckcolorado.org/lessons/5thgrade.asp
Look under "The Secret Garden" for an entire unit on the book. It was written for use with the abridged version we had as a class, but you may be able to use most of the activities (if interested) except the vocabulary.
I had so much fun writing this unit. (You can also find my units on Little Women, Sherlock Holmes, Frederick Douglass & more!) They were for the Core Knowledge Summer Writing Institute. Actually, there are a ton of well-written units that could be adapted for homeschooling on the ckcolorado.org site. Just so you know!
Have fun!

Kimberly said...

Note to Julieann--There are several versions of the movie. I usually showed the Hallmark version in class to my students. It was pretty true to the book. For some reason it is rated PG, but I couldn't tell you why. The Warner Brothers version is rated G. I didn't show that one because it didn't seem as true to the book, plus it had a scene of Mary in the bathtub that would have sent my class over the edge. (It should have been PG, probably for that scene. Plus, the "magic" scene was a bit freeky.)

Kelli said...

Hi Julieann! I think you would love the book and yes there is a movie. I will only watch the Hallmark version because like Kimberly said, in the Warner Brother's version there is this weird magic scene that is NOT in the book.

As far as homeschooling goes, we have a flexible schedule and tend to take time off in May and June. We get lots of work done in July and August because it's too hot to go outside! LOL We don't do any work on the weekends. I highly recommend the book "A Charlotte Mason Companion" by Karen Andreola. We use the Sonlight curriculum along with various other things. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions!

Kimberly, thank you for the link to the unit studies! I can't wait to take a look at them!!

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed seeing the "masterpieces"...and the recipe for the pudding cake! Yummmmmmmy!