Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter cuties

A lovely gluten free easter. I made hot cross buns that were pretty good, we had brunch at grandma sonia's house, the kids wore their new outfits, and we laughed loved and enjoyed each other's company.... oh and ate too much chocolate.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Update and a great Canadian hs store

Who has time for blogging when you are busy laying in the sun reading books and drinking lemonade all day?

(ok, really that's just a dream, but my birthday is coming up next month if anyone would like to contribute to the mommy sanity vacation fund).

Actually, I've been doing the same old. Baking gluten free: I've tried some bagels that tasted good and looked kinda scary, lots more bread that tasted ok and looked interesting, some more pizza shells, pita bread, muffins and waaay more cookies than one should bake in a month, and just recently I embarked on trying to bake cakes and cupcakes. That was a big failure. They came out looking like tart shells and a pie shell. hmmm... I think I'm doing something wrong here.

Through a bit of research I determined that I might have too much leavening (baking powder or yeast) since calgary is at a higher altitude than most places, and I live on one of the higher places in the city. Sadly I have run out of vanilla and oil, so I"ll have to wait until payday to refresh my baking supplies and try more recipes.

School work is going on as usual, with lots of hillarious interruptions by the twinadoes (as my blogging friend Angela likes to call hers). We finished a study on the seashore, and are moving back into ancienty history, talking about the sumerians, the cannanites and the babylonians, with some assyrians tossed in because I bought a cool book about assyrian soldiers for Z.

I just returned home from a homeschooling conference last weekend and bought a whole bunch of things as usual. One of the best was a copy of The ABCs of Christian Culture Level A which is a history program that is very well laid out with timeline cards, maps and ideas for projects and writing assignments. All of this was only $5 (from the used curriculum table), and I was delighted because it normally costs $65 US plus shipping and duties.

For you Canadians, there was a great vendor there from Ontario that sells catholic homeschooling supplies called Blue Mantle Education. They are such a nice couple, and have quiet a selection. Their website has been overhauled and it looks great. In addition to Seton, they are also carrying the Mother of Divine Grace Lesson plans and resources, RC History, Hillside Education (including Catholic Mosaic which I LOVE and Lingua Mater which is supposed to be really good. )

ok, I'm off to mark a math test. wish me luck :-)