Dessert for Breakfast!

White flour.
White sugar.
Icing sugar.
Butter.
Heavy Cream.

Orange Cranberry Scones.


Like I said...dessert!

They are
Y.U.M.M.Y.

Jennifer Jo and I must have
similar taste buds.
I always enjoy her recipes.
And this, again,
was no exception.


I'm sending you to Jennifer Jo's
place for the recipe.
Click here to get there ~
Enjoy!

Occasionally.
*Wink*

Ocean Food Chains

There were so many ideas I didn't get a chance to share this year, so travel "back in time"with me to about 2 months ago, when we were studying ocean animals and food chains...I started doing these little ocean food chains back when I was a student teacher! They are so stinkin' fun to make, and they are such a fun visual to reinforce the concept!  Each child drew a giant shark, cut out a circle for the belly {well, I cut the circles--this was pretty hard for most of them}, then drew a fish, and cut out a circle belly, then added some plankton inside the fish!  Each piece was then taped to a piece of curling ribbon--but I have used yarn and string before too!  Teacher friends...this idea could be used with any food chain--you wouldn't have to wait until your ocean animals unit!

You've Been Framed!

This is a little preview of the poster board frames I will be using this year to "frame" my students' work for our hallway display!  It is going to take some serious time to design a fun and unique frame for each first grade friend, then cut it, paint it, and laminate, but I can see the finished wall in my head...and I think that all the funky frames together will make one precious work display!  I'll post pictures of all the frames on the wall as soon as they are ready!  I need some help, though!  What should the title above the display say?  I was thinking "You've Been Framed!"  But, not entirely loving it!  I would love to hear your ideas!

24/7

Twitter.
Facebook.
Email.
Gmail.
Blogs.
Internet.

Computers.
Cell Phones.
Blackberries.
Ipods.


Always available.
Always on call.

24/7.

No end.
No break.
No rest.
No peace.


B.U.T.

We are commanded to
*be still and know*...
How is this possible,
unless we are intentional about the time
spent in front of these screens?

Intentional about time spent
at HIS feet?

Some of my online friends have
discontinued blogging.
Some have burned out.
Others have decided it's too
costly for a variety of reasons.

I understand.

I don't Tweet.
I just deactivated my Facebook.
I don't have a Blackberry
or an Ipod.

We do have a cell ~
it is usually turned off. :)

I do have Email and Gmail.
I do have a blog ~
(if you are here...you are aware of that)!

But, I don't want any of these things
to control me.
I want to be in control of them.

By God's Grace.

HE is able.
I look to HIM for the strength
to keep things in balance.

Do I do it perfectly?
No.

Am I seeking to follow HIM in it all?
Yes.


How do you manage your online life?
What safeguards do you have in place
so it doesn't overtake you?
It would be a blessing to read
how you are handling it.
I'm sure many will be encouraged.

Me included.

May the LORD help us all to
live for HIS glory in everything.
Might we be pleasing to HIM
in all that we do.

By HIS Grace.

Many Blessings,
Camille



*Update ~
My husband sent me this link...
good food for thought!

Grain Free?

This is something new to me.
I never thought I would have to
drop the grains!
I actually didn't think it was overly
*do-able*.
But, it is!

Rather than re-invent the wheel,
so to speak,
I will just send you on over to
Keeper of the Home.

Click Here to get to her
most recent post on building
a grain free pantry.
It's an excellent starting point.


Just one thing I would like to clarify ~
We are not all *grain-free* around here.
Our child with Crohn's
is the only one who MUST
keep to this strict diet.

Although, I must admit,
I feel better when I follow
this way of eating.
I am thankful that I can serve *regular*
bread to the rest of the family.
God's mercies are new every morning!

Many blessings,
Camille

Challenge 12 - Winners and Top 3

Hi everyone

Well another week, another dollar lol, and without further adieu - here is the winner of the Heart Song Designs 3 Digi's of your choice:-

Using Random.Org, the winner was No 14 which is 

Tiffany Did

Congrats Tiffany, please contact Donna at cardsformen@donnasden.co.uk with your choices from Heart Song Designs :)

Our top 3 this week are, in no particular order:-

22 - Beth

33 - Lisav

24 - Theresa

Well done ladies, please grab the logo from the blog and add it to yours :)

Yogurt Anyone?

Ease of operation.

I'm trying to do things in
a straightforward and streamlined way.

Saves the sanity.

Yogurt is a necessary part of the
healing process for
Crohn's Disease
according to the book
"Breaking the Vicious Cycle".

I never thought I would make yogurt.
It was not on my radar.
Not, that is, until this happened.

I am committed to doing all I can
to facilitate healing for our child.

Part of that is making yogurt.

In an effort to keep things simple,
I bought a yogurt maker.
I try to stay away from plastic as much as
possible, so I bought the glass jar that fits the yogurt maker.
I also buy the starters 12 boxes at a time.

The method is simple.

You heat the required amount of milk (1 litre or 2)
in a pot to simmering.
It should be 180 degrees ~ use a thermometer.

Then plunge the pot into a sink of cold water.

Stir while the milk cools ~
it should be lower than 100 degrees.

Mix about 1/2 cup of milk into the starter.
(Use 5 grams of starter for 1 litre
and 10 grams of starter for 2 litres)
Whisk it until dissolved.
Add the remaining milk and stir well.
Pour into your yogurt maker liner.

Seal.

Lower into the yogurt maker.
Make sure you put water in the yogurt maker up
to the lower line for a 1 litre batch and the upper
line for a 2 litre batch.

Put the lid of the yogurt maker on.
Plug it in.

Let it sit on your counter
fermenting for at least 24 hours,
but no longer than 32 hours.
(This longer incubation time
is to produce a lactose-free yogurt ~
Important for the *SCD).
If you do not require a lactose-free product,
your incubation time will be about 12 hours.

Once the time is up,
remove the yogurt batch
from the yogurt maker and
set gently in the fridge for 8 hours to cool.

To serve, spoon some yogurt into a bowl,
drizzle with a little honey
and add berries to taste.

You will have probiotics in a bowl ~
what a fabulous way to incorporate them into the diet! :)

Do you make yogurt?
Would you like to begin?
I'd enjoy hearing your yogurt stories.

Many blessings,
Camille

*SCD ~ Specific Carbohydrate Diet
as explained in "Breaking the Vicious Cycle"

Challenge 13 - Stars

Hi everyone

Goodness where are the weeks going!!! Its that time again for another Cards for Men Challenge, and this week we are going with "Stars" and our fabulous sponsor this week is going to be The Stamping Boutique

I'm Tracey Malnofski, the artist and owner of The Stamping Boutique. My team and I are very happy to sponsor Cards for Men. My store has been open since September 2009.I am currently a stamp artist for UnityStampCo. and I've worked for InStyleStamps, Squigglefly, and TheDigiShack in the past. I'm a professional artist and an active member of the Artist' Guild in my community. I have quite a busy household with a husband, 3 teenagers, 5 mini-dachshunds and an Appaloosa mare. It's noisy, but I love them all. I'm truly blessed.

"The Stamping Boutique" is dedicated to quality products and original artwork. We not only provide wonderful digital images in our store, but also several lines of red rubber images. Our designers are chosen for their character and personality,as well as, their beautiful designs. We work hard to give you our very best. Thank you so much for having us as your sponsor this week.

The prize will be five digi's of your choice!!! fabulous

We were given some gorgeous images to work with this week, and here is what the Design Team came up with:-

Wenche:

Alex

Shirley

Sarah

Jen

Tussemaja

Alison

Patricia

Donna

Mandy

Aren't they gorgeous!!? What're you all waiting for then? Here's the rules:

1. Your card must be for a man/boy

2. It must follow the theme/sketch set

3. It must be a new card for our challenge.

The challenge will close at 12 Midnight (BST) on 3rd July 2011. Leave your name and a direct link to your project (not just your blog) in the link tool below. If the link tool is not there for some reason, then please leave details in the comments and we'll add you in before we do the draw.

Fixing Our Eyes

Fixing our eyes.

Not on ourselves.
Not on others.
Not on our Faith.
Not on our Faithfulness.

On the LORD.

HE alone is worthy.
HE alone is able.
HE alone is perfect.


We have nothing to fear.
Nothing to doubt.
Nothing to fret about.

How quickly our eyes lose focus.
How quickly our hearts grow cold.
How quickly we grow weary.

Yet, HE never loses HIS grip.

It is not about our hold on HIM.
It is all about HIS hold on us!
HE is always Faithful.
Even though we fail.

We must continually
remind ourselves to
look to HIM.
We must continually
fill our minds and hearts
with HIM.


We often respond like Peter did.
We only see the troubles.
The waves.
The storms of life.

But, the LORD is IN the storm.
HE has us in HIS perfect care.
We have nothing to fear
when HE is in control.

Look to HIM and live!

"Looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith;
Who for the joy that
was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God."
~ Hebrews 12:2 ~

Many Blessings to you each one!
In HIS Love,
Camille

Cats, Cupcakes, and Story Retelling!

I just posted these little story retelling pieces to my TpT store if you are interested!  I hope you'll check it out!  I thought I'd see how these go before posting the ones I have made for the other books!   My kids really enjoyed these when we did our Laura Numeroff author study.  I printed my story pieces on cardstock, laminated them, then attached magnets to the back--and the kids used them to retell the story on my magnetic white board!  I also kept them in my "Story Retelling" station choice basket along with the book for the kids to do as a choice for buddy reading or independent reading!  

I am working really hard on my first author study/unit:  Pigeon Perfect...{Mo Willems!!!!}  It is looking super cute, but it is taking me *for-ev-er* to finish!  I don't know how some of my favorite teachers out there create these 80 page units--after working on this one, I now know just how much work goes into putting them together!!!  :)

You Might be Mothering Teenage Boys if...

Your *big* cooking pot (8Qt) from your newlywed days
is only just the right size to reheat food
or make lunch in.

You have invested in *industrial* sized
cooking equipment so you *might* have leftovers.

You routinely multiply recipes
four or five times.

Your life seems to revolve around food!

You buy three 5 pound blocks of
cheese and hope they last the month.

Your fridge has over T.H.I.R.T.E.E.N. dozen eggs in it...
and you do not have any chickens in the back yard!

The Costco cashiers think you are buying
for a store.

You dedicate a laundry hamper to socks ONLY!


You fill your washing machine with socks
because you refuse to wash them with anything else.
S.T.E.R.I.L.I.Z.E. is the setting of choice.


Wrestling matches routinely take
place in the living room and kitchen...
with Dad! :)

A.N.D.

You are taken care of.
You are watched out for.
You are loved and cherished.
You have the opportunity to
be used to shape boys into men...
with God's equipping.

What an incredible gift to be mothering
this next generation of men!

May God give grace and patience day by day.
HE alone is able!

If any of you, dear friends,
are in this same boat ~
Be encouraged...it is a noble calling.
The LORD will give all that
is needed as we seek HIM for the wisdom
to do the task well ~

For HIS glory!

What a blessing that HE never
leaves us to ourselves.
What a blessing that HE is
Faithful even when we are not!
Let's keep our eyes fixed on HIM.

Many blessings,
Camille

Come into my Ginormous Closet. It's {finally} organized!

This was my major project before school let out for summer.  I am so proud of it.  It's truly glorious.  :)  Just kidding--I wouldn't say glorious, but I feel so much better when things are organized, and my massive closet of teaching essentials has been cleaned out, labeled, leveled, sorted, stacked, etc.  The picture above shows my two shelves of materials and leveled books that I use for guided reading groups!  Having these buckets organized like this is going to make finding my books and returning them each week SO much easier!


This is another huge shelf in my closet--this has math manipulatives, my science "stuff" box, station basket games, teacher's editions, extra supplies, and holiday unit boxes.  It has never looked this pretty.  I hope I can keep it this way!

Here is another huge set of shelves--this is what you see when you first walk into the closet.  I know it looks pretty full, but again, it has never looked this organized before!  {Woot!}  The tall white shelf on the left side is my paper organizer.  These shelves hold craft supplies, games, teacher books, my HUGE tub of Harcourt resource folders (I'll have to post all about that later!), and unit binders.  

I even use the walls in my closet for storage space!  I use this pocket chart to hold my "printable" math games and practice pages I use often in math tubs.  I make sure I have many extra copies on hand, in case a math tub runs out of a game, or for those times I need a quick (but educational) time filler! Right next door to this pocket chart, I have one more hanging--and it holds all of my copies for literacy stations!  I have loved having these.  I'm not a huge filing cabinet fan--so these charts have been perfect, and they are easy for me to see everything at a glance! 

Another thing I should mention about my "gi-normous" closet is that it is also the place where my students hang their backpacks and coats.  The picture below was obviously taken after school was out, because if there had been children there, you would see backpacks all over the floor! I usually trip over a backpack or coat or random toy a few times a week on my way to grab something from my shelves!  Good times.  

So, that's the end of my little tour of organization!  How do you keep your piles of teaching stuff organized?  

Challenge 11 - Winners and Top 3

We had a wonderful turnout for our 'no paper' challenge.  I used Random.org to choose the winners and they were:

1st Prize (3 digis) - 45 - Sue C

2nd Prize (2 digis) - 24 - Simone

3rd Prize (1 digi) - 58 - Stamp Fairy

Congratulations girls.  Please have a look at KennyK and let me have your choices.  Email on cardsformen@donnasden.co.uk

The top 3 this week were

Carole of Brum

Sazzlecraft

Craftymathchick

Well done girls, grab the top 3 badge from or sidebar and add it to your own.

Above and Below

On Auntie Mary's recent visit,
we had the opportunity to have her
stay with us in our home for a few days.
All to ourselves!

We planned a day trip to Seattle
to do some of the *touristy*
things we had not done before as a family.
Auntie Mary had never travelled that far
South into the USA.
It was a new experience for us all.

As we approached the city
we had a view of the Space Needle ~
the icon of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair.

Our first stop was not this landmark,
but rather, the underground.

Apparently, the city was originally built on
unstable ground and after a devastating fire,
was rebuilt using retaining walls and pilings
driven deep into the mud to find solid ground.

While the rebuilding took place,
life continued on in the city.
Although they knew that the ground floor
of the new buildings would eventually be covered up,
they conducted business as usual.

Once all the retaining walls were in place
the second storey became ground level,
and the first storey went underground.

In order to light the passageways below,
*skylights* were installed.

This is the view from underneath the sidewalk
where the glass is embedded in the cement.
Unfortunately, I don't have a photo
of this from above.

Every so often, we would emerge
at street level and then descend
another flight of stairs to get to
the next portion of the underground.

Toward the end of our tour,
we were shown this *water pipe* ~
It was hewn out of wood!
Imagine the troubles that would cause!

The second purpose of our trip
was to go up the Space Needle.

The observation level is over 500 feet above the city
and provides a spectacular 360 degree view.
We all enjoyed it very much!

Calvin was shooting helicopters and airplanes ~
Of course! :)

The required *group shot* was taken ~
L to R: Calvin, Austin, Fraser, Auntie Mary,
Emma, Camille and Howie.

The view from above the city.

A glorious sunset on the long drive home.

We said our goodbyes to Auntie Mary
the following afternoon at the airport.
We all miss her very much!
But, we are so thankful for
the special times we were able to share together.
God is so gracious with us, isn't HE?

I am taking a little blogging break until next week.
If any of you should choose to leave a comment
(I do *love* to hear from you!) ~
I will plan to publish them when I am back
*in the loop*.

Many blessings to you each one!
In HIS Love,
Camille