Friday, May 18, 2012

Tot school

      I'm been trying to do a lot with my little tot lately! I can't wait until he's closer to two to really start our 'tot school'.  He's been such a quick learner though - everything I tell him he picks up so quickly!  We worked a lot this week on his hand/eye coordination....picking up little things and putting them away! He loves this and will do it over and over again.

We pulled the sensory bin out again.  The balls were little again, we rehydrated it and ta-da...sensory bin back in action!  Little man did well with using spoons and transferring the balls.
He builds the greatest trains and will play for hours with them! I don't remember my other boys being this good at 15 months... Here he is at our oldest's first T-ball game.  I love how he lays next to them now and just watches them go (kinda hard on the grass)!

Putting away crayons at the game with those little pinchers again.

Having a wonderful time outside with his brothers playing playdoh!

...and lastly reading about dinosaurs with his brother :)



My 4 year old finished preschool last week, so I've just been doing little things here and there for him.  This week I made him a file folder game about letter sounds.
He really loved it and did well.  I think I only had to help him one time!  I didn't even teach him sounds yet...he's just picking them up on his own! 

All finished!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Our luna moth

My oldest son found a caterpillar last fall and put it in his bug jar.  Soon afterwards it made a chrysalis and was left on our toy room window for many months.  Randomly we would remember it was there and wonder if/when it was going to emerge. 

A few weeks ago, my husband was up late.  The next morning he told me that he heard a noise in the toy room and thinks a mouse got stuck in one of our toys....great.  So the whole day, my boys and I are looking for this mouse and a little hesitant to play with certain toys.  The mouse never emerged.  That evening he heard the noise again.  He snuck closer and closer, trying to figure out what it was, and realized that it was our bug jar! 

In the morning, my oldest son and I were very excited ...


after researching, we found out it was a luna moth!
*(ps...yesterday I learned that moths rest with their wings opened and butterflies rest with their wings folded up - the picture confirms it! Amazing what we learn from children's books!)


She was so beautiful!



Thank you God for these simple joys and Your wonderful creations.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Making vanilla

Tonight I finally made vanilla!  I've been wanting to for months!  Here are my ingredients:
Looks pretty easy, huh?!  A big bottle of vodka - cheap brand is just fine, and some vanilla beans!  I bought my beans at Olive Nation.  I waited for a sale...it was 10% off beans and free shipping.  I paid $7.00 for 7 beans.  I will post if another sale happens.

Cut your beans lengthwise...

and add them to the vodka! 

I have heard that it needs to be in a dark container.  I don't have one, so I wrapped the bottle in two pieces of dark construction paper, put the date on it, and put it on a high shelf up in a dark cupboard. 

They say it takes about 3 months and ...voila!!! Vanilla!!  A little less time for weaker strength, a little longer for stronger strength.

For anyone who wonders why I'm making vanilla, it is because of the additive caramel color.  I'm trying to stay away from that on my ingredient list.  There are two types of caramel color.  One is carcinogenic and one is not (depending on the way it is made).  The problem is, you can never tell which is which from any ingredient list :(  So out with caramel color in the casa de Caggeso.

Monday, May 7, 2012

How to Make Yogurt

I was making my weekly yogurt yesterday and was thinking about all of the people (family and friends) that have expressed interest at learning how to make it.  I am a visual learner.  If I can't watch someone do something, then I need step by step pictures to learn.  I took many pictures throughout the process....so here goes!

This is my starting setup.  You just pour one gallon of milk in a pot, turn it on high and put in your candy thermometer (I got mine at Giant Eagle for $4-$5).  I fill a larger covered pot about 3/4 full of water and start to boil it. 

You boil your milk for only about 5-10 minutes - until it reaches 170 -180 degrees F.  I don't even stir it once. (You may have to depending on your pot) Once it reaches that temp, turn off your heat and let it start cooling.  Making yogurt takes me about an hour and 45 minutes of that is letting the milk cool!!! Very easy.

While it's cooling, I get my ingredients together that I'm going to add.  I add 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup honey, about 2-3 T of vanilla (I'm soon going to make my own and I'll post that when it happens), and your starter.  You can add the first three anytime while cooling.  You must wait until it cools all the way down before you add your starter or the high temp will kill the bacteria.  For a starter, you can just buy any cup of yogurt from the store (I usually buy some organic one if I need one from the store) or just a cup of your previous yogurt (as I have pictured).  If I had nonfat milk I would also add about 1/3 cup of that - it makes a smoother consistency.  Some of my more natural friends don't add anything but the starter and have plain yogurt.  My other Amish neighbors use more sugar and stir in raspberry preserves they have canned and it tastes just like the store yogurt.  You can play with it to match your tastes :)

The milk needs to cool to between 125 - 135 degrees F.  As I said, that usually takes about 45 minutes for me.  Just keep peeking back every so often to check it while you go about doing other things.



Once my big pot of water is at a rolling boil, I take 5 quart jars and put them in the sink.  Then I fill them to half full and put lids on to steralize them a little (though since they've been recently washed, I sometimes skip this step).

Then I pour the rest of the water into a cooler.  My cooler is up high so little fingers don't get in the hot water.  If I make yogurt after everyone is sleeping, then it goes on the floor.

You want the temp of the water in the cooler to be 125-135 degrees F also (same as the milk you're cooling).  It will be much hotter when you put in, so I fill up the big pot with cold water and keep dumping that in little by little until the temp has come down. Then I put the lid on to keep that temp until I ready to put the jars in.



Water in cooler at right temp.


Milk in pot at right temp.

Same thermometer is used, I just swap it from one pot to the other and back!


I stir in my starter and wisk it up very well.  Then I empty my jars of the hot sterilizing water down the sink, and pour my milk in with a funnel (purchased at dollar store).

 The jars of milk at about 130 degrees are put into the cooler of water at about 130 degrees to let the bacteria work.   I've found that if I keep the lids off during this time, it works better.

 The lid is put on and I let it sit for 8 hours.  Then I take them out and put the lids on and put them in the fridge!  All done!  4 1/2 - 5 quarts of yummy homemade yogurt for just a few dollars! We always add strawberries or some other fruit to it and love it! 

* I use raw milk, but the first time I learned, we used store milk and it worked perfectly the same. 

As I said, you can tweak it to your tastes and consistency.  There are other methods besides the cooler method, but this is the one I learned with and it works for me :) 

All of this typing made me hungry for yogurt...mmmm....I'm going to have some!  Goodbye for now and I hope you become homemade yogurt fans in your households!





Friday, May 4, 2012

Our first sensory bin


We finally made our first sensory bin!!  The boys LOVED it and played with it for hours (aaahhhhh...- so nice when that happens!). 
I purchased these water beads from Amazon.  They start out so tiny, as you can see.  The boys loved seeing them grow in front of their eyes. 

We added a few baby spoons and measuring cups...voila! A sensory bin!


Even my hand couldn't resist squishing around in there :)

My first post!

Hello! Welcome to my blog! 

My name is Lauren and I'm a homeschooling mama to 3 beautiful and busy boys - 6, 4 and 1 !

Why am I starting this blog? 
     
       First, mainly to share ideas with other moms out there.  I've gotten so much from reading other women's blogs - crafts, recipes and mainly homeschooling ideas!! I wanted to be able to share back and connect with others. 
       Secondly, for my wonderful husband and family members to be able to watch their little ones grow and see what they've been up to!

So, we're off!  We'll see where this new venture takes us... :)