Minecraft Cake

The other day Corin watched a You Tube video on making a Minecraft cake. For those who may not know, Minecraft is this video game as well as an online computer game that is very popular where you build and create. Much like virtual Lego blocks in my opinion!

Well she asked if I would print off recipes for chocolate cake, vanilla cookies and frosting, no problem get right on that! The photo may not be a pretty picture ( her one big mistake was not letting the cake cool  off  enough so her frosting melted everywhere!) but I am really proud of her as she  made all 3 recipes with absolutely no help from me!.

This is her first kitchen accomplishment without requiring a  little aide from an adult to clarify an ingredient, or measurement for her ( the ones that are not marked on our measuring cup.) Not only did she make it all on her own, it was pretty darn tasty! Not bad for 12 years old!

Now, if I can just get her to sit down long enough to watch the cake decorating DVD I got her............. LOL.

Day 2: A Bit of a Fall Clean-up Day

 

 

Day 2 was a pretty busy day as it is fall, hubby was home and it was the start of a fall clean up day. Corin and Shae split the front yard mowing between them. Corin also did dishes and helped daddy make some sense of a neglected shed! Shae also did vacuuming and filling our water jugs as we get it in a large 5 gallon jug and then take that and fill 1 gallon jugs.

 

They both spent an hour reading their library books.

 

They both did a math worksheet......... I actually find this a tad humorous as I got new computer games this year. I tried out the one I installed called Baggin the Dragon and found it to be super fun but Corin told me "You know I like worksheets! I don't want a game!"  Shrugs shoulders....Go Figure! What is a mother to do but go print off some math worksheets then?

 

We also held our Family Financial Meeting which will be a regular Wednesday thing. Here we discuss how much cash we have available, what bills will be due out of that, ask questions related to income and expenses and keep  a book with these financial entries.

 

It may not sound like much but us all working together for fall clean up activities actually took up a large chunk of the day. Me and hubby were working on  things as well like getting all the scrap metal together and taken in for cash, dusting chickens (you dust for parasites) and other odd and ends.

 

It was a good and productive day with perfect weather for such activities!

 

My they are growing up so fast!

Positive Partnering

Part of our journey here is having a partnership connection with our children, where they have a voice and their needs not only are allowed to be heard,  but something done about it as well! Children are people too,  with dreams, goals, desires and needs, just as adults do. In our journey through life in our home, we recognize this as a primal need and try to help them fulfill these wants and needs. Sometimes it may take a little while to recognize that members of the family may be getting ignored and an awakening with awareness brings it to light.

For the last couple months, it has been easy for me to see every single second of the day as amazing, miraculous moments throughout the whole day. I have a blazing spark  within,  huge smile on my face, oozing positive energy and just  screaming to everyone how awesome life is! Well of course I am, January of this year I was so close to Deaths Door I could see the light coming out from  under  the door! Since then I have been healing, gaining my old self back and have hope for a long future again.........therefore everyday I wake up, alive and well it is a friggin fabulous day where my heightened senses see every minute second as a miracle, no matter what our current situation is at the  moment! I was actually irritated with family members moping around, irritable, complaining about the mundanely and financial circumstances. I would look at them in amazement and say HEY I AM STILL HERE, LIFE IS AWESOME!

Of course they are grateful I am doing good and on my way to recovery, but this did not stop them from  being unhappy about certain areas of our life, especially hubby and  our youngest daughter who are very social creatures that have a need for adventure, getting out of the house and being explorers to find new things to keep that wonder and magical part of life inside of them.

So the other day, as I recognized these unhappy feelings within them, we had a pow wow and I asked each family member, what 3 things would they change about our family or their life, would they change if they could change it right now.

My 15 year old son says he is happy the way things are, not sure if I totally believe this, as he has always had a hard time relaying emotions and feelings. He gets upset if you try to get him to talk about how he feels, however he is a lone wolf who does not like talking to people, and is a computer geek who does not mind staying home a lot, much like myself. I am no computer geek of course, but I LOVE staying home!

My daughter very easily came up with 3 things:   For us to be more active as a family, playing games and doing things ( this really fell to the wayside when my health went into the toilet)

She also wants her own money,  and go places and do things with kids her age.

Hubby wanted to get out of the 9-5 crap job world,  have a residual income coming in and have me Cancer Free.

Myself?  I definitely want to get more active and involved with the kids again, have hubby  home and remove the word NO almost completely from our vocabulary!

We brainstormed on different ideas how to accomplish these goals and how to make those changes.

For example I know, we say no much of the time because we always have this feeling of "lack and no money"

We want to change that from a "No, we don't have  the money" to a "Well, HOW can we accomplish this?" then brainstorm and problem solve. Me and hubby both recognised this almost the same day, and know that for awhile we DID do this but then life took over and we fell back into old habits.

These are real feelings, desires and needs from the youngest child to the oldest adult in the house, none are less important than another. Each should be validated and explored and nurtured to make  happen.

I look forward to working on these throughout May! When we make these changes, we will come back and ask again as people grow and change, their needs will have to be revisited on a regular basis.

Happy Partnering is a beautiful thing!

Radical Vanilla Muffins

Yesterday, my daughter asked if she could make some muffins, and wanted to know if you could make just plain vanilla muffins. I said SURE!

We did not have muffin cups, so decided to make the batter and put in a 13 x 9 greased pan.

She said she did not want me sitting on the couch answering questions ( she did this several times when I was couch bound) but rather wanted to know if I was up to being in the kitchen with her, to actually be involved helping with her creation. I said SURE!

Since I have a basic muffin mix I use from my head, I helped her with that but she decided on what type she wanted to make ( pure vanilla), decided she wanted to color it with dyes and layer it, decided she wanted to use an icing and things like that. She originally was going to use cinnamon too, but decided against that.

I told her muffins usually do not have icing so originally decided against that. However with only 2 Tablespoons of vanilla in the mix, they came out a tad on the plain side, so for what was left, she made the icing.

Making the icing was a great learning experience for her because she has never made it before. I forgot to tell her to cream in the butter to the confectioner sugar and then add VERY LITTLE Milk!

So yeah, she added too much milk and had to keep adding confectioner sugar until it was an icing consistency. Since she did not cream the butter in, there are bits of butter showing in the icing.

However it made for a very enjoyable afternoon for the two of us! I loved seeing her confidence and creative spark.

After muffin making, she wanted me to watch a Documentary on Netflix called "Bully"

It was heartbreaking to watch, but then my daughter always seems to pick some very heavy topics to become aware of some very serious issues. It is on the other hand a wonderful thing to see how compassionate she is on these subjects.

It really was a great day, enjoying every minute of it!