ThursdayThirteen—All Things Pumpkin

1. Pumpkin: A Super Food for All 12 Months of the Year, by DeeDee Stovel cookbook: I picked this up last year, and I love it. I alternate butternut squash (also abundant from our garden) for pumpkin in recipes, as well.


2. Pumpkin seeds (Pepitas)—add to salads, smoothies, baked goods, such as homemade granola/breakfast/Trek bar recipes, or trail mix snacks.


3. Pumpkin smoothies


4. Pumpkin quesadillas—Grated raw pumpkin cooked in tortillas with caramelized onion, black beans, chicken & white cheddar


5. Pumpkin, baked or sauteed—with fresh herbs (sage, rosemary, thyme & parsley) for a savory dish and/or spices (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and clove) and streusel topping (brown sugar, butter, flour, pecans, and orange juice/zest, dried cranberries, optional) for a sweet dish.


6. Pumpkin Spice lattes and tea


7. Pumpkin bars w/ cream cheese frosting


8. Pumpkin Ice Cream—Dairy Queen or Dreyers

9. Pumpkin Scones

10. Pumpkin Butter—Trader Joes—(to have with the scones)

11. Pumpkin Souffles (I've never made a souffle, but I think it sounds fun to try)

12. Pumpkin Soup

13. Lancaster Pumpkin Pie—by Willamette Valley Fruit Co.—light, airy, creamy—in select grocer’s frozen desserts section during the holiday season.

New Lapbooking Meme!

I'm excited about this one--of course, I've been rather excited about all of the memes. They are all fun...but, I really love lapbooks and notebooking right now. I love them for their endless possibilities and uses. I love them because we learn best by doing, and making a book about a topic is higher level thinking than simply reading or answering questions. I love them because they incorporate such a broad spectrum of learning into one final project. I love them because they make everything we have and do important; worksheets, brochures from outings, photos, drawings, downloaded pictures, and every little detail of learning becomes something worthwhile to keep and assemble into one resource. Lapbooking is a form of some of my favorite school projects growing up, as well as my mother's handmade "Quiet Time" books she made us; a creative combination of journaling, scrapbooking, writing, researching, and crafting. I imagine a bin full of these lapbooks with my growing kids pouring over them on the couch for years to come. "Hey, I remember when we studied Christopher Columbus for homeschool"...(this week's lapbook).
Ok, so for those who don't know, lapbooks are manipulative 'books' made from file folders using any number of folds and added flaps. To this basic structure of a 'book' one can adhere any series of elements: a title, library pockets, envelopes, mini-file folders w/ 'lift a flap' quizzes, journaling, or photos underneath, plastic sleeves with objects, pressesd plant samples, etc., photos of field trips, 3-dimensional projects or models, and flaps containing completed worksheets, brochures, and other information. Lapbooks can be assembled by the parent for the child, by parent and child together, or by the child himself. It is a great assessment strategy following a unit of study.

Little Blots of Faith Christian Printables (http://www.littleblots.com/) just announced a new meme for Christian Lapbookers -- Little Laplinks! Each month a "Theme of the Month" will be posted where we can all glean resources from each other to create special and unique lapbooks. This month's theme is PUMPKINS! Click on the cute graphic above to learn more. The following is information from the host:

What is Little Laplinks? Little refers to “little people” as in early elementary children (Pre/K up to Grade 3)! Laplinks is the combination of Lapbook and Links, because that is what the meme is all about! The purpose of this meme is to generate a nice list of free resources that would be good for making an early elementry lapbook, and then sharing the lapbook you've made with your children if you choose.

This will be a monthly meme, the first week of each month the theme for the lapbook will be announced. During the month, you find a free resource for that theme, and post your finished lapbook to your blog before the month is over and link up so we call all see it! All past links and lapbook examples will be archived on little blots, and for every month you participate you’ll recieve a link back to your site!

My first "Scrap n' Share"--Just a Walk in the Park

This layout was done earlier this year (May), but I added a few more touches to the pages today. I think the photos are from March--I need to look that up on the saved photo and date stamp the page (there is also still a small space to do some simple journaling if I want later)--we stopped at Willamette Park on the way home from swimming lessons in Oregon City. These pics turned out cute--you'd never know they had wet hair and flip flops on.

I am hoping to do a layout a week for scrap n' share to help me to stick with my scrapbooking and complete an album.

I've Been Tagged...

I've been tagged for a meme by Dawnelle. Here's the deal...

The rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

11 facts/habits about myself (12 if I add that I have a habit of making my own rules!) :
1. I love coffee & chocolate...a lot.
2. I am slow to average speed at everything I do (I prefer precise & meticulous)--except for having babies. I had fast labors--4, 3, and 1 hour.
3. I love organization, however, I don't know that I am really good at it. I have perfectionist tendancies, but I'm able to relax and be sloppy, too. In the sixth grade I finally decided to try to let my desk get cluttered just so I would have something to organize during the clean-out-your-desk time. That certainly seems like a long, long time ago! I don't have the issue of no clutter to organize any longer, that is for sure.
4. Sometimes I stay up all night to get things done. I am a night person, who wishes she was a morning person. I love the days I get up really early when the house is quiet, do my devotions, workout, and have breakfast started when the kids wake up. This is what I strive for--what I want to become routine for me.
5. I love quiet and time to myself, yet when I go places, I love to be where the action is and don't mind crowds.
6. I love being at home. There are always so many things to do. It bothers me when people actually ask the question, "What do you do all day?', as if homemaking isn't valued. No wonder marriages/family suffer today.
7. I love writing, brainstorming, and making lists.
8. This may explain myself best, and why many of the above items contradict themselves: I have always scored pretty much in the middle of the four quadrants on all personality tests I've ever taken, which is why I have many interests, some conflicting , trouble focusing on just one project or activity at a time, and, as I have been told, the reason why I may occasionally feel "inner turmoil". One of the hardest things for me is when I have to choose between 2 or more places to be at once--especially on vacation or at social events where I want to explore/do active things and relax/sit and visit with people at the same time.
9. A few years ago, before I had Cate, I ran in a half marathon race and in two Hood to Coast relays, the final one while I was 6 weeks pregnant. I like playing sports a lot, and did basketball, softball, and some track in school. It is now so much fun to see my kids begin playing team sports and enjoying athletics.
10. I have never been to a drive-in theater or watched a Star Wars movie. That brings me to think about the few things I know I am not into that much--science fiction, music theory/instruments, foreign language, mathematics, fish & seafood, contemporary style, or the color teal.
11. I am the only one my husband ever kissed.

I tag Lindsay, Kelleigh, Mindi, Leigh Ann, and anyone else who wants to!