Aly, over at 17sirens.com, wrote a review of "That's Not My Teddy!" and is also giving away that same book! Check out what she has to say about my business, see adorable pictures of her baby and the book in action, and enter the giveaway, which ends on October 20th, by clicking here.
*I sent Aly a copy of "That's Not My Teddy!" to use for review and am sending the winner a copy of the book as well!
P.S. I have created a Book Blog, which highlights what's going on with my Usborne business - like where I'll be around the Metroplex, book specials, book reviews, etc. Check it out: HeyJadeBooks.Blogspot.com
Weather like this (cool, dreary, drizzly) deserves some Fall foods! Last week I got a little anxious and went ahead and made one of my new Fall favorites called Taco Soup (or Chili, as it's kind of more like chili than soup, at least the way I make it) even though it was still a bit warm outside. I actually got this recipe from a friend of mine last year that made it for us on her ranch. It's super easy and SUPER delicious!
Here's what you need...
ingredients!
1 lb ground beef
1 can of Rotel
1 can of Golden Hominy
1 can of Ranch Style Beans
1 envelope of Taco Seasoning*
1 envelope of Ranch Dressing mix
Brown and drain the ground beef first, then stir that and everything else together in a crock pot. You literally just open and dump all of the ingredients together in the crock pot, set for a while and you have a delicious meal. I usually set it for about 6 hours so it's nice and cooked together. Then we top with sour cream, and sometimes avocado, and eat with chips. See? Super easy, super hearty and wonderfully delicious for Fall!
If you want the chili to have a real kick to it, try using Ranch Style Beans with Jalapenos and for an extra burst of flavor try the variety of Rotel that has Lime & Cilantro. Mmm!
* I'm a BzzAgent, and was sent several products from Lawry's to try. This was my first time to try their Taco Seasoning, and it was perfect for this recipe. My kids eat this stuff, so I try not to use the extra spicy stuff (ie. not using the jalapeno version of Ranch Style Beans even though I WANT to), and the Lawry's Taco Seasoning has a great taco flavor, but isn't too spicy for the kiddos! They LOVED it! Lawry's does have a HOT Taco Seasoning if you do wanna give this chili a try with a SERIOUS SPICE to it!
Callen: Goog goog!
Me: Huh?
Callen: Goog goog!
Me: Goog goog?
Callen: YEAH!
Me: I don't really know what you mean by that.
Callen: Goog goog!
Me: Um... this? :::pointing at random thing:::
Callen: NO!
Me: This? :::pointing at some other random thing:::
Callen: NO!
(repeat this part about a dozen times)
Me: Goog goog?
Callen: Goog goog! YEAH!
Me: Uh...grr grr?
Callen: NO NO NO NO!
Me: Goog goog?
Callen: YEAH! Goog goog.
Me: Ok then. :::walks away:::
Oh my heavens, anyone know what a "goog goog" is? I sure don't!
In my life this week...
The downside - I tweaked my neck and had to visit the chiropractor a couple of times this week. It's doing much better than that first day, but I'm still a bit sore. The upside - I got a new car! Kind of. For 2 weeks. But it's sweet! I'm working with The North Texas Chevy Dealers on a blogging campaign and test driving the Chevy Traverse. We got to go to the State Fair of Texas to pick it up on Wednesday. I can't wait to tell you (and show you!) all about my ride! So, with a car I've been able to get around and do things - oh, how nice it is! Lol.
That one is mine!
Places we're going and people we're seeing...
The State Fair of Texas was fun. We ate some deep fried pineapple upside down cake, a Belgian waffle, some foot-long corn dogs and a ton of random samples as well. Mmm. Preston did a funhouse maze thing and went on the log ride. The boys spent some time with both of their grandmas in the same day on Thursday since I had chiropractor appointment in the morning and then an Usborne book party with our homeschool group that evening. And today we're going to have lunch with our friend Candi and her family!
Praying for...
Complete healing of my neck. Complete healing of Michael's various issues. Complete healing of Preston's allergies lately. We love Fall, the allergies are pretty much the only thing that brings us down this time of year.
In our homeschool this week...
Our homeschooling was pretty erratic this week. I don't think we stuck our "normal" schedule on any of the days. But we still got everything done, so that's nice!
Tot school: Callen has really been enjoying Preston's Melissa & Doug mailbox lately. Guess it's time to move it to his room permanently since he always ventures in to Preston's to find it.
Bible: Read everyday from the Hands-On Bible. Also discussed how there were several authors of the Bible, but only ONE real author. Our memory scripture was Proverbs 21:23 "He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity." Oh, if more of us could remember that one! =/
Reading/Writing: Started on long vowel sounds and writing sentences in the Animal Tales booklet.
Checking out new reading set!
Math: Still focusing on counting this week, mostly skip counting 2's, 5's and 10's. Read several fun math/counting books from the library (see below).
Science: Our theme was Trees. We got outside and Preston did some bark rubbings of our two different kinds of trees ("bumpy" bark and "smooth" bark). We also read a bunch of tree books, including the beautiful book from Usborne, appropriately titled Trees. Hehe. Preston drew a fun illustration of a tree with lots of holes for squirrels. Then he added a stoplight in the middle of the tree because "with that many squirrels, there's probably lots of traffic in that tree!" (Love his creative brain!!!)
Art/Music: We looked at a landscape painting from Come Look With Me. Talked about clarinet and bass clarinet, listened to examples from youtube. In our drawing lesson, I made a bunch of duplication and matching images for Preston to do, and let him do a couple for me. The mirrored images were a little too difficult for him at this point, he tried though! And we went over our first hymn in Hymns for a Kid's Heart! "Holy! Holy! Holy!" We talked about the man who wrote the hymn, some of the words in the hymn that were new to Preston (like cherubim and seraphim), and listened to it several times.
Duplicating basic pictures.
Listening to Holy! Holy! Holy!
Spanish: Started talking about the Spanish alphabet. The concept is a little confusing for Preston, so I didn't push too much (ok, well, initially I tried to get him to "get" it, but then realized he wasn't and backed off). The next several things in the workbook are learning parts of speech and some things that I don't think he's ready for, so we're going to skip around and cover things like colors or something for a while.
Some of the books we used this week in addition to our curriculum:
We are using My Father's World First Grade. See our curriculum here.
Blog Hoppin' with:
*The Chevy Traverse campaign is being sponsored by the North Texas Chevy dealers. They are letting me test drive a Traverse for two weeks as well as providing me with a gas card and a spa gift card.
Aly, over at 17sirens.com, wrote a review of "That's Not My Teddy!" and is also giving away that same book! Check out what she has to say about my business, see adorable pictures of her baby and the book in action, and enter the giveaway, which ends on October 20th, by clicking here.
