It's been pretty cold lately so we decided we had to bake something to warm up the house. ;)

I recently came across a simple- but oh so very delicious- 2 ingredient recipe for pumpkin muffins.You can not even taste the pumpkin at all!

This is the third time we have made these muffins. We have been trying it with different flavored cake mix. The previous times we tried it with chocolate cake mix, then yellow cake mix.

This time we tried it with a Fudge Marble cake mix. And let me tell you folks, it did not disappoint!

 

We like to add chocolate chips to our muffins

We like to sample the chocolate chips too

Miss Fabulous cleaning the table

They are a hit. Every. Single. Time.

Ingredients:
1 box of cake mix of your choice
1 can (15oz)pureed pumpkin
1/3 c milk (optional- but it does make the muffins nice and moist)
1/2c chocolate chips (optional, but who doesn't love chocolate chips?!)

I use Pam spray for the muffin pan. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes. 

Yield: 1dozen

(Yes, I know there are only 1/2 a dozen here. The first 6 disappeared within minutes of cooling off!) 

Last week the kids were REALLY crabby. I came home from school, excited to take them to the park to meet up with some friends we hadn't seen in a while. They sure burst my bubble when they begged me to stay home! They claimed they were too tired for the park. Given their attitudes I figured it was better not to push the issue.

Later on in the afternoon they wanted to go to the yard. We brought out bubbles and sidewalk chalk and spent a couple of hours enjoying the beautiful weather.

 

 The kids played tic-tac-toe and Cait beat Jayden 3x in a row.

 "Cait, you're a genius!"

 

 "Yes Jayden, I am!" No modesty there ;)

Jayden decided to do some jogging because he wants to play football this fall and says he needs to know how to run fast.

 I have no clue what was going on here but I sure love seeing them get along!

 

   

 

The kids have been taking homeschooling classes that they very much enjoy. This course, offered at our local mall, focuses on different things for each class. This week one of the classes focused on movie making. They were loaned cameras and took pictures of the room. Then they got to create a movie with their pictures. They made end credits, used special effects, and then got to share their movie with everyone.

They also took a photography class. Again, they were loaned cameras and took shots of a set of blocks from different angles. They uploaded them to laptops and created wraparound panoramas, cropping, and photo fuse. In the end they "auctioned" their photos to their classmates.

And finally, we attended their geography class. The kids looked up Disneyland on a map and decided that was the place they wanted to research.

Then they put together a presentation using Powerpoint.Jayden presented his topic which had to do with the rides in Disneyland.

 And Cait (with J's help) presented "her" topic which was the History of Disneyland.

 

 

They walked away with some neat gifts, including a water bottle, 2 pens, a 3 color round highlighter, a backpack, goldfish (which were eaten before they even made it to the car), and a calculator.

They spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the calculator, which seems to trump anything they have ever gotten. Jayden inputted large numbers and told Caitlin that's how annoying she is. Cait inputted a zero and said that's how much she loved Jayden. They both inputted large numbers and said that's how much the other one owes them.

Whatever floats their boat!

Jayden is surprised here because he asked me a multiplication fact and I answered correctly. "Whoa Mom, how do you know these things?!"

Jayden is still loving karate! We have missed a few classes but, now that things have settled down, we will make sure we go every week.

We went to a kick ass Dora/Diego birthday party. Jayden beat the crap out of the piñatas. The smaller kids were warned to step back.

We also purchased a few kits to grow some plants. We will be growing poppy seeds, daisy seeds, cilantro, and strawberry seeds. Hopefully these things grow! If nothing else, it will teach the kids about plants needs. We will be taking weekly pictures and recording our findings. But first I need to take the damn things out of the box. 

The End of Ancient Egypt!

We have finally completed our Ancient Egypt unit. This was such a fine period to study! Jayden has learned about mummies, pyramids, several pharaohs, some new vocabulary, and more!

He created a postcard from our History Pockets for his friend Owen.

It says: "Dear Owen, I have been learning about Ancient Egypt. They used to make mummies. Mummies were made to preserve bodys for the After Life. King Tuts father had never been found. I am going to find him.     From Jayden" with a picture of himself alongside a miniature pyramid.

We took a trip down the Nile River and learned about the life that flourished there. Then we created a little map with our History Pockets pages.

Caitlin decided she wanted to join us for Egyptian puppet making, so they both made puppets.

 

And finally, we made a 3d pyramid that had facts about the Great Pyramid built in Giza on every side of it.

We absolutely loved learning about Ancient Egypt, but we are definitely excited to move on and see what is next!