Maple Granola

This recipe was adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe I found online. It it so amazing. I’m not sure it is healthy so I try not to use too much. A heaping tablespoon of granola is such a fabulous addition to yogurt.

• 3 cups oats (I used the non-instant, bigger pieces.)
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 t ground nutmeg
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (non-packed)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 molasses
• 1 t vanilla
• handful of raisins (about 1/2 cup)

Combine oats, sesame seeds, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon in a bowl and mix well. Meanwhile, on the stove, combine maple syrup, brown sugar, coconut oil and molasses at low heat. Stir until everything liquefies and combines. Add the vanilla, stir and pour over oat mixture. Stir well to coat.
Transfer mixture to baking sheet. Spread it out and bake at 300 degrees for about 38 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Add the raisins during the last 8 minutes of baking.

Yum.

Fox Hat Crochet Pattern–Discount Code

My first crochet pattern is now available in my Etsy shop! And since you read my blog, you can have it for 50% off. (Keep reading for the discount code. . .)

The pattern is actually 25 pages long. It shows pictures for lots of beginner crochet techniques you’ll need to know to complete your own hat. The hat itself is worked in a unique way that is e-a-s-y and fast.

Letter Crafts: Q and R

Have you been watching following my letter of the week crafts? Last week I posted some ideas.

R is last week’s letter. And Q was the week before. So it’ll be a few weeks before we have a collection of more letter inspiration.

Q is for queen (and I did put both an uppercase and lowercase q on the craft…just to get the unfamiliar letter across.) I had worked with the four-year-old by himself that day. So I'd normally let the two-year old do the lowercase or uppercase. I'm learning the limits of the four-year-old...one craft a day is plenty of crafting for him!



Since it was R week and we haven’t studied the R shape at all, I had each boy do a separate craft. R is for rabbit and r is for road.

I’m really enjoying homeschooling.

Letter Crafts: m, n O & P

So I guess we’re skipping straight to m, n, o & p! I don’t know where the rest of the crafts are right now.

Keep in mind, we’ve been doing these since September. August. One of those months.

With some time off for having a baby. I know f was for fire hose.

But m is for mouse (the ears seem to be layered on top of each other…), n is for noodle, o is for owl, and P is for pencil!



It’s fun to see how much better my little guy is getting at writing his name as the year has progressed.

The ‘b is for baseball’ craft only had a G written on it!

Letter Crafts: C & D

Hope you saw my crafts for A& B yesterday.

As you can see, we just did uppercase C and D crafts. I think we should’ve done a lowercase D craft as well. It’s a good way to get the general shape of the letter into the boys’ minds.



C is for car and D is for doghouse (the middle of the D opens and we drew a dog inside).

Stay tuned for more ideas.

Letter Crafts for A & B

As I put the final touches on my fox hat crochet pattern, I thought I'd show you a bit of crafting I've been facilitating for my boys.

Even though I haven’t been crafting much, I’ve been crafting with my kids. We did some homeschooling work last year. This year, they have been working diligently at learning one uppercase and lowercase letter each week. (Ages 4 and 2.)

We do crafts for each letter. We don’t always do a craft for both the uppercase and lowercase letters.
Sometimes I just pick one or the other. Crafting can be like pulling teeth with my little boys…at least for the four-year-old, who this is supposed to benefit right now…the two-year-old is a little more enthusiastic because he loves glue…but I digress.



So here are some ideas for A and B. A is for apple, A is for alligator, b is for baseball, B is for butterfly.

I let them do the crafts themselves. I cut the letters and shapes; I offer suggestions and then they glue them. (And you should see the configurations the two-year-old has come up with.) These are all done by the four-year-old.

We’re working through other curriculum too for math, science, reading and some Bible lessons, but these letter crafts are either Pinterest-inspired or my own ideas.

So get your glue out. I’ll share more ideas tomorrow.

Calling All Pattern Testers! - Update: Testing Closed.

Thanks to everyone who emailed me to test this pattern! I'll have another testing call soon.

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I haven't been around much lately. Too busy with my sweet little boys. And husband. Educating. And exercising. Playing the piano. Trying to keep up with the laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, and all the other stuff I 'should' do. And wearing skinny jeans. (I decided to keep them.)

This month, I've been squeezing in a little crocheting. A lot of crocheting. And I wrote a pattern.

Do you crochet? Would you like to test my new crocheted fox hat pattern?