I made this chowder for supper tonight, and my kids raved over it. Jacob got 2 second helpings, and went on and on about how good it was. Skylar ate all of hers, which is a major compliment considering she would prefer to live solely on PB & J. JonDavid’s was gone off his tray in no time, with evidence of it thoroughly smeared over his hands, face, and hair (he won’t eat much unless he feeds himself…even soup). So, I decided this was a blog-worthy recipe!

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cups diced potatoes

1 cup sliced carrots

2 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or colby-jack)

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or cut into bite-sized pieces

Melt butter in saucepan and saute onions in it. Add potatoes, carrots, and water. Cook for about 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. In a separate bowl, stir together flour and milk until smooth. Slowly add flour-milk mixture to vegetables, stirring as you pour. Keep stirring and cook until smooth and thickened. Add salt, pepper, mustard, cheese, and chicken. Cook until cheese is melted, stirring often to prevent scorching or sticking.

I sliced the carrots fairly thin so they would cook quickly, so it did not take even 30 minutes for the veggies to get tender. When making the thickener, I put the flour and half the milk into my Tupperware “Quick Shake Container” to mix it, then just added the rest of the milk to the pot. If you don’t have a shaker like that, you might try using a wisk to mix the flour and milk to cut down on lumps. You can also adjust the amount of water and/or milk a little if you want it to be thicker or thinner.

If you have some cooked chicken in your freezer ready to use, this is a quick meal to prepare. You could also make it without the chicken, I think, and just have vegetable chowder, but my family is a meat-eating bunch. Hope you might try this and enjoy it!

Jacob is making good progress in school. Last week he completed the 1st grade level Hooked on Phonics kit. As a reward, I took him out for lunch. He had shrimp, macaroni and cheese, and chocolate cake. Then we stopped at the store and brought home some ice cream for everyone to share. We enjoyed the mom-son time…it was a nice treat for both of us! Today we started the 2nd grade level, and he is already zipping right along.

In math, we started addition last week. Jacob is doing well with that, but he does have some trouble with the tedious work of completing math problems. I’m definitely going to be putting some variety into the math lessons, maybe have him do some on the computer and do some math games to change it up a bit. I guess it is normal for a 5-year-old boy to have trouble sitting still and concentrating on math problems! But he is doing a good job with them. He uses plastic bears or an abacus to figure out the answers. (I have some pictures of him working on his math that I will post soon.)

Jacob has also reached one other milestone…he has his first loose tooth! We first discovered it last Wednesday, but it is already pretty loose. I’m sure I’ll have pictures of him to share when it comes out!

I just read this wonderful poem in a post at 5 Minutes for Parenting. I have spent a lot more time holding my babies than cleaning my house over the past 5+ years, and I love the way this poem speaks of how “babies don’t keep.”

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Not a spider web, but the world wide web! I have been away from good internet access for a while…how did I survive? I have not written or read any blogs lately, so I feel a little out of the loop, but I am back now. It’s amazing how reliant we are on the internet. That’s how I get my news, manage my bank accounts, pay my bills, research pretty much everything, and, of course, keep up with my favorite blogs. We have done some school work here and there, but mostly we enjoyed spending a week with my husband’s grandparents. He preached a meeting at the congregation where they worship in northern West Virginia last week, and fortunately we were all able to go with him (another advantage of homeschooling). My kids are blessed to have 7 of their great-grandparents living, and we were happy to have time with some of them last week. We were also able to visit with some other family and friends, as several came to hear Kristin in the meeting and spend some time with us.

The leaves are changing here in West Virginia, and the colors are really bright this year…another reminder of God’s amazing creation. October weather is just about my favorite, and this October hasn’t let me down. I hope you are enjoying fall, too!