One of the things I love about Ambleside online is the amazing books that we get to read. (Now, I will tell you that each year I have found at least one book on our list that I have decided to not read. We either tried it and disliked it so much that there was no point in continuing or we found a book that better fit our children’s and our tastes.)
Back to great books… I have had the pleasure of discovering some great books through homeschooling and I never like to keep good information to myself (that seems so selfish). One of the books we are currently reading is Wit and Wisdom from Poor Richard’s Almanack by Benjamin Franklin. It is basically proverbs. Some you’ll recognize right away like “No Pain, No gain” or “Haste makes Waste”. There are so many other gems of wisdom in this little book. I have definitely had to explain most of these to my girls. The language is sometimes hard to understand; but there is so much wisdom in those words that once I explain it, they are eager to tell of examples where this makes sense.

This is a very inexpensive book at only $2.50. It would make a great little gift for a graduate, someone getting a new job, or even a stocking stuffer.



I’m really trying to do better at making a variety of breakfasts and lunches for my children this school year. A huge time stealer of our time is mealtime. I made a menu of our breakfast, lunch, after-school snack, and dinner plans for each day. I was able to stick to it and found that each meal took up less time because there were no negotiations. One of the breakfast items was breakfast pizza. Here’s the recipe.



My children are big Starbucks fans. If calories and carbs were of no concern to me, I would love it too! One of the drinks I really enjoyed during my last pregnancy was the Vanilla Bean Frappuccino. It doesn’t have any coffee in it and is caffeine-free. Of course, that was probably a contributor to my big weight gain with my son. Every time we go to Starbucks, I think about how tasty that drink was and how I will probably never get one again. I decided to try my hand at making a low carb version of my favorite Starbucks cold drink.