If you enjoy books, simple recipes, and hearing about homeschooling, you’ll enjoy today’s post! These are my favorite types of posts to write–ones where I share a bit of everything. What we’re up to, my random thoughts, and of course, what’s going on in the Zottola kitchen!

Family Life

Mordecai had his checkup for the impetigo rash that came back. He is on another antibiotic and an antibiotic cream. After his appointment, I noticed Dakota started to develop a few impetigo spots on her ankles (how random, right?!) but it’s not bad… yet? We’re keeping an eye on it. I had literally never heard of impetigo until last month and now it’s at the forefront of my brain haha.

Dakota, our big almost-six-month-old girlie is ready to be on the move. She loves standing and is starting to sit up a little on her own. Her baby days are going by so fast. She is truly cherished by our whole family. I already can’t imagine our life without her.

One thing I could imagine is a little more sleep! She wakes up so many times a night to eat and often just rolls around in bed and kicks Jimmy and I in the back. I think it’s time to sleep train? Or get an IV of coffee? She’s so worth every lost moment of sleep, though!

And Sader Tot! She lost her other front tooth and let me snap a picture. Her lisp is adorable. She has been having the best summer. This is the first summer she has had neighbor friends and is old enough to go outside and play in other yards and ride bikes around our street.

When she’s not outside playing, she’s playing with her Polly Pocket dolls and making art. Just the other day, she asked if we could make a mini Oreo cake. Uhh, YES! I can’t wait. She’s so creative that it inspires me. I love that she’s always experimenting and tinkering with things!

Jimmy has been super busy with work. The good kind of busy! It’s a blessing that his family steel business is so busy. He just installed a steel penguin decoration at the Pittsburgh Zoo the other day. He’s so cool. I can’t wait to take the kids to the zoo and show them some of daddy’s work!

And me? I’m just over here trying to keep my ducks in a row! Housekeeping, cooking, breastfeeding, potty training, dreaming up new recipes, studying God’s Word, homeschooling, and trying to find pockets of time for fun.

Speaking of fun, my mom and I went to a yoga class together and it was so great. Sadie watched us leave and said “Have fun together!” which I thought was so sweet of her. I think it’s good for the kids to see mom do things for fun because I want them to do the same when they’re adults!

What We’re Reading

I just started Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan. I’ll make sure to report back and share what I think! The book started with a recipe for scones so you can’t go wrong there, right?! I’m also loving A Million Tiny Moments, which is a collection of short reflections for moms needing some faith-based encouragement.

Sadie is, as always, enjoying books about axolotls. She thought Axolotl and Axolittle was very cute and funny! It’s about brother and sister axolotls who are opposites and need to learn how to get along.

We’re also reading a lot of Berenstain Bears books! My mom used to read me those books, so it’s a trip down memory lane to read them to my kids. We’ve been enjoying the Gifts of the Spirit series from the Berenstain Bears collection.

Before I know it, I’ll be pulling out all of our fall-themed books for the kids. It’s always fun to bring out “old but new” books with memories attached to them!

Homeschool Highlights

Everyone is getting back to school and it’s no different for us! We do school throughout the summer, but in a more relaxed way. We are starting back with daily lessons and it feels great! I’m always glad that we work throughout the summer because starting back up for the year never feels like a big undertaking, if that makes sense. Soon we’ll be using our homeschool room more, too. Right now, the weather is so nice that we do school outside as much as possible. Sadie is doing first grade this year, by the way!

To start off our year, I took Sader Tot to Walmart and let her pick out a pencil case, notebook, and markers. She was thrilled! I can remember feeling so excited to have fresh school supplies. Scratch that, I still get excited over pens, notebooks, and markers!

Our main subjects that we’re focusing on this year are language arts (reading, writing, spelling), math, and Bible.

The curriculum we’re using:

• Reading: All About Reading Level 2
• Spelling: All About Spelling Level 1
• Math: The Good and The Beautiful Math Level 1
• Handwriting: This print penmanship workbook
• Bible: As of now, we’re working on a lap book about the Fruit of the Spirit! After that, I have a few ideas in mind but haven’t made a decision yet.

Other subjects we’ll delve into include science, health, history, physical education, music, cooking, baking, and whatever sparks Sadie’s interest. Those subjects will be more relaxed and woven into our life as we see fit. Our main focus is the foundational subjects like Bible, reading, writing, and math.

More than anything, I want Sadie girl to love learning, love God and His creation, and have a good relationship with her teacher (me!). I think keeping school simple, especially at this age (Sadie is almost seven) is so important for us all.

It’s a blessing to spend my days with our kids. They aren’t an interruption to me and what I’m trying to do… they are the work! They are the life of our home! Homeschooling and parenting isn’t about efficiency, it’s about relationships. How I teach and mother is just as important as what I teach and do. I aim to do all things with love. Am I perfect at it? No way! But my kids are pretty forgiving of me and all my mistakes. And so is Christ. Thank goodness!

In The Kitchen: What I’m Cooking and Baking

I know there’s no shortage of baking talk here on the blog, but how about cooking talk for once?! I’ve been trying to not get stuck in dinner ruts. There’s nothing wrong with eating certain meals every. single. week. but I also like to sprinkle in some different meals for variety!

This week, I made chicken and broccoli Alfredo. I veered a little off my recipe, though. Here’s what I did: I cut up chicken thighs into chunks and seasoned them with salt and pepper. I cooked them in a bit of butter and boiled pasta at the same time.

After the pasta cooked, I added butter and broccoli to the pan. Then I put the drained pasta in with the broccoli, added the cooked chicken, and a jar of Alfredo sauce. Everything got topped off with parmesan cheese and freshly cracked black pepper. Dinner was served!

I think up next, I will make my biscuit chicken pot pie recipe but make mini pies in a muffin pan and use my pie crust recipe instead of biscuits. I feel like the kids might enjoy mini pot pies?!

Okay, back to baking 😬 I’ve been baking apple pie and created a new recipe for toffee espresso blondies!

Listen, I’m not a science or math person, but I can straight-up nerd out over the protein percentages of different flours. Cake flour, bread flour, pastry flour, pasta flour… it all fascinates me. I bought pastry flour to try out for my pie crust recipe for an apple pie and it definitely made a difference. The crust was much more flaky! I may have to add pastry flour to my list of pie baking essentials.

My pie baking essentials are:

• French rolling pin
• Ceramic 9 inch pie pan
• Danish dough whisk
• Pie crust shield
• Pastry brush

Here’s a peek at the toffee espresso blondies! I’ll be posting the recipe very soon. Let’s just say, as these baked, our whole house smelled like a coffee shop mixed with a bakery. It was a good vibe 😎

Other notes and thoughts

• My current cereal addiction.
• I was eating peanut butter off a spoon, straight from the jar and Sadie asked me if I have a favorite peanut butter and we ended up laughing. I literally couldn’t choose! I like them all. Crunchy, creamy, natural, processed, flavored, honey, and homemade. Give me alllll the peanut butter!
• I just tried out a new bathroom cleaner and it smells and works great. If “clean freak” is in the name, it’s gotta be good, right?!

---

What are you reading, cooking, baking, and/or learning?