Return to Zero

If you've ever read any of my posts concerning grief, you know how I've share that infant death is still such a taboo subject. I am grateful for the circles of friends online & in real life that continue to remember Noah and allow me to talk about him but on the whole, I can still see how many sadly avoid that area of my life. And it's not just myself that experiences that, most moms in the babyloss community feel that way as well.

So imagine my excitement a few months ago when I heard that a movie was being made to address infant death. The director of this film, Return to Zero, experienced the stillbirth of his son so he has first hand knowledge of the pain of losing a child. His goal behind this movie is to break the silence of infant death & for those who haven't walked this road, to be given a hard look at just how much the death of a child affects us in so many areas of life.

A first glimpse of this movie and what it is about

I hadn't shared this yet as I was waiting for everything on this movie to go public, but the other month I had the opportunity to get Noah's name in the opening credits of this movie along with other babies who have died. I am so excited to know that so many out there will see his name and be reminded he DID live and that because of him, I am helping to break the silence that surrounds so many of us.

In fact, I have joined up in support of this movie and became a local leader as a way to help promote and get word out about Return to Zero (which by the way stars Minnie Driver & Paul Adelstein). This movie has already been made but now it's time to show Hollywood there is a need out there for this movie and that we want it to get in the big box offices for everyone to see. That's where I need YOUR help & support!!

We are asking people to sign a pledge to see this movie when it comes out. We want to try & collect as many names as possibly by June 20th. You are in no way bound to anything by signing this. Signing your name only shows your support. Even if you don't think you'll see this movie when it comes out (maybe you'd rather wait until the dvd comes out), that is ok, you can still sign the pledge. If you do sign it (and I hope you will, pretty please!) please put down "Jenn Porsche" as your local leader. My goal is to get at least 100 people to show support but I would absolutely love to exceed that. Noah's 3rd birthday is around the corner, so how cool would it be to get 300 people to show support in his memory!!!

So please, check out the video clip then sign the pledge (putting down Jenn Porsche as local leader). Your support of this movie means SOO much to those of us in the babyloss community. Together, we can help break the silence and help others to know they aren't alone!

Thank you in advance for helping!!

Please feel free to share this post in your social media circles, just another way to help spread the word!

May 14th-Diagnosis Day

May 14th always marks the start of "the season". It's the anniversary of the date of when we got Noah's Trisomy 13 diagnosis & changed our world forever. From there, the following 2 months can be a rollercoaster of emotions as it was exactly 2 months to the day die till Noah died. You can read about the previous May 14ths below, including the day we got his diagnosis:
May 14, 2010
May 14, 2011
May 14, 2012

This was sort of an ironic May 14th. 4 weeks ago, I was in at the maternal fetal specialist for what was going to be my last ultrasound but they had some concerns over the baby & said they wanted to see me back in a few weeks. And then they scheduled my appointment for me, giving me the date of May 14th, in the same office where I was at 3 years ago to the date being told my son was going to die. Talk about de ja vue. Wasn't my first choice of appointment times but I went with it figuring God had a hand in it for some reason. If nothing else, it would just make me reflect on that difficult day 3 years ago & seeing how far He has brought us since.

I admit, I had some nervousness & anxiety headed to this appointment. The weather was eerily similar as it was on the same day back in 2010. It just brought back a lot of the feelings I experienced back then. I still can't believe it's been 3 years when it only feels like yesterday.

The day started out with an OB appointment in the same building. From there, we went upstairs to the specialist, arriving a bit early since we had gotten done early at the Drs. Walking in behind us was a mother & daughter. After awhile, the mom leans over to me & asks me, did you deliver any of your kids at HOL? I had thought she looked familiar but 11 yrs in EMS has shown me I see a lot of people whom I often recognize in public. I said yes I have. She said I was your night nurse when you delivered Noah! Holy CRAP my jaw about hit the floor, my eyes got huge! I said yes, you were the one who showed me how to feed Noah the one & only time I had the chance to & shared that your daughter had a cleft lip so you had experience with how to feed him. She said yes!!!! Oh goodness, she went on & on about details of Noah’s alive time that only a few people know. She talked about Noah with tears in her eyes. I remember her being so loving & caring as she attended me the night of Noah’s short life. Just freaking unbelievable! She was also there with us when he took his last breath, she shared a lot of precious time with him and us.

During this conversation, she told me numerous times how much of an impression Noah & our family made on the entire staff at the hospital & that they still talk about us (she even recalled what my girls wore that night, the outfits they dressed Noah in, etc). She said they will never forget Noah & how the entire time was unlike anything any of them has experienced. I just sat there in tears talking to her. I explained what today’s date was & what an obvious sign it was seeing her and talking to her. Turns out, they weren’t even supposed to be in this office today, there was a big goof up her daughter was working to clear while we chatted. But it was obvious to me, she was meant to run into us at that time. 

I still can’t believe it and it gives me the chills just thinking about. What are the chances?? Of all days & times to run into her. I’ve been praying that today’s sign would be that baby would arrive, but running into her, one of the few people who met Noah alive, was definitely a sign from God & Heaven, how else can you explain it?! I was SO beyond blessed being able to talk to her, to hear someone else so lovingly talk about Noah on what was an emotional day for me, IN THE SAME OFFICE where just 3 years ago my world was rocked. 

Sometimes God whispers those special gifts in your ear, but today he shouted my gift pretty noticeably!! It was a much needed reminder that I am loved & that God does care about the "little" things in our lives. Sure, I could've ran into this nurse anywhere on any date & it still would've meant so much hearing her talk about Noah. But God orchestrated it to happen on the anniversary of Noah's diagnosis in the very office we sat 3 years prior & that tells me He wanted me to know he sees & cares!

She definitely encouraged me, just hearing how strangers still talk about Noah & can pick us out from the crowd because of him is humbling. I am so thankful his story continues to have a ripple effect & touches others lives in a meaningful way.

Oh my sweet Noah, you sure left your mark on this world during the brief time you were here!!

We spent awhile in that waiting room so being able to talk to her helped calm my nerves a bit. Baby is looking ok as of today, although s/he is on course to possibly be my largest!! (yikes) While I am thankful that today baby is ok, please know that any baby loss mom will tell you, until they have a living breathing baby in their arms, there still is anxiety. I share that because telling me “all will be ok” or “see, nothing to worry about”, isn’t true. No one knows that as things can still unexpectedly happen & it’s honestly hurtful to hear that. It’s ok to acknowledge the uncertainty. I am at peace knowing whatever happens, it’s out of my hands and in God's hands & I appreciate those that acknowledge it’s a “one day at a time” thing. Praying baby arrives soon, we are all ready to meet him/her!!!

Thank you also to the many of you who remembered us today with notes, messages, texts, etc. We definitely felt your prayers and truly appreciate the love & care you showered on us. Just continue to keep us in prayer as we have more memorable dates in the coming 2 months.

My sweet friend Naomi from Blessings Close to My Heart sent pictures to me that she took while thinking of & praying for us. (check out Noah's name album, I always enjoy when people send me new pics!)

A beautiful heart cloud she captured! Thank you for these pictures Naomi!

Money Saving Monday- Cloth diapers and Giveaway!

I'm excited to change things up for this weeks edition of Money Saving Monday and turning over the keyboard to my sweet friend Devany from Still Playing School! We were introduced by a mutual friend back in 2011 when her second daughter Violet was born with Trisomy 13, the same condition my Noah had. Devany, her husband and eldest daughter E were blessed with 2 1/2 days with precious Violet. This past December, their family welcomed their rainbow baby & 3rd child, adorable D! Devany isn't just a friend online but in person as well and I'm so glad she has taken the time to share in her experience with cloth diapering now 5 month old D! Make sure you check out her link at the end to enter her giveaway of a custom cloth diaper!

I'm thrilled to be guest posting here for Jenn!  I always look forward to her Money Saving Mondays and I recently started my own coupon binder inspired by hers!

I need to be honest with you, though.  The financial savings of cloth diapering weren't my initial motivation.  I was more concerned about the environmental impacts of disposable diapers.  The facts are staggering and green living is a passion taking up increasingly more room in my heart and mind in recent years.

Our daugther E (age 3 now) was not cloth diapered, but I knew I wanted to try it with D.  Taking the plunge can be intimidating because of the initial investment.  If this is causing you any hesitation, please consider that you can either buy used cloth diapers to try or you can always sell your cloth diaper stash if you realize that it's not working for your family.  With that pressure alleviated  let's take a look at what our family has invested in cloth diapering supplies.

Diapers:  I wanted to start by using pocket diapers, primarily Charlie Bananas one size adjustable, so that they will last until D potty trains.  Since they are available at Target, I added them to our baby registry.  I do diaper laundry every 2 - 3 days (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) so it is suggested that we have 20 - 30 diapers.  Our friends are wonderful and after our baby shower we thankfully went home with thirteen (!!!) diapers gifted to us.  I bought an additional six diaper multi-pack and several used Charlie Bananas and Sunbaby pocket diapers to round out our stash.   I would estimate that we have about 28 pocket diapers right now, with a retail value of around $450, but it only cost our family $200 since we received most as gifts and purchased some used.

Wipes:  I made the majority of our reusable cloth wipes from an old flannel sheet, but I did but purchase one pack of super soft ones as well.  I really needed wanted those because they have rainbow stitching for my rainbow baby!  We have 60 wipes which would have retailed at $44 but we only spent $11.

Inserts: Pocket diapers require inserts which you stuff inside the pockets for absorbency.  Charlie Bananas come with 2 microfiber inserts per diaper, but I also wanted hemp inserts for naps and overnight.  This natural material is extra absorbent and thin, keeping the diapers trimmer and saving us from having to change a sleepy baby.  Retail $32.

Dirty diaper storage:  We went with a plastic trash can with a lid for holding dirty diapers.  A metal can would hold smells in better, but the plastic works well enough for now.  I bought one pail liner, then our neighbor gave us another that she was no longer using.  Retail of $53 but we spent $37.

Laundry detergent:  We typically use our regular low sudsing, eco-friendly laundry detergent for our diapers as well as our clothes. This week I did purchase Rockin' Green detergent specifically for diapers after getting a sample at The Great Cloth Diaper Change. (We also received a free diaper there!)  Your laundry costs can vary greatly, but remember that the less detergent you use for your diapers the better. (You want to get them clean, but soap buildup will cause them to repel and leak.)  You can save even more money by making your own.

So our supplies have a retail value of $600 but because my cost cutting ways and the generosity of friends it actually cost us $300.  By the age of two, a disposable diapered child will use around 6,000 diapers.  Using an average cost of 25 cents per diaper, that's $1,600 for two years for the diapers alone.  You will also be adding in disposable wipes and dirty diaper storage costs (Diaper Genie and refills really added up when we had E).  Obviously there are money saving ways to use disposable diapers as well, but these are the rough figures I am using for comparison.

The financial savings of cloth diapers are an added bonus to this choice we have made for our rainbow baby!

To save you even more money, as Jenn mentioned, we are currently hosting a giveaway for a custom all-in-one or hybrid fitted cloth diaper!

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Spanish For You- Estaciones

My kids enjoy learning Spanish so we are always looking for new ways to incorporate it into our days. We recently had the chance to review Spanish For You, specifically the Estaciones package (estaciones which means "seaons") This package covers vocabulary & grammar for the calendar & weather, fall & school, winter, spring & summer.

This is a year long curriculum that contains between 24-30 weeks of lesson plans meant to be used 4 times a week. It's available in either book form or download. Not only are lesson plans included, but you also get PDF downloads of audio files of pronunciations, worksheets, flash cards, game suggestions as well as other activities.

I appreciate that all the work is done for you so all you have to do is implement it (I am all about saving myself work!) While I do have a background in Spanish, having the audio files is beneficial for the words I don't remember but also the way this curriculum is laid out, any parent could teach this even if they had never heard a word of Spanish before.

Because this is a multi-grade curriculum, I was able to use this for all of my grade school children which is always a plus in my book. The levels are broken down into grades 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. We used each of these levels. Some of the kids daily lessons were similar but also varied a bit. The older kids were able to work on their lessons independently with little help from me.

While you can certainly take your time in going through this curriculum (stretching out the daily lessons if more time is needed), you do need to follow it in the order that it is laid out in as each lesson builds upon the previous ones. We printed out the flashcards that had pictures & then wrote the spanish & english words on the back. My kids enjoyed "quizzing" each other with these.

I also printed out their weekly lesson plans, which were very simply laid out, that listed what each grade was to work on each day.  Then I printed out the activity sheets that went along with each day. Some days we did the optional work that was suggested but not always depending on our day. It took the kids 15-30 minutes to work through the daily lessons. They found that they picked up on the words & phrases quite easily from the repetition & fun activities (word searches, fill in the blanks, etc) I liked that they were learning more than just vocabulary but also phrases & conjugation.

This is a great curriculum to use for teaching multiple grades at one time. It would even work well for a co-op. Check out some of the free samples for Estaciones. This curriculum package is intended for grades 3-8 and costs $64.95 for the entire package.

Strawberries and Cream Angel Food Cake Roll

Strawberry season is right around the corner. My plants have the flowers on and we are just itching to get out and pick fresh berries. I recently came across a dessert idea I wanted to try with them. I first had my cooking class that I taught make it then I came home and made it myself so I could take pictures to share with you all. It's angel food cake meets jelly roll and they had a baby (that is, if you're into analogy's!)

Recipe with complete instructions will follow at the end. For now, here's step by step in pictures:

I used my kitchen aid mixer which was a huge help for this recipe but no worries, it can easily be done with a hand mixer. For beating all those egg whites, if you are afraid of your arm falling off while holding your mixer, now's a good time to enlist one of your kids to "help" you out. Just saying! 

Beat those egg whites (along with the vanilla & cream of tartar) until you see glossy stiff peaks. Look at those mountains of white reaching for the sky! (hopefully your arm is still in tact if you used a hand mixer).

Using parchment paper, take a sheet & spread it over your cookie sheet then spray with some non-cooking spray. In my cooking class, we used a 15x10 sheet. The one you see above is a bit bigger than that as I realized there is plenty to spread out making it a bit thinner of a roll. Spread that batter out as evenly as you can and bake it at 350 for 15-20.

This is what your fluffy cake should come out looking like. Mine took about 15 minutes and feels soft & springy to the touch. A few of the thin edges browned a bit. That's ok, I wanted that to happen so I had an excuse to cut a few pieces off. The chef (especially a pregnant one) needs a few bites to eat while baking!

Time to whip that heavy cream into submission. Maybe you might want to switch arms this time. Or pick another child to "help"! Once the cream is starting to thicken, you'll add in some vanilla & powdered sugar. Forget that chemical ladden cool whip, this homemade stuff rocks!!

Fold in those delicious strawberries (that yes, one of my kids so lovingly washed & diced for me while I was sneaking bits of the cake I had to cut off. Had to make sure it tasted good first!)

Spread the filling all over your lovely angel food roll. You will have some left over. Now's a good time to decide if you'll hide the leftover filling from the kids so you can eat it later when they are in bed (not that I've ever done that) or use the extra to add a dollup to each piece after cutting.

Carefully roll that baby up jellyroll style. Using a serrated knife with back & forth cutting motions, gently cut into pieces to serve.

Goes wonderful with a cup of tea or coffee! Enjoy!

 INGREDIENTS:

For the Cake:
9 egg whites (save the yolks, they make a great pudding or custard!)
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¾ cup cake flour
1 tablespoon powdered sugar

For the Filling:
2 cups heavy whipping cream, chilled
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups diced strawberries

Powdered sugar, for dusting top of cake (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the egg whites in a large mixing bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, line a 15x10-inch baking pan with waxed paper; lightly coat paper with cooking spray and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Add vanilla and cream of tartar to egg whites; beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, on high until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved. Fold in flour, ¼ cup at a time.

4. Carefully spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool for 5 minutes.

5. Dust a clean kitchen towel with 1 tablespoon powdered sugar. Turn the cake out onto the kitchen towel. Gently peel off waxed paper. Roll up cake in the towel jelly-roll style, starting with a short side. Cool completely on a wire rack.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the cream on medium speed until it begins to thicken. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; increase the speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold in the strawberries. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

5. Unroll cooled cake; spread filling to within ½-inch of edges (you will have some filling leftover). Roll up again. Place seam side down on a serving plate; sprinkle with additional powdered sugar, if desired. Serve with any leftover strawberries and cream filling. Store leftovers, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator.

Keurig Vue Deal!

I had the chance last week to have some of my dear homeschool friends over for a moms morning out while all our kids played together. I made some baked goods to munch on and we had a new Keurig Vue to brew our coffee or iced tea in thanks to being a host for House Party.

(ignore the quality of the pics, I just quick used my phone)

I made some pumpkin poppers, banana muffins, coffee cake and not shown in the picture but also made homemade cinnabon cinnamon rolls.

Here's a better picture of the Keurig Vue v500

We had a great time of just sitting around laughing and fellowshipping, something I don't get to do as often as I'd like to. I hope to host more of these moms morning outs this summer around some iced coffee maybe (yes, you can make that with this model).

Some features of this coffee maker are that you use a touch screen to do all your selections, you can choose your brew strength (regular or strong), you can select size from 4oz-16oz, the stand pulls out easily to place a travel mug you can brew right into, there's an option to brew over ice (tea or coffee) and also a cafe selection where you can make a frothy cup of coffee. My kids have also enjoyed using it just to heat up water quickly for hot chocolate & tea.

Keurig & House Party gave me some 40% off codes to share with friends and while some of my "in real life" friends have already taken advantage of this deal, I have a few codes left to share so I thought maybe some of my readers would be interested. I have a few left so feel free to email me or leave a comment if you'd like a code for the Keurig Vue v500. They have to be used by the 11th. Once these codes are gone, I have some for 25% off good until the end of May. Regular price is $170, after 40% off it's $101 and free shipping!

International Bereaved Mother's Day

International Bereaved Mothers Day is the 1st Sunday of May, a way to remember ALL mothers as the traditional Mother's Day can be painful & bittersweet for many, myself included.

Praying that those of you who are a part of today had a gentle day remembering each & every one of your children that made you a mom, even if some or all aren't here in your arms.

"A mother is not defined by the number of children you see, but by the love she holds in her heart".

-Franchesca Cox

Happy 10th Birthday Erik!

 Wow, hard to believe my 4th child has now entered double digits!! Today is Erik's 10th birthday though it just seems like yesterday he was born. He was almost 2 weeks late (was due in April). He said he secretly wished baby #7 would come early & be born on his birthday since he & Hannah are the only ones who don't have a birthday buddy (Kevin & I share a birthday, the twins obviously share one and Noah & Olivia share a birthday, pretty crazy huh?!) While I've had a lot of contractions today, they seemed to have fizzled out.

He had his first birthday party/sleepover last night into earlier today. That was a new experience for us, having a house full of boys but they all had a great time!

So thankful for the blessing of calling him my son. He is incredibly kind, compassionate and full of life! I look forward to seeing where God directs him in the years to come!

Happy Birthday Erik!

Garden time!

Finally, we are done planting our garden! Took me a little longer this year as I had some tiller issues so I was about 2 weeks behind schedule. Of course, the weather played a part in it too between some rainy & cooler days we had.

A picture from my 2nd story looking down on our garden. It's hard to tell from here just how big it is. The upper right hand area is my neighbors garden.

For whatever reason, my strawberry roots didn't spread well last year which is why there is a nice thick row at first, then a gap with just another small area down from there. I put more roots in there again so hopefully next year that whole area will be bursting with berries!

The other things that are planted in there are:

24 tomato plants (6 different varieties)

12 pepper plants (3 different colors)

jalapenos (mmm poppers anyone?!)

cucumbers

zucchini

broccoli

kale

asparagus

horseradish root

eggplant

onions

radishes

lettuce

spinach

green beans

Plus we have 2 blueberry bushes as well. I think that's it. For now! haha (though I also have some herbs in a container on my deck). If you can't tell, I LOVE having a garden and being able to have our own fresh produce. I do a lot of canning & freezing over the summer which is why I plant a larger quantity of things. I also spread out some of my planting so I am sure to have a continuous crop (like green beans, zucchini & radishes for example I plant some now, then wait a few weeks and plant some more).

I am thankful my kids enjoy gardening as well! They were a huge help with planting this year as I am slower with squatting and bending right now due to soon having this baby.

Do you plant a garden? If you don't have the space for one, have you ever tried a container garden? What are some things you plant?

Mother's Day

Hard to believe it's May already. Honestly, this time of year is the start of my "tough" season. Coming up on the anniversary of when we received Noah's fatal diagnosis as well as Mother's day then headed towards his birthday just 8 weeks later. Add in having another rainbow baby any day now, well, I sure could use extra grace, understanding & prayers if I don't always seem myself right now. There are simply  no words to describe the roller coaster of emotion some of these days entail.

I know it's a common misconception that just because someone still has living children after losing a child, that Mother's Day isn't that hard. Well, that is just flat out wrong. I just read dozens upon dozens of comments the other day from mother's who have living children as well as a child(ren) in Heaven and most of them stated that Mother's Day is a difficult day yet no one seems to understand or care. Many shared how they just would rather stay in bed or forget the day. And ya know what, I too share in many of their thoughts & feelings (and am thankful to know I am not alone in how I feel). I'd also go as far as to say, I don't know if I am up to even going to church on Mother's Day. It's one of those things I have to wait & see how I am feeling. Our church does child dedication that day & it's still hard for me to sit through that knowing my precious son is buried just outside the doors and I never got to do that with him. Last year when we dedicated Olivia, we had a piece included about Noah and was disheartened when the person who was to read our piece wanted to take out the part about Noah & not read it. :( Still makes me sad how taboo it seems to be talking about child loss. Nothing like making a baby loss mom feel even more ostracized & alone on an already difficult day.

Did you  know Mother's Day was originally founded by Anna Jarvis to honor her mother who lost 7 children? She was then saddened to see how commercialized the day became.

This coming Sunday, May 5th (always the Sunday before Mother's Day) is known as International Bereaved Mother's Day to honor EVERY mother and a way to help bring to light & break the silence of child loss.

Not sure what to say or do for a mom who has lost a child on mother's day? Here are a list of do's & don'ts. The best suggestion, just acknowledge her child who isn't here & realize that Mother's Day is a bittersweet day for her.

Looking for something tangible to do for Mother's Day? (whether for your own baby or a friend/family members baby) I've talked about Molly Bears in the past and the awesome gift they give grieving families (like our Noah Bear). This year, they are holding a special Mother's Day balloon release.

Go to Molly Bears, and for a $7 donation, you will get a personalized bio-eco friendly balloon, raffia & commemoration card.

HUGE (((hugs))) to the many moms out there who are missing some or all of their children. I know that Mother's Day is filled with mixed emotions. Feel free to leave your child's name in the comments so I can remember them along with you this holiday. And stayed tuned for a way I want to include your child's name in helping us to celebrate Noah's birthday.

Buffalo Style "Chicken"

So, what if I told you I had a recipe that would satisfy those cravings for boneless wings AND it's fairly healthy too?

Well, you came to the right place because I have the perfect recipe, tried & tested by myself and my kiddos (and we all LOVE it!!) In fact, if you are looking for a meat free snack, this would fit the bill!

Ok, are you puzzled yet what the secret ingredient is if it isn't chicken???

Why it's cauliflower!!!!

Oh yeah baby, good ole cauliflower can taste like a boneless wing after a few tweaks made to it. I was too excited to make this that I didn't take pictures of the process. But it really was quite easy.

Buffalo Style "Chicken" aka Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower cut into bite size pieces

1 cup of buttermilk (I have a powder buttermilk I keep on hand & this works fine)

1 cup flour (though I do half flour & half yellow corn meal to make it crispier)

2 tsp garlic salt

1 cup buffalo sauce

1 Tsbp butter

Preheat the oven to 450. In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, flour (cornmeal) & garlic salt until smooth (there may be a few lumps and that's ok). 

Gently place the cauliflower in the bowl and roll around lightly until coated. I then held up the piece & let the excess drip off. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 15-18, until it starts browning. 

Mix together melted butter & buffalo sauce (if you want to cool down the heat a bit, add more butter*). Loosen up the pieces gently off the cooking sheet before pouring the sauce mixture over the pieces. Try to coat as best as possible. (I saved a little sauce to put on after they came out of the oven as well).

Return to oven and bake another 5-8 minutes or so or until it reaches the brown state you prefer.

Serve with some bleu cheese or ranch dressing and celery!

*side note, you could make any wing sauce you like to put on these. I've made some of our own wing sauces in the past and they taste good on this as well.

Timeline Builder App for iPad

For the last few years, as part of our history curriculum, my kids have made timelines to go along with what we are studying. While these can be fun, they can also take up a lot of space. So I was excited to recently be given a chance to review Timeline Builder for iPad from Knowledge Quest.

Timeline Builder is an app that allows you to input any dates, pictures and information that you want to create an interactive timeline that you can then share via email or iTunes. You can customize your background, import pictures from your own photo library or import pictures using Wikipedia. Also, this great app doesn't have to be used solely for history curriculum, you can use this app for anything you'd like to create a timeline for like a family tree or keeping dates organized of milestones your children have reached.

My kids of course wanted to play around with the app as soon as we got it. We tried out the sample timeline just to get a feel for the different steps involved. Since it was pretty straight forward, we dived into starting a timeline to go along with their history curriculum.

We found it easy to add an event by giving a title to the specific event then typing in the start & end date and whatever description we wanted. From there, we hit the "search wikipedia" button to find an image. This part took a few steps as once we found an image, there are 2 ways to get it into the app. You can either tap the image until it's the only thing on the screen, then hold your finger down until the word "copy" shows, then you select that and go back to the app where you then can choose to import from pasteboard. If the picture is too big, you are given the option to resize the photo though those size options are preset so if you have a wide photo, it somewhat distorts it by squishing it together.

The other way to get an image is when you are on wikipedia (or whichever site you want an image from as you aren't limited to that choice though the extra facts found there complimented what we were studying), you tap on the image until a menu pops up where you then have the ability to save the image to your photo library. After that, you go back into the app and import the image from the library. It would be nice if the app didn't close down as you worked to place pictures but this just might be an iPad thing.

You can insert as many items on your timeline as you wish. When you want to view one of the subjects & the descriptions you placed on the timeline, you just double tap to fully view everything. You can also move the images with a finger on the timeline up or down and from side to side to place them however you prefer.

My children found this app easy to use on their own once I showed them how though I am pretty sure as tech savvy as they are, they could've easily figured it out. They each were able to create their own timelines so this app works well with multiple children & subjects. The app also saves your work automatically as you go so if your toddler happens to think she is "helping" her big sister by hitting the home button, no worries as your work isn't lost.

I played around with this as well and set up a timeline of a few events about Olivia.

I think this app will come in handy with our next baby as it will be super easy to jot down milestones on here so I don't forget them until I can enter them in a baby book.

All in all, I think this is a handy app to use especially for homeschooling and we plan to continue to use it not only for history but other subjects as well. There is music that plays in the background which we muted (and the app could do without that). I'd love to see some additional choices of backgrounds to select or a way to import your own as well as well as the ability to print out the timeline directly from the app though I got around this by emailing it to myself and printing from there.

You can buy the Timeline Builder app right now for $4.99 (normal price is $6.99). The app states it's for ages 10 & up but really anyone can use it. Younger children just might need a bit of a hand.