Rainbow Noodles...Accidentally

I intended to make homemade whole wheat noodles tonight but got a little more than I bargained for:

Whole wheat RAINBOW noodles.

Rainbow noodles? How?
Well, let's just say it's not a good idea to let a certain toddler help you roll out the dough when they have an open bottle of rainbow sprinkles in their hot little hand.

The noodles were scrumptious!
And kind of pretty with little flecks of red, green and blue running through like teeny jewels.
It made me smile.

This is the recipe I used: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/homemade-whole-wheat-pasta

Minus the sprinkles of course.

To Grandmas House We Go!

This week our thing has been picnics:
An outdoor muffin picnic Tuesday.
A daddy-has-to-work late indoor picnic at his shop yesterday.
And today a picnic at Big Grandma's house.

Here's what was in our pic-a-nic basket Boo Boo:
Lasagna
Broccoli
Whole wheat rolls
Cute little clementine oranges
Monkey bread

Carson was so excited to go I could barely get him dressed! We had a blast! Big Grandma said she felt like a princess.

And she told us some picnic stories of her own: She and my grandpa would go on picnics at the park and the lake. They would cook steaks in a cast iron skillet over hot coals, spread out a blanket and enjoy her yummy potato salad too. That sounds fun!

I guess picnic-love runs in the family!

The Muffin Picnic

We made the most scrumptious muffins today: Lemon Poppseed. They are sweet, fragrant, crunchy, little heavenly muffin puffs.

And they tasted even better outside.
On a beautiful day.
Breeze blowing.
Snuggling on a blanket.
In the clover.

Yes, we had a muffin picnic.
And it's the very best kind of picnic in my opinion.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1-2 tablespoons lemon zest (depending on how lemony you like it)
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 400.
1) Line muffin pan with paper liners.
2) Mix flour with the poppy seeds, salt, and baking soda in one bowl.
3) Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy in a separate bowl.
4) Beat in the eggs.
5) Beat in the lemon zest, yogurt, and vanilla extract until well blended.
6) Stir in the flour mixture just until moistened. Do not over mix.
7) Spoon the batter into the muffin cups.
8)Bake 18 – 20 minutes.
9) Spread a blanket on the grass.
10) Enjoy warm muffins and beautiful weather.

Makes 12-15 muffins.

Over the Moon for the Moon

The past two weeks have been a love affair with the moon at our house.
Reading about the moon, singing about the moon, making moon food...

Here's a review of what we've been learning the past two weeks:

Theme: Phases of the Moon (We just learned full, half and cresent.)
Number: 11
Letter: K
Color: Black
Shape: Cresent
Vocabulary Word: Full

And here are some of the moon activities we have enjoyed:

Comparing a full moon to a cresent moon on the learning board:


Reading and rereading this beautiful book: Moon Dreams by Ruth Martin


And making moon food: Phases of the Moon Mini Pizzas!

It's super easy!

What you need:

English muffins

Pizza sauce

Shredded mozzerella
Pepperoni slices

Kitchen scissors

What you do:

1. Split one English muffin.

2. Cut one side in half. Use the one half as a half moon then cut the other to form a cresent moon.

3. Top with sauce and toppings. We cut our pepperonis into smaller bits for "craters".

4. Stick under the broiler until bubbly and serve with white grapes, corn, etc. for "stars".

The Aftermath of Sick

Taking a kid to the doctor is kind of like taking your car to the mechanic...it never seems to do for them what it did for you.
Today when I took Carson to the doctor there was no fever, no green boogers, no tears. He seemed like a happy kid with just a runny nose. So he's on his way to well. In the aftermath of sick, there was a lot of work to do today.
Scrubbing.
Spraying.
Washing.
Washing sheets, clothes and dun, dun, dun....Carson's beloved Wocket and Teddy.
He was NOT happy about his two buddies swooshing around in the washer. We checked on them to make sure they were okay.
Twice.
When they came out of the dryer he examined them carefully, sniffed them , hugged them and he's been carrying them around all evening. Then we read the best book for a bedtime story: "Little Rabbit Gets Messy" by Kathleen Amant. It's about little rabbit lovey that gets covered in pea soup and has to be washed. Adorable.
Tonight Carson is sleeping on clean sheets with a sweet-smelling-back-to-their-original-color Wocket and Teddy. Can't beat that.

Sick Day

Today is a sick day. I'm not sick but the kids are. :( Livie had her two month shots yesterday and Carson has the cruds.

So today was more of a TV-watching-book-reading-snuggle-in-blankets kind of day. And we have read and read and read books!

One of Carson's new favorites is this book: "I Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch.

It's a beautiful story about unconditional love. But it's so sweet I get a lump in my throat every time I read it. Every time. While I read it this evening I hugged my two sick little bears tighter in my lap remembering these moments are fleeting.

And when Carson said, " I Love You Ever...read again?"

I said, "Sure!"

Letter of the Week

The letter is K. But before I tell you about the letter, I need to explain that it's not actually the Letter of the Week No.
It's the Letter of Two Weeks.
Meaning we study the unit fit two weeks.
A) Because my son is only 22 months old so he needs extra time for reinforcement.
B) Because we are super busy and I don't get to a lesson every single day.
But Letter of the Week sounds better.

Here's what I used:
Foam
Glue
Fuzzy little pom poms
Velcro

I cut the letters out of foam. Stuck Velcro on the back and glued pom poms on the letters to make them "feely".

Touch is an important part of learning for little brains so adding a texture to the letter adds to the learning experience!

And fuzzy things are just plain adorable.

Graham Crackers!!!

We bake nearly every day. It's one of our favorite things to do together. Carson loves to help with mixing and it's such a great opportunity for teaching in the moment: counting, measuring, temperature. Plus if he makes it, he's more likely to eat it. When we bake Livie is usually asleep but today it was during her wake time. So she helped. And when I say helped I mean she looked adorable and cooed.

Today we made homemade graham crackers and they are amazing! The house smells delicious!

Here's the recipe:
http://weelicious.com/2010/09/01/graham-crackers/#

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Butter, chilled & cubed
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a food processor or mixer combine the first 6 ingredients.
3. Add cubed and chilled butter to the mix and pulse/mix until it resembles coarse meal.
4. Add honey and water and continue to mix until it all combines.
5. Remove and shape the dough into a flat disk and place between two pieces of parchment paper.
6. Roll dough out until 1/4 inch thick. Cut into crackers or shapes.*
7. Place cookies on a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

We made ours a little over 1/4 inch so it was more cookie-ish than crackery.

Number of the week and a Helicopter

Our number of the week next week is 11. I made it out of foam, googly eyes and stuck some Velcro on the back. (If you are wondering why there's more eyes on one than the other, it's to demonstrate place value. I know, I know, he's only 22 months old but the teacher in me couldn't help it. Plus, when he is old enough to learn place value I'll have a set of numbers ready to go!)

Googly eyes are just more fun to count than dots! And it gives a number much more personality.
It almost looks like a little critter.

And here is 11 on my fancy smancy learning board. I'll post our letter of the week tomorrow.

Okay, and this is just random: This little helicopter was 97 cents at Walmart and it made an awesome project for Art Time. A fun way to teach parts of a helicopter and practice fine motor skills with the paint brush.

Learning Board

This is one of those projects where I've seen something on the Internet and thought, "I could totally do that...and maybe even better!" And so I've made this pretty fantastic Learning Board.

What is a Learning Board?
It's a display board you can use during Learning Time to post items you plan on learning for the week. For example, a weekly letter, number, shape, color and vocabulary focus are what will we be putting on the learning board.

What does Learning Time Look like?For my 22 month old Learning Time is a specific time of the day (usually before lunch) where I set aside a few minutes (about 10) to focus on some specific things I want my son to learn through the week. Its where I introduce the concept and we extend learning throughout the day.

What you will need:
A display board (like you use for the Science Fair)
Felt, foam, construction paper or whatever you choose to cover the board with
Glue or adhesive spray

I made mine using felt. And I'll post more later on the items that will go on the board using Velcro.

Here we go!

So I love New Year's resolutions. Love. Love. LOVE. There's something so magical about the feeling of starting fresh and making a big change. The only problem is actually following through. Blah. This year, one of my resolutions was to start a blog to share with my friends some of the sweet little moments and the big adventures we have at our house. This blog is all about what we love to eat (and how we make it), what we are learning each week, wacky ways we play, how we do chores joyfully and some of the fun things we do as a family. So here we go!