A Recent Bento

Just thought I'd share a recent bento the girls had. My neighbor said I was making a healthy lunch and she should take lessons from me. I do not think it is so much the contents, but the presentation that makes it look "impressive." The girls are starting to eat more than this small container holds, so I am going to have to find something else to use as my standard lunch container!

Roast beef and lettuce roll up, baby carrots and sugar peas, black grapes, and a special candy treat.

It is too early to be addicted?

I read about this book titled "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day," and was intrigued. Good things were being said about it. And I have really been missing "good" bread like the San Francisco Area had, so I decided to see if my library had it.

It did!

I read the premise, basically making dough and storing it in the fridge. Or so I thought. It took me almost 3 weeks to try it, but I finally did today. Can YUM say it all?

I made a loaf for dinner. It was gone before the rest of the food was gone. I made a loaf for breakfast tomorrow. I think I'll make another loaf tomorrow too. Then I'll have to make another batch of dough.

I'm telling you, this is EASY ... no kneading, just make a wet dough, kind of like cookie batter consistency. Let that sit in your fridge until you are ready to bake. shape and cook.

I think I am addicted, and right now I see no knead to buy any more bread ever again. And my bread machine. Ha! who kneads that.

OK, enough of the bad puns. But seriously, I'm excited.

My newest crazy thoughts

Something has been going crazy in my mind lately - I have been overflowing with ideas for things to do with the kids. I am not sure what triggered this plethora of branching thoughts, but I literally have way too many and they are all clogging my brain! I am besieged with ideas and have little time to execute these ideas. I feel like someone has upped the caffeine content of my morning coffee, the thoughts just keep coming and coming and I don't know what to do with them!

So, we have been doing some nature study - not quite as much as I want, but we are managing to stuff some in a few weekends a month. My goal is to do it every weekend, but that just is not happening between girl scouts, free play, cleaning, errands, and family time. I am currently trying to figure out a way to add some nature study in the background. We'll see how that works out. I have a few ideas, but not sure how to implement those ideas.

One of those crazy ideas revolves around decorations. Each year after we take down the Christmas decorations, I see how the girls just LOVE having something special and different up. So I think that I will decorate for different holidays. But never end up doing that. I had the brilliant idea last week - based upon my new realization that I am pagan at heart, or nature worshiper - that I would mirror the seasonal changes happening to the landscape outside with an ongoing seasonal change in decorations indoors. So, I am slowly working on a plan to create some color pallets and decoration inspirations for each season and some holidays. This will involve quite a bit of organization on my part, but I think it will help them fully integrate the changing of seasons with their lives.

I also have this idea to expose the kids to music and art. I need to create a plan for that. I'd like to sort of have a composer and artist, or maybe a style of art/music a month and have some books and art on display or around the house and casually talk about it. I would really love to have Art History (social and political forces behind art) be a part of our ongoing projects. I'd love to have a project a month involve said art. I also am trying to have some music from a the composer of the month on hand and playing at various times when the kids and I are together. Background music, nothing major, but to familiarize them with the various styles and songs of different times and composers. Eventually I'd love to discuss some musical aspects of these composers/styles, but for now they do have a pretty comprehensive music class at their school. So the background approach is fine with me for now.

And then there is my love for Living Math and incorporating math games and projects into our lives as well. I was really into this process this past summer, but have tossed it to the back burner lately as I try to process the nature study idea more. I'd like to get back to this some as Annika is really interested in math. It is hard to do two semi-simultaneous yet different hands on projects that cater to one child's current interest and talents.

If you think this post is jumping around and all disjointed, try living in my brain. I have been like this all year. The girls, with both being in school full time, are busy with school and their two extra curricular activities, and I have babysitting for two kids taking much of my free time. We are left with one afternoon a month every other week free to work on projects. Even our weekends are getting booked up with other activities.

So this busy-ness means that it is hard for me to implement my plethora of crazy ideas. I just need to to pull them out of school one day a week and do *my* things with them. I'd be educational. Yea, I really have an urge to take control of their education and just do it myself. sort of kind of depends on the day maybe