Kids in the Kitchen

The girls, Kj especially have been asking to bake recently.  I have been on a kick of trying to make sourdough bread "right" and so I have been kind of selfish and have been doing it by myself.  So, this particular Friday afternoon, the time was right.  I called the girls downstairs from their "rest time" and asked if they wanted to bake some cookies.  They looked through a couple cookbooks and found a recipe that we had all the ingredients and had no need for "wait time" (refrigeration...).  They set out to make them all by themselves.  Meanwhile, on another counter of the kitchen Mn and I made peanut butter, and sesame seed butters.  He learned out to start and stop the food processor. 

All in all, my job was to get the cookie sheets in and out of the oven and give them some small tips on previously unknown areas of the kitchen.  I would say that is the best way to make cookies!!  I may have to try it again!  ;) 

P.S. For those of you who don't know...I (nearly) never make cookies.  Maybe, once every 10 years or so.

Learning with Joy

I read a quote the other day in an article about Finish kindergarteners.  It was so interesting to me that I have been considering it ever since, and am very inclined to agree.  It was:  “Those things you learn without joy you will forget easily.” 

Here are a few non-curriculum items that the girls are enjoying...

While at a second-hand children's store, the girls spend my browsing time looking at books.  I saw one that had different braiding and such for girls to learn.  So, she spent a 10-15 minutes pouring over the book and came home.  The next day she did this to my hair!  She was also the photographer here.

This is one of the many batches of sourdough that I have messed up, but this mess up included doubling (or more) the rest of the dough, so the girls made some buns.  One batch in muffin cups and one just on a flat pan.  Very hard, but they enjoyed doing it and consuming them.  (My portion was hard too, but L wouldn't eat that.)

Kj just started piano lessons from one of her favorite crafters.  She actually asked if she could have crocheting lessons instead of piano lessons.  Miss M. is willing to crochet with her too.  Miss M.'s reservation to giving lessons was childcare.  I had a solution!!  L gets to play with little A. and Mn with Baby I.   It is a great half our all around!

Grandma Meta's Fishing Story

Uncle Alan, took the girls fishing this weekend.  He had done that a couple years ago and knew that it was memorable for the girls, so he asked if they wanted to go again.  Of course!  Grandma Meta decided to stay in the car and out of the breeze for the duration of the fishing trip.  So, every now and then I'd head over to spend some time chatting with her.  I asked her if Grandpa (my grandpa) ever went fishing.  She answered with a story of her dad and mom (my great-grandparents).

On Sundays after lunch Grandma's mom, Emma, would tell her kids, "If you want fish for supper, you had better get going."  So, Grandma and a few of her siblings would head over to Toad Lake to catch some fish.  They would return later in the afternoon with a pail full of fish.  Then, Mama Emma, would say, "Well, if you want to eat, you had better get those fish cleaned."  The kids would clean the fish and they'd all have fresh fish for supper.  

Grandma's comment about fish in the lakes...  There must have been more fish then, if we could get a pail full in an afternoon.  ...and/or less people fishing...or less people in general!  :)  Making memories!!  Love it!

"You never read, Mama."

This is what my daughter told me one day.  I failed to ask her what her definition of "never" and "read" were.  Do recipes count?  Recipe magazines?  Recipe blogs?  How about school books, read-aloud books, picture books, board books?  How about the Bible and my Bible study?  How about street signs and directions?  Does my book have to look like a novel?  Does it have to look like it is for an adult?

Well, today I reserved, for my reading pleasure 3 cookbooks from the library.  Maybe that will do the trick.  Maybe I will have to read it on the couch instead of at the kitchen island... 

Domestic School Day

Ahh, what a day we had together.  Right now as 2 are in bed and Kevin and Kj are still out at a Bible study, I am smelling the final product of a days long work.  Mmm, the sourdough bread is in it's last stage--the oven!

The kids and I had a very domestic school day today.  The girls had been gone for the weekend, the second in a row without parents and without a lot of free time at home.  So, we took a day to read, play, craft and cook.  Last week, I began a fresh sourdough starter.  This one is water and flour alone, no yeast, no sugar.  Today, was the day that I could finally bake some bread.  It is far more work than my last bread machine version of sourdough.  I fed the starter this morning and removed a bit for the bread sponge.  I then added water and flour, let rise, added more flour, let rise, divided it in 2, let rise, and put it in the oven.  It was an all day affair!

In between all of that, we:  read books, made twice baked potatoes and meatloaf, ate a leftover lunch, ran an errand, filled friendship bags (to hand out the night of October 31st--haven't settled on a name yet), played, read books, packaged individual portions of the food items for Grandma's birthday gift, vacuumed, biked to a friends house to make a delivery, read books, played...  I'd say that was a successful school day for all of us! 

P.S. Hope you don't mind, but I refrained from taking pictures of the girls working with the raw hamburger for meatloaf.

A Good Day

In the background, the girls are sorting clothes.  Mn is enjoying one of my long sleeved shirts.  He has it wrapped around his shoulders and is running through the house playing peek-a-boo with whomever will react.  I am cooking a new soup recipe, snitching brownie bites and typing about the day.

Today, L and I got kindergarten done before I finished breakfast.  The activity of the day was to make turtles out of our fruit at snack time.  T is the letter of the week.  Second grade is scattered in between our chore of the day (laundry) and meals.  In history they are learning about the Pilgrims.  They are currently in Holland seeking religious freedom and work to sustain them at a time when King James was forcing the people to attend the church of England or not worship at all.  The Hollanders had a "scrubbing day" and so the teacher's guide suggested we pick something to scrub today.  So, a few more windows got washed before winter.  Kj wanted to go next door and help them with their windows, but we have a whole floor left to do here...

It has been a good day.  Mid-morning I found myself singing, "Change my heart, oh God, make it ever true, change my heart oh God, may I be like you."  I was not in this current "good day" disposition.  God really did answer my prayer, thank you!!

The turtles:  L upside down, holding the legs up, Kj right side up.  L was smiling right before I snapped the picture.