Baking with Children

     Children; all children of any age, love to help bake sweets.  You get the thrill of seeing basic ingredients transformed into a delicious desert, and you get all those tastes along the way. 
     I love having my children help me in the kitchen, if I'm not a hurry and the thing I'm making doesn't have to turn out just so.  I also have to remember to bring lots of patients.  There will be a mess, there will be little fingers grabbing everything in sight, and it will take five times longer than it would if you didn't have your little helpers, but really, it still can be fun.  It also helps if you are making something you are very familiar with and is an easy recipe to follow, as steps and ingredients can easily be left out when there are so many distractions.  And yes, there will be plenty of those too. 
    The other day we made an apple pie together.  This is a great thing to make with kids, because nothing has to be precisely measured out. 

     You will probably have to let your hygienic standards down a little.  Kids lick things and touch things, and that's OK.  Everything is going into a really hot oven soon.  And as far as raw eggs go, I do let my children eat cookie dough and lick cake batter, and neither me or my children have ever gotten salmonella.  So I say go for it.  After all, what is baking without the tastes.

     Let your children participate as much as possible,  but if something is a little tricky, it's alright to say, "This is a mommy job."

    And of course remember that you are making special memories with your children, that they will remember fondly their whole lives.  I know I have many warm memories of helping my mother in the kitchen. 

Apple Picking and Baking

     Apple season is here, which means that fall is here, too.  I like to start out my fall/ winter baking with apple baked goods.  It smells so good when they bake. Now that it is getting cool in the evenings, a little heat from the oven actually feels good. 

     We went apple picking at an orchard with our homeschool co-op this past Tuesday.  The kids loved getting out there, and picking their own apples.  Most of the trees were very dwarfed, so we could pick the apples easily, but some of them were big enough that we had to put the kids on our shoulders to pick. 

 



     There was also a little farm yard with rabbits, goats, sheep, chickens, and peacocks!  It was a thrill getting to see peacocks.  They are truly majestic birds.

    Of course when we got home I had to make something with all those apples, so I made an apple crumble.  Crisps and crumbles are sooo easy to make, that you can whip one out for dessert while you are making supper.  Which is what I did. 

Here is my own recipe for a apple crumble:

 

Slice eight medium apples into 1" chunks.  Spread out evenly in a 11"x 9" pan. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine:

• 1/2 cup flour (I used white whole wheat, but whole wheat or all purpose will work too.)
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/4 cup oats
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Chop into pieces, then cut into the flour mixture, like you would for pie crust:

• 1 stick of butter.

Sprinkle the flour and butter mixture on top of the apples, then bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until it is bubbly and the apples are tender. 

 

     The last step is the hardest.  You need to let it cool down enough so that you don't sear the inside of your mouth.  I usually end up skipping this step, and suffer the consequences, because it smells too good to just sit there cooling!

 

Working with Kids

     I have recently been blessed with a flood of orders of the things I am selling through Etsy.  I'm thrilled that things are selling, but my shop is clearing out pretty fast, and I'm realizing just how long it takes me to make anything. 

     I've been working all day to replace my viking boat, which has sold.  There is a whole lot of sanding in one of those boats.  I am envisioning a belt sander in my future. 
     I've been trying to decide on a color for my new boat.  I like the green and yellow a lot, but I love trying out new designs.  I'm not the kind of person who can turn out the exact same thing over and over.  It might be a little extra work to make each and every thing unique, but it keeps me from getting bored. 
     If my time was my own, I could spend all day out in my shop, working on things.  But if I do that, when I come back to the house, it's chaos.  It's amazing how quickly the house can become completely blitzed, if I'm not there to rein in the mess making. 
     When I am working, Samuel is usually down in the shop with me.  He loves to sand scrap wood, and rummage through tools.  Anna and Abriel pop in and out, and usually play at least within ear shot.  They all love to hammer in nails.  Some times when they're all in the shop, talking, distracting, and getting into EVERYTHING,  I feel like I could give anything for a little uninterrupted time.  Then I stop and remember the reason I am working here, with my kids, is that I can be with them. 

Boys and Guns

     I'm not a pacifist.  I have no problem with little boys playing with toy guns, theoretically.  My brothers had tons of toy guns, which they loved, and I had assumed that when I had a boy, I would probably buy him toy guns to play with, too.   That is until my mother gave Samuel a toy gun for Christmas one year.  It was camouflage and looked like a miniature military weapon.  One look at my sweet little innocent boy holding that gun, and the gun went bye, bye.  I have decided that that is a toy we can do without. 
      Most of the little boys I've known, seem almost obsessed with guns, and sometimes even gore and violence.  I was pleased to see that Samuel wasn't interested in reenacting war games, and didn't seem to have any interest in guns.  That is until recently. 
     The other day he showed me a picture he had drawn.  It was of a roughly circular shape, brightly colored in sections.  When he showed it to me, I told him how pretty it was, and asked him what it was?  I expected him to say it was a rainbow, or something like that, since he's been really into rainbows lately.  But no; he looked up at me and said, "It's a spaceship for bad guys.  They kill people."  What! Where did that come from?  He doesn't watch anything more intense than Dragon Tales.  Where did he hear about bad guys and killing people, and spaceships?!  Where did my sweet little innocent boy go?  Today he made a pistol out of legoes; and that's what he called it too.  A pistol, not just a gun. 
     All this has made me ask, is a interest in weapons and warfare something that boys instinctively have?  When I would hear other little boys talk about this or that action movie, I would think, Ah ha! That's where all this obsession with violence is stemming from.  But Samuel doesn't watch action movies.  He is hardly obsessed with violence either, but he is definitely interested in playing good guy/ bad guy games, and in shooting things.  Types of things that Anna and Abriel have never shown one iota of interest in. 
    So the bottom line is: Is this a healthy behavior?  I think the answer is yes and no.  Yes, I do think that the natural need in males to fight and protect is good.  If that means that my little boy is going to be into guns, then, well... I can deal with that.  However, I don't think that movies and shows that depict violence, gore, or killing are O.K. for boys to watch.  Images are strong and powerful, and even though the overall message of the movie may not be bad, it can be detrimental just to experience all those violent images.  Children do not belong in war, even if it is only taking place on your TV screen. 
     Currently, Samuel does not have any guns, other than what he can make himself, although I can see getting him a very simplistic, unrealistic gun some time in the future.  For right now, I would love to have him drawing rainbows just a little bit longer.

Our Pet Toad

     We had so much fun with the toad Anna caught several weeks ago, that I decided that the next time we caught a toad, we would keep it.
     Well, yesterday Anna caught another toad.  After spending the night in a make shift terrarium, Dave went out this morning and got a 10 gallon terrarium from the pet shop, making it official that this toad is now our permanent pet. 
     American toads are considered a good beginner amphibian to own, since they are pretty low maintenance.  All they need is a terrarium, (minimum of 10 Gal for one toad)   an appropriate substrait, part of which is at least 3" deep, a place to hide, and a shallow water dish that they can soak in.  Toads do not drink; they sit in water and absorb it through their skin. 
      I chose peat moss mixed with topsoil for my substrait; I wanted it to be close to what he was used to in the wild.  His toad home, I made from a gourd, and his water dish is mussel shell.  I think I will have to get something bigger, but it will do for now. 

As soon as I put him in the terrarium, he hopped into his little gourd house, and walked around in it some, then he hopped out, and started checking out the other stuff in his new home.  He seemed like he was adjusting so well, that I went ahead and put in the food I had caught for him earlier.  He gobbled up the three crickets almost immediately, but I think the little grasshoppers were too big.  He was very interested in them, though.  He also managed to catch several ants that were crawling on a branch I had put in.  I'm glad he's eating so well, as I think that's a sign he likes his new home. 

     Right now he is just hanging out in the gourd house.  He has now been named, Algernon, but we'll call him Algie for short.  I love toads, and I have to admit, this pet is probably more for me than the kids, but they enjoy having him too. 

    I would love to figure out how to get a good picture without the reflection on the glass getting in the way, but these will do for now.   Isn't he cute?  As for the "he" part, I had decided to just call it a boy, regardless of what gender it might be, since I certainly couldn't tell, but earlier he was puffing out his throat, so that means he's really a boy, right?



Little Doll Love

     Both Abriel and Samuel have been so good about not playing with the toys I have made for Stepping Stone Toys, that is until I made something they both really wanted.

     I don't know what it is about little dolls, but they go nuts over them.  Samuel has his own little viking that he loves, but he lost his sword.  When he saw me making these vikings, he was going to get his little guy a sword.  I ended up making him a new sword, as he was just not going to give up trying to get his knight a sword. 

     Abreil loves her root children, and of course when she saw me making these, it meant more little friends for her.  She just could not understand how I could be making a little doll, and it not be for her.
    I think I am going to have to make some more wooden figures soon, and this time they'll be for my kids.

Great smoothies anytime!

    With school and co-op starting back up, as well as trying to grab spare moments here and there, to work on things for my shop, convenient foods are looking more and more appealing.  Or at least they would, if it weren't for the fact that it seems as if you have to make the choice between convenience, and everything else.  Such as, health, price, environmentally sound, and of course, taste!  However, I have found that you can have it all, if you put in a little initial effort. For example, I love smoothies, and they can be a very easy, quick treat if you freeze your fruit in smoothie size portions.

I get big bags of bananas, that are about to be over ripe, cheap, at the grocery store.  A lot of times there are organic bananas in the bag, so not only are you getting cheap bananas, your getting cheap organic bananas.  The only thing is, they have to be used right away.  I peel and break up two bananas per sandwich baggy, and then throw all the little bags in a big freezer bag, and freeze them.  When I want to make a smoothie, I grab a baggy out of the freezer, and I have just the amount I need.  I do this with other fruit too, such as mangoes. 
     So that's one convenient food that is healthy, economical, ecologically sound, and tastes great! 

     No, that's not a new fancy hair clip; it's a real live butterfly!  Anna has an amazing way with little creatures.

Monday's Moon

    This is a little on how we combine Waldorf and CM.  Anna practices her penmanship by writing a few lines of a verse or favorite poem (which is CM) in a Waldorf style main lesson book.  She writes on the lined sheet, and then illustrates what she has written on the blank sheet.  She absolutely loves her new Lyra colored pencils.  I thought the crayons might go to the way side with her, but she still uses them, even in conjunction with the pencils. 
    I enjoyed seeing how she chose to illustrate the poem she wrote today.  It goes like this:

The night was growing old,

    As she trudged through snow and sleet;

Her nose was long and cold,

 And her shoes were full of feet.

                  -Anonymous

First of all, I was a little surprised she chose this poem, and then, as you can see above, she drew a moon with feet.  In her finished picture, the moon is carrying a lantern, surrounded by snow flakes and rain.  I would have never pictured a walking moon, but that is one of the reasons I am glad that her poetry book is not illustrated, so that she is free to imagine what she will.



Best Laid Plans...

     After spending hours getting Five In A Row resources lined up, I don't think that's going to fly this year.  The twins really weren't that into it, and quite frankly, neither was I.  Most of the activities I found to go with it, were a little too much like busy work for me. I'll tolerate a little bit of busy work, if the kids are really into it, (lapbooks, for example) but I'll never force anyone to sit down and do a worksheet.  Abriel would much rather be doing this.

Or this.

     She always has some kind of elaborate game going on.  Currently it's a little world she and Anna have with their root children dolls. She likes stories being read to her, but after it's through, she'd much rather go and do her own thing, instead of doing an activity based on the book we just read.
     Samuel loves doing "school".  He likes practicing writing letters and counting anything and everything.  He thinks he needs to do school right along with Anna, and I think that was the problem with BFIAR. It wasn't school like enough for him.  When I brought out a coloring page for him and Abriel, he said, "I want to do school now, Mommy."  When I told him this was his school, he looked at me like I was nuts.  I think he's going through a highly curious period.  He smells everything, even people; this can be embarrassing.  He wants to know the how and the why of everything.  But... He is still very three.  His idea of school is sitting on my lap while we count his fingers and toes, or me helping him write the letter that he wants to learn that day, not a set "letter of the day".
     So, what has our first week of preschool looked like? 
     They listen pretty well to me reading the Bible in the morning, and some other of Anna's readings have caught their attention.  Abriel was very into the D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths.  We made play dough together and they had a play date with their nephew and niece.  They helped make muffins and go grocery shopping.  We went to our homeschool co-op on Thursday. They drew many colorful pictures with their new beeswax crayons.  We set up our small tent on the deck and played camping for a couple of days.  They caught lizards and butterflies, and most of all, played. 
    This is natural.  This is us living our lives, not trying fit into a prescribed schedule, or check off a list of what we should be doing.  I like this. 
    Sometimes our best laid plans don't turn out exactly like we thought, and some times that's just fine.