Acorn Hunt

The only way to know it's fall in Florida is by the acorns littering the sidewalks. They. are. everywhere. And I can get Kev to do almost anything just by promising him we'll go on an acorn hunt. Clean the playroom? Check. Put the shoes away? Check. Give Mommy extra cuddles? Check. Please never go away acorns.

Not such an exciting picture, but I really like that red stripe going across his back. Please don't ever grow up too much to wear cartoon character undies Kev!

Halloween 2010

It was a super busy weekend here - we had a trip to Dinosaur World (don't be jealous), a Mother Daughter Group outing to cheer on the walkers at Tampa Bay's 3 Day walk, and an afternoon of Halloween fun with costuming up and trick or treating.

Rose Wilder Lane and our little woolly mammoth.

Please note that it was 85 degrees here when we started. Kev came home from his trick or treating route and drank 4 huge glasses of water. Poor guy was in a fake fur sauna, but he loved it and got lots and lots of compliments! Amiya, on the other hand, had to explain who she was quite a bit. That's what you get for being your own woman, Amiya!

Amiya also had to give a presentation to her class on who her character was - as in previous years, they had to tie it into a book. She did a bit of swaying back and forth, but she shows a remarkable amount of poise for a chicky of seven years old. I think it goes without saying that she gets that from me.

And then there was Dinosaur World. Here are our three sitting on a T-Rex's leg when we were all done. They were tired - that's probably the only reason I got a shot with all three of them looking in the right direction at the same time.
Sifting for "fossils." I just really love this picture. I love her profile, her calmness, her intensity.

And then there's this budding archaelogist. He was no less intense than Amiya; sifting, sifting, sifting for sharks' teeth and snail shells. Debating what to keep and what to throw back. Explaining how it all works to Daddy.

All in all, a good weekend. Super busy, but that keeps us out of trouble, right?

Hell Hath Frozen Over

and pigs are flying. I'm back. Mainly because my brother and my Mom say I should, but also because I know that we are going to forget all the little things that the kids do that I don't blog about. So I'll try again.

Because my Mom is awesome (that should be all caps: AWESOME!) and she sewed up some amazing costumes, those pics will be the first ones I post on this renaissance of our blog.

Check out Rose Wilder Lane:

All stern and school-marmish.

This one sort of takes my breath away. So beautiful!

And then there's this one:

He takes my breath away with his cuteness.
(Also with the number of hairballs he is leaving around my house!)

He insisted upon being on all fours, "wike a weal woowy mammoth!"

I've been put on notice to make a trunk and tusks for Kev and a hat for Rose. I think I can manage since Mom did all the hard work. Thank you so much, Mom! The kids are so lucky to have you!

-this moment-

{this moment} – A Saturday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama.

Still Cookin'

Amiya's culinary adventures continue unabated. She won't let me have any peace if she doesn't get to make something every day. Fine, fine. But my chicky needs to stick around a bit longer to help with the clean up!

Yesterday she had a friend over and they made homemade fettuccine for us - the noodles were good, but very chewy. We all agree that next time we need to move the pasta machine to an even finer setting before cutting into noodles.

Here you can see the two little sous chefs - the health inspector would rail about the lack of hairnets in our kitchen, but I think they're pretty cute.

And the final product - this was an entirely homemade meal (except the cheese). The tomato sauce was from tomatoes that we picked and froze a few weeks ago. We're still getting used to fresh tomato spaghetti sauce - it's much thinner than jarred sauce but it tastes so much fresher. The kids would say the best part was getting to grate their own cheese on their plates. It's the little things, right?

These two also made the best homemade brownies ever. They had that shiny, crispy box-mix brownie top crust going on, but a much deeper flavor than brownies from a box. Nice job girls!

And today, Amiya was begging to get back in the kitchen before I could have my morning coffee. Dinner plans were simple: Indian basics to use up random things in our house.

So, Amiya helped prepare our rajmah (kidney beans) and chapati. She grated the ginger, fried the spices, stirred the tomatoes, rinsed the beans, etc. I added on a cabbage and cauliflower dish to appease the gobi-monster that is Kev and we tried changing things up with a (new to us) carrot dish.

How did she do? Check it out:

How many kids do you know who take thirds of cauliflower? Cabbage? Kidney beans?

How to get Kev to stop spewing moopsetherium species? Give him carrots! Chapati! Gobi! As long as it's cooked with a bit of garam masala and served with a healthy serving of yogurt, Kev will eat it and give the rest of us a moment's calm.

Book Club for Babes

While Vinay was out of town, Amiya and her good friend Emily played hostess to nine other ankle-biter girls at our house. Each girl received an invitation a few weeks ago to come on over for a book discussion about the book Matilda by Roald Dahl. Even better, the invitation also stated that the girls should wear their PJs and be prepared to not only talk about a great book, but to watch the movie, too. From 7 - 10 PM, our home was invaded by 11 squealy, giggly girls and we had a lot of fun! The girls did a great job talking about the book, despite the fact that for some, the level was a bit difficult. Matilda is a high-interest book with a little girl outsmarting lots of evil grown-ups, so they loved it even if it was challenging!

Amiya and I created stacks of fake books for the girls to take their picture with - just like the cover of the book. Matilda is a character who loves and loves to read (sound like anyone you know?) so we thought for the first meeting of our group, we'd have the girls surrounded by books, just like Matilda.
I did my best to have Kev thoroughly exhausted by the time the girls started arriving - I had high hopes that he'd fall right to sleep and never know that so many friends were over.

No. such. luck.

He wasn't going to bed without his picture being taken too:

Happily, Ms. Sara, Emily's Mom, played along with Kev and took a few shots so his little heart would be sated. And then Kev scampered off to bed for what I hoped would be the end of his presence at the girls' club.

No. such. luck.

Not once, but twice, he poked his head out of the room to yell, "Giwls, I aksed you to be kiet. I'm twyin' to sweep in hewe." Of course, the girls thought this was nothing short of hilarious which made them laugh all the louder and kept poor, sleep-deprived Kev up even longer. Such a tough life the little man has.

We have another book club meeting in August - and I don't know who is more excited - Amiya or me! I love doing stuff like this with her and I love that this could be the start of a group where reading is really cool and exciting! I get so much out of my book club - I hope this is equally rewarding for her!

Number Correspondance, Take 2

How quickly Kev has moved on from doing his own number correspondance/attribute sorting work to forcing Vinay to do it. Kev played teacher and Vinay was relegated to student. Unfortunately for Vinay, Kev's categories were a bit more challenging: 4 animals that live in the snow, 5 animals that live in the water and, the doozy, 6 animals that start with a B. Kev was not willing to accept panda bear, polar bear, or grizzly bear as simple bears until we twisted his arm a bit. He also wasn't happy that the eagle and stork were referred to as birds. He's a stickler for details. Life father like son.

Number Correspondance via Buttons and Animals

Kev's preschool teacher suggested that we work with him on 1:1 number correspondance, which pretty much means that if there are seven elephants and we ask Kev to count out how many elephants there are, he counts seven elephants. Period. Kev, like most kids, will get to seven and then just keep going. Correspondance is about accurately counting what he is asked to count.

I visited a teacher store yesterday and saw a perfect game for this skill on sale for $35. (!!!!!!!!!!) It consisted of three drawings of jars, plus buttons to sort into the jars. For example, one jar was for circle buttons, one for square buttons and one for bear buttons. Come on? $35? I stopped at Michael's and grabbed a bag of buttons and had three jar pictures laminated at Kinko's. My total: $9. (I think I should get that $26 to spend on lattes - don't you?)

So, here is the little man, playing our jar game. We're counting and throwing attributes in for fun. This was our first sorting exercise this morning - shapes:
He did just fine with the shapes, but the 1:1 correspondance is hard for him - once he gets counting, he doesn't want to stop! But we practiced a lot and he got it.

After sorting buttons, he was over it. So I suggested we do a sort based on animals and their habitats. Ding! Ding! Ding! I found a winner - we needed seven animals that lived in the snow, six animals that lived in the water and five animals that lived on the savannah. Oooooh. This task took careful concentration and a lot of editing - "But Mommy, I want to put all da animals that wive in the water." I had to talk him out of putting his whole collection here - but now I think I have a high-interest way to get him to categorize and to practice his correspondance skills!

So Sweet

Literally. So sweet.

We have a tradition that when Daddy goes out of town, the kids can pick a box of cereal. Whatever cereal they want - the rest of the time, they eat oatmeal, cream of wheat and shredded wheat type cereals, so for the 5 days Daddy leaves town each year, they get free reign. And they picked Cupcake Pebbles and Fruit Loops. (The Pops were part of a buy one, get one deal.)

They are in heaven - and I am free of cooking for a few days. Life is good. For a few days. But now, with Daddy coming home tonight, I am unsure of how to deal with the huge amount of sugar cereal that remains. Throw it? Let them eat it and set a precedent that they can have sugary cereal when Daddy is home? What to do? What to do?

Happy Father's Day

to a Dad who knows how to:

always find the ticklish spot,

help his newborn find a heartbeat to nestle into,

multitask,

pick up babes on the beach,

make room for two on his lap,

take a girl out dancing,

croon a sweet melody,

live in the moment,

and never pass a day without marvelling at these children.

Happy Father's Day Vinay! We love you!

-this moment-

{this moment} – A (new) Saturday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.

Hello? Hello? Anyone there?

Kev spent the duration of our grocery trip on his phone. He was talking to Grandpa about groceries that Grandma and he might need.

"Ceweal? You need ceweal?"

"Kick (quick), Mommy, how do I 'pell ceweal?"

"Moopsetherium ham? I don't sink dhey have dat, Gampa."

Grandpa and Kev talked for a good twenty minutes about all the things he needed to get and lots of strangers in the store were grinning and giggling at the little guy carrying on a conversation on his banana. Kev was oblivious to all of it - that happens sometimes when you're talkin' with Grandpa.

Cooking Kid

Part of Amiya's math supplementary work this summer is to cook at least two or three times a week. I mentioned earlier how my Mom always had supplementary learning for us in the summer - and I'm just following her lead on this one with cooking. She found a series that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel used to put out for kids to cook in the summer. It was not something we had to pay for, it was not something we had to drive to, and we certainly didn't have to search out exotic ingredients. Simple, healthy recipes that taught kids the basics of measuring and mixing, a bit of food history and a lot of food safety. It was a great introduction to being in the kitchen and I'm grateful my Mom encouraged me to do it.

And so, Amiya is going to spend a lot of time this summer in the kitchen. The good news is she loves it. The bad news is we don't need all the calories - so if you're local, you might just have a treat on your door!

Amiya started by doubling each ingredient in the recipe. I had printed it out with the amount halved, she had to double it to make it work. This was easy for her when the amounts were whole numbers or simple fractions, but doubling up 3/4 took a bit of thought.

Chopping nuts was a bit scary for her, but she would not hear about me helping out. She wanted to do each and every bit of this recipe herself. So, we talked about good knife technique, being calm and keeping fingers up, up, up. She did very well, although afterwards she had to take a few minutes to repose - she said her heart was very nervous.
Cracking eggs was a big deal for her - she has been bugging to do it for a while and I usually say no. But now that we've crossed that bridge, there's no going back.

We talked about measuring liquids v. measuring solids and why we use different tools for each. We talked about what a t. means as opposed to a T. I take so many cooking rules and techniques for granted because I do it all the time - it's an interesting experience to have to explain so much to someone. Cooking is really another language.

Here she's working her biceps and mixing it all together. The end result was a delicious smelling kitchen and a yummy breakfast treat this morning.

Flashback to March

One of the hazards of not blogging for a few months (besides the scorn of my Mother, my Brother and my Hubby) is that the big events get glossed over. There's a trip to India, a visit from family from Wisconsin and France, and a few birthdays to blog about. Today, the Little Miss' seventh birthday.

Of course, Laura Ingalls was the theme. This crowd showed up at our house on a Friday evening for old-fashioned birthday fun.

We started the party with a very brief read aloud so the kids who weren't familiar with Laura Ingalls would get an idea of what it was all about. We should have kept doing this all. night. long. There was calm. There was order. After this, we moved inside where a local elementary school music teacher agreed to teach the kids some old-fashioned dances. Big hit, but much chaos. Now that it's well in the past, I look back fondly. When it wasn't so well in the past, I was less fond. Amiya, as the girl of the hour, got to have the sole male in attendance as her dance partner.

We had a campfire with songs and popcorn and scary stories. The kids must be coming to the age where offing people (fictionally) is a lot of fun as there was a lot of death in their stories. They must have missed the whole Laura Ingalls theme - I don't remember a lot of offing in her books.

There was also plenty of sugar - plenty, plenty. Amiya wanted a big cake this year and since she always seems to get the short end of the stick when it comes to birthday cakes, I made it way bigger than it needed to be. But she loved it, so all is right with the world.
A better picture of the cake - it was maple on the bottom, vanilla in the middle and chocolate on the top. Everything was edible except the wagon which is now somewhere in her room creating more clutter.
All in all, a fun party. Amiya was a bit much and so we had lots of conversations about being relaxed when you're the hostess. Not that it's going to happen anytime soon, but I hope she'll get there eventually. It'll be a lot more fun for everyone if she does. On a brighter note, next year she doesn't want a party. She wants to head off to a hotel with a fun pool with the family and one friend. Can I get a hallelujah?

Animal Habitat Project, Take 2

Last year, at the end of first grade, Amiya had to select an animal, conduct research, create a display and write a brief report about said animal. She chose the white tiger and did a great job. (She was more enthused than she seems in the photo.)

This year, same thing except a longer report. She chose an okapi and did a really nice job, again.

The report this year was much more elaborate, including the standard intro/information/ccl format and citations. She did an excellent job and we did not need to retreat to separate corners whilst in the midst of notetaking, etc. I helped her organize her information, she wrote the paper. She also made sure to "add bits of personality" throughout - her teacher said something to the kids about making their writing their own with "bits of personality." Amiya ran with that and I had to keep reminding her that it wasn't an editorial, but a factual report. I've highighted the bits of personality that she kept.

Here it is:

What do you think a giraffe plus a zebra would look like if you mixed them together? The animal that would be the sum of those would be the Okapia Johnstoni or simply, the okapi. The okapi is a mammal that lives in a special part of the world. Want to know more? Just keep reading!

The okapi is a rare and unique animal which looks like a mule with brown and white stripes on its’ legs and hind. The rest of its body is a dark brown. It has a long neck like a giraffe but it’s not quite as tall! They are only 5-6 feet tall at the shoulder. The okapi’s body gives it great camouflage and its’ good hearing and fantastic speed help it stay away from its’ main predator: the human. It can groom hard to reach spots, such as its' ears, with its’ tongue. It can even use it to pick its’ nose! Males weigh 440-660 pounds and females weigh 495-770 pounds. At birth okapis weigh around 80 lbs. Okapis are herbivores so they eat leaves, grass, buds, shoots, fungi, fruits, seeds, and ferns. Okapis are able to eat plants that are poisonous to humans because they’re ruminants. A ruminant has a stomach made up of different sections or chambers. An okapi chews something and then swallows it and then it passes through the first chamber. Next, it goes back up to the mouth. The okapi chews it again about forty to fifty times and then it passes through the other three chambers. In this way, it’s able to eat things that are poisonous to humans. They usually live by themselves. The only time they come together is when they’re mating. Okapis usually mate when they’re 2-4 years old. The male lowers and raises his front leg, then he taps the female with his leg. Then they mate. After mating, the female goes to the thickest part of the forest to have the calf. Scientists know so little about okapis because they were only discovered about one hundred years ago!

Okapis can be found in the Ituri rainforest in Africa, specifically in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). Okapis help the rainforest by fertilizing the ground. “How?” you ask. Because they eat fruits, there are seeds in their droppings and those seeds in the droppings grow into plants. (Mommy's note: she totally and fully made this part up. She read it nowhere. It is probably true and she heard about it with other animals, but still.)

Now, I’ll tell you about the rainforest. The climate in the rainforest is warm, wet, and humid with sun and rain daily. It’s always green and alive with trees, plants and animals. If you’re taking a walk in the rainforest, you’ll think it is quiet but if you listen closely you’ll hear the hooting of the howler monkeys and if you’re lucky, you might hear the screeching of a parrot! The plant life in the rainforest has trees, trees, trees! There are four levels in the rainforest: first the forest floor, then the understory, next the canopy and last, but not least, the emergent level. If you’re looking from an airplane, a rainforest might look like a big head of broccoli because the canopy is so dense. If you’re wondering “Then what is the emergent level?” Well, it’s the trees that stick up above the canopy. There are lots and lots of plants and they’re very diverse. In one acre you might find 100 different species of trees! Vines, called lianas, grow around trunks and branches of trees. Epiphytes, or air flowers, grow on all layers of the rain forest. Both vines and epiphytes are home to frogs, ants and many other creatures. The soil of the rainforest is very thin and poor in minerals. Dead plants and animals rot quickly because it’s so hot and humid that their nutrients recycle quickly into the soil. The roots of plants and trees grow near the surface to get the nutrients quickly. On the floor of the Ituri rainforest, giant hogs and lowland gorillas roam along with the okapi. In the canopy, monkeys, bats and birds live and make their homes.

The rainforest is important for the world. Rainforests make ¾ of the earth’s oxygen! It is also helpful because it gives us food like cocoa, bananas, pineapples, spices, nuts and fruits. The rainforest also gives us rubber. It can make the medicines to possibly cure illnesses such as eye diseases, malaria, and cancer. It can also make medicines to lower blood pressure. This is why it’s important to take care of the rainforest! You can help the rainforest by planting trees and reusing paper.

I really love the okapi and the rainforest. Now that you know more about the okapi and its’ habitat, what will you do? I’m going to try to help the rainforest and save the okapis. Even little hands can help!

Chicky also had to do a display - here's her okapi habitat display. She did a really great job, I think. As per usual, Vinay and I are the money, she's the creativity. Kev graciously shared a few of his animals with her.

All in all, this was a really great project for her. She had to learn to take notes and cite sources and she got to paint and create. She learned a bit more about okapis, too.

It would seem that third graders do another project just like this, but more elaborate, more in-depth. I am hopeful she will once again pick an animal that we can pull from Kev's toy chest. And, I'm hopeful that when Kev hits grade school, the moopsetherium craze will have passed and we will not have to argue about whether it is a viable choice for his projects.

True Love

Meet Ammu.

She's a big deal if you're 4 and you like girls with dangly earrings who boss you around. For Kev, it's like having the real deal Amiya at home and a mini-Amiya at school.

And, it is love.

Kev loves Ammu and Ammu loves Kev. They cannot be separated at school without looking into each others' eyes with love and a big, big hug. Tears ensue if pick-up is hurried and the hug is forgotten.
Don't let Kev's body language here fool you. He was loving every moment of his playdate with Ammu this morning. Every. single. moment. They got to focus just on each other with no classroom interruptions.

I'm already working on the wedding arrangements.