From rabbits to The Elephant Bar

This morning, I made my daughter very happy by making pancakes for her breakfast. I don't think I added enough water to the mixture; it didn't make the nice circles it usually does for me. The batter dripped thick onto the pan - very messy - but it gave me (and my kids) a funny surprise - Accidental rabbit pancakes:

and a surprise carrot on the side, too!


It was a nice day overall, despite the grey skies. My husband took us all out for dinner at the Elephant Bar, my favorite restaurant.



Of course, the little boy ate his fruit. Tart?

Dreary got Better

I would never survive in Washington or Oregon. It is a dreary day today and I am feeling it...miserable and grey. My morning caffeine kick is winding down and I am hoping that enough of it is left when I get home to do the laundry, fix dinner, and clean the house so it doesn't feel claustrophobic.

Ugh.

My favorite part of the day was making dinner with my son. I found another easy chicken recipe. I let him mix the dry ingredients while I covered the chicken with Dijon mustard. I dipped the chicken into his mixture, placed them all onto a shallow pan and baked them for 50 minuted in a 375 degree oven. While we were waiting, he helped me make Rice-a-Roni. He thoroughly enjoyed dumping the contents of the packets into the pan, and watching me saute and, later, mix them with water. When the rice was done simmering, he announced that it was done and he was ready for dinner. He was so proud of himself.

Oh, and I want to share this link with you: Photo Globes
Awesome idea for all of those pictures and other paper stuff that you hate to throw out but have no need for... SO CUTE!

Because they're supposed to be

My little boy wanted to play games today. We played several, one of which was Hi Ho Cheerio. The game has 4 different fruits: apples, cherries, oranges, and blueberries. I asked my son why blueberries are purple. True to his genius, he replies, "Because they're supposed to be."

I purchased some lamps for my cave the other day. I scored - I was able to purchase 2 beautiful lamps. One of them is quite heavy and I could swear that parts of the base are marble (!). The other one is wooden with a really nice shape. Unfortunately, this one doesn't have a top, but I can always pick one up later. My husband also gave me a nice lamp this Christmas. I added a few other things to decorate my room...

The Pantry and Squirrels

I couldn't take it anymore. I opened my pantry and took out the contents. I looked at our massive amount of pasta and reusable grocery bags and cereal and cans of food and packets of oatmeal and hot cocoa. We have so much of it. Why, you ask? Because the shelves are SO DEEP that things get pushed in so far that we forget we have them. GAH!! I decided that if I couldn't have my roll-out shelves, I would make the next best thing. I went into the garage, found three plastic storage bins, dumped out the contents (for reuse, trash, or donation) and used them to store the contents of my messy pantry. The idea is being able to pull out the contents so I can see what our supply is. A work in progress, I am sure, but it's better than digging.

We also started the Spring Semester and surprisingly, my daughter said that she was glad. Wow, did I miss something?


The funniest part of the day was the conversation I had with my daughter about two squirrels we saw in our backyard:
Ash: are those squirrels married?
Me: squirrels don't marry, Ash
Ash: don't squirrels breed?
Me: yes but they don't get married
Ash: why not?
Me: because...we'll talk about that later. Do you want French toast for breakfast?

Of Squitting and Mr. Mustachio

My son is a ham. My husband calls him Mr. Mustachio. It's obvious why, although I wonder if there is another name for the shape around his mouth created by whatever he eats for dessert...

Today, I went out for my first walk of the year. My homeschooling friends and I decided that we would do this every Monday and Wednesday...I am thinking that one day would work best for me. Looking at my daughter's calendar, Wednesdays may be too much with her workshops and her other work.

Despite the cold, I put on my sneakers and off I went with Pippin. It was fun. He loves walks and I was so happy to be able to take him along. I decided against taking Lucy because she is not fond of walks, and I didn't know how far we would be going. She drags whenever I take her around the block. Ugh. So I figured both of us would be happier if she just stayed home with my kids and my husband in our nice comfy house.

I told my two friends about my yearlong project and they happily agreed to be subjects of my camera.




My husband and I also took down our Christmas decorations. I am a little sad that it only took me a few minutes to do so, after all the time we took to put them up. I took a picture of the tree before it went back into the box:


My husband and I also played Dominion, his new favorite game. I used a randomizer application on my IPhone to choose the cards we would play. I found three cards that worked well together: Workshop, Feast, and Mine. If you play Dominion that you totally know what I am talking about. If you don't, come on over and let's play! It's easy, I promise.

Oh, the Squitting. No, not a typo. It's an exercise that I started doing yesterday when I couldn't decide between exercising and knitting. I know, hard choice, right? So I decided to do both. I knit while I did squats. Squitting. You should try it sometime...

Happy Birthday to me

Today is my birthday. I've already told my husband that I am not going to do anything today that seems like work.

So I am watching Bones and Angela advises the Psychologist turned Chef: "You are really gonna have to learn to enjoy things, just the way they are." Perhaps a new life motto?

I am still bummed that I can't upload any pictures...It is a gloriously rainy day today, and I think it would be nice to share some photos of the rain in the backyard.

Update: Jan. 3, 2011
I tried using Flickr to post my pictures. Excuse my language, but their size sucks:



I am going to try putting these pictures onto my Netbook and try posting them again tomorrow (Jan. 4) Boo for me.

Update Jan.4, 2011: I figured out how to upload my pictures onto my Netbook from my IPhone. Duh.



sigh. That's better.

A New Year, a New Project

This is my first post of the year. 1/1/11. I took a picture of my little boy just before the New Year was rung in. Both of my kids were watching movies while my husband and I were playing Dominion, a new card game that he bought. I really thought both of my children would be able to stay awake until midnight. They were on their 3rd movie at 11:15 (Ant Bully, after the first two Toy Story movies). I looked over at them around 11:49 and the little guy was sound asleep.

Anyway, my project for the year is to take at least one picture a day. I figure how hard will that be...I have my IPhone with me all the time, I have kids and dogs. There is bound to be at least one interesting shot that I can take, right? The problem that I foresee is posting everyday...but I am determined to do it (barring any major catastrophes that are sure to come up).

Go figure, the first major setback I had today was loading my pictures from my IPhone onto my NetBook. Itunes isn't installed on that laptop. I'll be darned if I spend the rest of the day installing Itunes and finding out that upon synching, it has erased apps and (WORSE OF ALL) pictures and songs that I didn't want erased. So here I am typing on my husband's security sensitive laptop, determined to start this year's blog right.

I feel like I should recap my year (2010) before I start blogging about the new year. The most significant change that I made last year was deciding to homeschool my daughter. I am amazed even now that I am doing it. It's turned out to be a turning point for me and my children; we've made so many new friends and are learning so much about each other (and ourselves). My daughter is gaining so much through the experience: she is learning Spanish, gaining more confidence in her math skills, reading more books, broadening her knowledge in the sciences and the world around her, and best of all, her comprehension for her subjects have increased. Through the workshops, she is also learning how to adapt to new and different situations. She is making fast friends and enjoys learning. As I work with her and understand her learning style, the more I realize that no matter how difficult it is on me, this is the best thing for her.

My son also started potty training. This is such a family effort. I am happy to say that he is taking to it well and I am pretty sure that he already is. The problem that we run into is the "Busy Boy Syndrome"...that is, when he is doing something really fun (like playing on the Wii for example), he ignores his need to use the restroom. I know this because when he is doing something low key (no technology, reading, playing cars, etc.) he comes to me at least once an hour because "I gotta go t'da potty!". And when he does this, he doesn't have accidents. I am hoping that when he starts school in the fall, he will into into peer pressure and go to the bathroom as needed to avoid the embarrassment of having an accident in his pants. One can only wish...

I have also rediscovered my love of cooking. In the past few weeks, I have cooked recipes with ingredients that I have never used before: parsnips, celeriac, fennel, star of anise. Most of these recipes have come from one of Ming Tsai's books, but I have found many of them from www.allrecipes.com and cooking magazines like Food Networks Food magazine, and Taste of Home.

I was inspired this year by one of my homeschooling mom/friends to design activities for my daughter's 9th birthday party. I painted an alien, gathered rocks and glow-in-the-dark paint for Asteroid Painting, designed and painted a Comet game, and baked cookies which the children decorated with food gels and sprinkles.

We became members of the Discovery Museum. My daughter was able to take part in Space Camp this summer and had a BLAST! We have participated in many of their activities, and I am happy to say that my husband takes advantage of our membership to take the kids out so that I can have some free time to myself (not often enough - ha!)

We continue to spend time with our good friends in El Dorado Hills. It's weird to see both my daughter and her friend grow together. He is almost as tall as me and his mother thinks that he will be taller than me soon enough.

Well, I guess the pictures from today will have to be loaded later. For now, happy new year!

Update 1/4/11: Figured out how to upload my pictures from my IPhone. Duh.

My first (admittedly lame) picture of the year:


If it means anything, it was the first time we played Dominion. We'll see where it leads us...