Ethan the Chef

I promised you a story about my little chef....promise delivered. Read on and enjoy the warm fuzzy's you'll feel from the massive amount of cuteness I'm about to throw at you...

So - my smart Kindergartener E recently created a 'cookbook' of sorts. He was flipping through a SpiderMan coloring/activity book of his and got super excited when he found a recipe in there. Then he found another - then another. These exciting discoveries were the first of many entries in his 'cookbook'. We ripped out the super-hero recipes (Think: SpiderMan Stromboli and Sandman Slushy), put them in page protectors and secured them in a handy-dandy folder (you know - those sweet ones with the metal clips inside?). E also found recipes he liked in random cooking magazines, ripped them out and put 'em in page protectors.

Then one day while I was cooking, E got the idea that he wanted to CREATE a recipe of his own.

So he did.

And it was awesome.

In the morning we (E and I) sat down and wrote the recipe. He drew the picture and dictated the steps to me (which I wrote word-for-word of course!) - said recipe went in a page protector and into the ever-growing cookbook folder.

*This is the recipe for Darth Vador Pizza* 

When lunchtime rolled around E proclaimed that he was going to make us lunch! Yes, please.

He started with cutting up mozzarella cheese with his knife...

**did I make you nervous?? It's a butter knife I promise**

He ripped up some delicious salami (I was too busy staring in awe that he was making me food and forgot to take a picture -- I'm sure you can imagine it).

Then he laid out the crescent rolls in triangles and topped them with his meat and cheese...

And then into the OVEN it went! E made it very clear to me that I had to do that part since it was HOT. Smart kid I tell ya. 

As his little Darth Vador Pizza's were cooking away, E went digging in the fridge to find something to go with it. As a result of his searching the DARTH MAUL SALAD was born. 

*Mmmmmm veggies*

Carrots, celery, sweet peppers and cherry tomatoes were the ingredients Chef E combined for our salad. I love that he didn't put lettuce in...lettuce in a salad? Sooooo expected. 

Beep. Beep. Pizza's done! 

Ethan plated up our lunch and enthusiastically explained to us what we were about to enjoy:

Darth Vador Pizza 

Darth Maul Salad

R2D2 Oranges

And you know what? It was really good! 

Thanks E for the great lunch! Can't wait to taste your next new recipe :) 

School Today...

This morning when it was school-work time Ethan informed me that HE was going to be the teacher today and he was going to teach ME. Sounds like fun - so we went with it!

We're going through that reading book I talked about and Ethan was going to 'teach' me my lesson this morning. We both work out of the same book so he's very familiar as to what happens first, second and so on....it was precious! I wish I thought ahead to set up the video recorder or something because he was so stinkin cute:)

E: now mommy, do you know what this sound is?
Me: teacher, I forgot. Can you teach me again?
E: of course. I am the teacher. This sound is "ssssss"
M: thanks.

and on and on. When it came time to sound out words he 'taught' it to me just like I taught him!

E: now mommy, first you say it slow. Then you say it fast. Watch me....ssssss-aaaaa-mmmm. Now say it fast...SAM! Mommy, mommy I know a Sam!!!
*when he refers to saying something fast he says it fast and LOUD! oh my.

We made it through our lesson (and I wonder if he learned even MORE because he 'taught' me) and we got ready to go outside.

Now that we're out of the arctic blast known as winter I'm ALL about being outside. Anything over 32* we're out there. We went out this morning (low 40's) and the boys drew with chalk and stomped on snow for a while. Then we headed out for our 'adventure hike'! Judah chilled in the stroller and Ethan walked. I let Ethan decide which way to turn when we came to an intersection and we observed as we walked.

We talked about everything we heard and saw. We heard cars and airplanes and LOTS of birds! We would stop everytime we'd see a bird in a tree or in the air (lots of stopping) and almost every one Ethan would exclaim "It's a Harpy-Eagle!" (none of which were; he learned about Harpy-Eagles on Diego)

Ethan would also stop at every puddle (lots of those too) and tell me what it looked like. Wow, that kid has an imagination.

We found every drain and talked about how the snow was melting and flowing into the drain; then going into a lake. Ethan was happy that the fish got more water to swim in!

Highlight of the walk was spotting a beautiful red bird in a tree; we stopped and admired it for a while:)

Then is was lunch time, then rest time. Oh how I love rest time:) After rest time we went outside again (high 40's at that point) and the boys drew with chalk, ate a snack and we explored the yard together. The snow had melted a lot so we jumped from grassy patch to grassy patch.

Inside for dinner prep, ate dinner, read some books then ready for bed. Ahh what a day:) I love that we can start going outside more and more! I am soooo looking forward to summer where we can literally stay outside ALL day!

There's a little look into our Thursday school day: a reading lesson, little adventure hike with some science and nature, art in the driveway and of course story time! Oh the joy of schooling at home:)

And just because it's cute..here's a pic of my charming boys eating lunch the other day: I love Ethan's 'what's up?' pose! Totally not on purpose; I think he was showing me his food:) I love these guys!

Great Book!

For part of Ethan's schoolwork we've been working through the book "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons" at first I was a little skeptical but I had heard a lot of good things about the book...
...Ethan is getting it! Absolutely amazing! I may be biased because I'm his mom but I think he's doing wonderfully:) We're only a few weeks in but he is sounding out simple words; I LOVE the proud look he gets on his face when he successfully sounds out a word!

There are mornings when his attention isn't all the way there or he gets easily distracted..but he's still learning it somehow!

I would totally recommend this book - hooray for reading!

Tent Fun

A while ago Joe brought his tent out of storage (aka our garage) and set it up in the living room for the boys to play in. It was such a hit! The boys loved it:)They played in it for a long time...had snacks in there...and even watched a movie! It's amazing what a change of scenery can do for kids! They played with their normal toys in the tent for such a long time - the joy of forts:) The next morning Ethan convinced me to have him do some of his schoolwork in the tent:) (it wasn't that hard to convince me!) Here he is practicing some 'threading' of beads on a string:Sadly, the tent could only stay up for 2 days. We have a small living room and the tent took up a good portion of it! I'm sure we'll pull it out again for some rainy day fun;)

10 on Thursday

1. My littlest guy is under the weather...boo. Poor Judah has a fever and threw up early this morning (thankfully nothing since 9am!)

2. I HATE HATE seeing my kids sick! They look (and are) so helpless! Judah fell asleep in my arms at the dinner table tonight - I can't remember the last time he's done that!

3. I am SO hoping he has a 24 hour bug - I'm hopeful since he only threw up in the morning and seemed to eat fine after that. The fever is hanging on but hopefully a good night sleep will help kick that!

4. Joe picked up a new faucet for our bathroom (our old one was leaking all over our counter!) - it makes the bathroom look so nice and now Ethan can wash his own hands after he goes to the bathroom!

5. It has two separate handles instead of one so it will be MUCH easier for Ethan to turn on - hooray!

6. Joe also picked up a part (I have no clue what it is) for our toilet - it had a leak somewhere...I don't know much - all I know is that Joe is fixing it now and the toilet's all taken apart:) *and I have to go to the bathroom! ahhh!*

7. I started the book "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons" with Ethan and he's doing great! (granted we're on lesson 5....but it's a start!) I've heard great reviews on it so I figure we'd give it a shot!

8. Ethan saw the letter 's' today and said "hey mom - that 's' says 'sssss'" which is something we just learned from the book! hooray for retention!

9. It's aimed for 4-5 yr olds or 'bright' 3.5 yr olds...I thought we'd do it now and if it didn't click we'd do it again next year!

10. I'm having a hard time believing that February is almost over..wasn't it just Christmas? I know I say this a lot - but time is FLYING around here!

Learning Fun

Here's a little peek into some of the learning fun we have around here!

Practicing writing on the chalkboard; Ethan can write all the letters in his name....we're working on getting them in the right order and in a 'line' - notice his tongue sticking out? pure concentration. Learning more letter shapes....he loves to 'make' the letters out of these pieces! (thanks Christie!) Matching letters on his magnet board; some of the pieces grew legs and ran away (ie: they're probably hiding under the couch or something) but he loves matching the ones we do have! MAZES! Ethan loves these!LOTS of puzzles! He does all 5 everyday. e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y. A few days ago we (me, Ethan and Judah) made necklaces (to practice threading) - they both loved it! I started out helping Judah thread... BUT he wanted to do it himself! (he took the yarn away from me and said "judah. judah. judah." meaning Judah will do it) see the concentration? HE DID IT! I adore his smile! So proud of himself:) Sporting their new necklaces! Disclaimer: I never left Judah alone with the beads....they are WAY too small and he's still young enough to 'taste test' things....

Who says learning can't be fun? I know I didn't! Hope you enjoyed your sneak peek into our homeschool!

Puzzle Maniac!

-Is my new nick name for Ethan. That kids loves them! He seriously sat and did puzzles for over an hour this afternoon - great for the brain:) I'm personally no good at them so I am so impressed with his skill...plus throw in there that he's 3 and it's stinkin amazing. I'm just saying.He's past those toddler-wood-put-in-the-spot puzzles (Judah loves those now) and onto the big boy kind! We are 'borrowing' a 3 pack of puzzles from my parents (they had them on the boat and Ethan discovered his love of puzzle-ing with them). They range in size and number of pieces...his favorite is the "hardest one!" (48 piece - shown below)
He can whip the 'hardest' one out in like 10 minutes...wow. I wish I could do that:) Maybe I should practice with him - I bet he could give me some pointers:) It's so cute to hear him articulate what's going on in his brain..."here's part of the red firetruck; where's the other parts of the red firetruck? Oh there's the red part! Does it fit here....oh here it goes! I need to find the little mouse; where's the mouse? Oh there's the mouse piece!" and on and on.....

I sit and stare and smile:)

Transferring

This morning I tried out a new homeschool activity with the boys; we did spoon transfers with KIX! I gave each kid a bowl of Kix, a spoon and a muffin tray (Ethan got a mini muffin tray to make it a little harder)
The instructions were to take one Kix on the spoon and move it to one spot on the muffin tray; gradually filling up the whole tray!

Ethan showed me how many he had left to fill.....
I love the teamwork! Judah: "put that one there"
And of course there were some taste testing!
What a fun activity!

Frugalista and a cute drawing

We're trying to watch our budget (who isn't these days right?) and I love the challenge of cutting our grocery bill down to size. I use up what's in our pantry, utilize all our WIC groceries (free food! love it:), search for sales and coupons and have a detailed list when I go to the store.

I went grocery shopping this morning for the week and was very pleased with my grand total. $15.something. yep. 15 dollars! I had 2 WIC vouchers (that in itself is a huge savings/blessing!) and I'm using up all the stuff we have at home.

I totally re-purposed our leftovers for dinner tonight. Friday we had tacos: taco meat, black beans, corn. Tonight I mixed the leftover taco meat and black beans with a little enchilada sauce, rolled it in tortillas, smothered it with remaining sauce and cheese and baked away! Served it with the leftover corn and some new rice...how's that for watching your budget? oh yeah.

To top off my Target grocery run I walked by the shoe section and saw sandals for 75% off....I haven't gotten new sandals for 2 summers - I got some super cute ones for $3. booya.

Onto the cute drawing part....during school today we were doing leaf rubbings and Ethan wanted to draw a person next to the leaf; the person later was identified as 'mommy' :) I may be biased but I think that's a pretty stinkin good drawing for a 3 year old!! *pardon the orange leaf rubbings in the background....*
My little student is turning into quite the artist! I love it!

*I have some GREAT pictures from a train ride we took on Saturday I'm going to get up soon....the boys had an absolute blast on it! Choo Choo!

early start

Ethan and Judah have been waking early lately - they had a brief trial run of sleeping past 7...that lasted about a week. We're back to 6am now. sigh.

Anyways - I've been trying to embrace their early rising and using that time to be productive (in the past I would lay on the couch and moan and groan as they played...) So, yesterday when they got up early we headed to the grocery store - we were at Rainbow by 8:30; home and unpacked by 9:45; at the YMCA by 10:30! whew.
This morning I decided to have Ethan try some of his worksheets for school...HE LOVED THEM. (I found them on www.schoolexpress.com) I had 2 prepared for him and he asked for 'more and more' so he ended up doing 6-7 I think!
He had to connect the matching pictures - I was impressed with how well he did (aka: he got them ALL RIGHT on his first try on his own...)
My studious 3 year old:) He wanted to do more and more! Good thing I am taking this afternoon to get all the rest of my supplies for activities! I think we're going to start our reading sections (I'm using Sonlight 4/5 for that) next week after Labor Day.

While he was busy on those I found a promising recipe using rolled oats (we get those on WIC) in banana muffins and whipped up a batch. So, here I sit at 8am - wide awake, muffins in the oven, Ethan a happy student and Judah playing wonderfully. Here's hoping that all our school days will run so smoothly:) disclaimer: I am full aware that they won't. :)

Home School!

I am so excited to start preschool with Ethan! Joe and I have decided (God willing) to home school our kids and the time has finally come to start; I'm going to do a 3 day (give or take) preschool with Ethan and mr. Judah gets to come along for the ride if he so pleases:)

I'm doing a morph of Sonlight curriculum and the Montessori approach - so lots of storytimes and hands on activities! Sounds like a fun preschool to me:)

I tried out an activity I read about with the boys this afternoon and they both loved it - stringing cheerios on uncooked spaghetti. Sounds easy enough but you have to be careful to not break the fragile spaghetti and keep the cheerios on! Ethan got the hang of it quickly and (believe it or not) Judah got a few on himself! The look on Judah's face when he was concentrating on threading the cereal on was PRICELESS- pure determination and focus. I wish I was quick enough to get a snapshot of it!

I think these two will be great preschool buddies!
And don't worry all you 'home-school-kids-are-sheltered-and-have-no-social-interactions' people out there...my boys have PLENTY of social interactions - they are both social butterflies! They LOVE going to the KidStuff at the YMCA, Sunday School/Nursery at Church, ECFE (Judah's in it this year and Ethan in sib.care) and playing with their cousins! They have NO shortage of social time with peers their age.

All this to say: I am excited for the school year! I've been talking to Ethan about his school and how I am his teacher and he is joining me in my excitement:) I'm going to try and document some of the activities I do with the boys (either Ethan or both) on here so I can remember them on a rainy afternoon....and if anyone wants to try them out too!

Here comes the adventure called home schooling!