Monday, April 25, 2011

easter

holidays are always a bit bittersweet here, being away from family and all. but this was our 3rd easter here and i realized this year that we have put some really special traditions of our own in place.

the annual egg dying


 sitting pretty (not a tradition...just natural for her:)
and then the hunt
w knows nothing of candy-filled eggs. he thinks finding hard-boiled eggs is what it's all about:).
hence the temptation to wander off and look for sticks and bugs and stuff.
easter morning is usually pretty low-key. we worship with friends and then have a big yummy lunch together. this year we did a potluck, kiwi (new zealand) style. everyone just brought something without any sort of plan. i was a bit nervous, but it turned out quite well. loved indulging on things like lemon tart and quiche...someone even shared their reeses peanut butter cups and w experienced peeps (i know mom- you are so proud:)
kev used resurrection eggs to share the easter story with the kiddos and after he was done the house seriously turned into a garden of paper grass...ev.ry.where!

some friends stuck around for a few hours after all the eating and all and we just sat and loathed over how we ate too much and chatted about nothing too important and laughed and you know...i got to feeling... this place really is starting to feel like home.

hope your easter was meaningful and full of joy. He is risen indeed!

Friday, April 22, 2011

lap books

so my new favorite preschool tool is doing lap-books with w. my dear friend and homeschool hero angela introduced me to these and i love them. in my short experience with homeschooling i have realized that my favorite"style" (at least for now) is the unit study approach. we pick a book or an animal and do lots of different things with it. i am not big on having piles of clutter around the house and kev starts to get a bit annoyed when there are more than 12 pictures stuck on the door with magnets and at least 3 of them fall off whenever someone opens the door, so i have found that the lapbook idea is brilliant. i can leave the latest lapbook out for a bit and then file it away and not feel guilty about tossing it. here is our latest:


this is the cover (like w's bees?!)
we talked about the "yukon gold rush" (part of the story) and found gold things in old magazines, learned where michigan is (where the story takes place) and learned several new words (even i learned what "chortled" means:)

 we put our Bible verse and a wheel with the bee's life-cycle on the back

so simple and w loved it. there is an awesome website with lots of great ideas and much better examples at: homeschoolshare.com....if you're interested:)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

tofu saag

remember when i mentioned that i wanted to learn to cook with tofu?? well tonight i gave it a try (finally!). it costs about 50 cents to buy enough to feed our family and have plenty left over so this meat lover has been looking for ways to 'dress up' the tofu enough to make it tasty. i think i accomplished it tonight! i love indian food and the spicier the better, so if you are with me on that here is the recipe and some pics:

BEFORE:
(barely palatable)
AFTER:
(i went for seconds:)
the recipe says to serve it with naan and i was really hoping for some of that yummy bread i have mentioned before, but alas, the bread guy has been m.i.a. the last 2 days so i served it over rice instead. thinking this is a good one to try for my gluten-free friends. you can make it with chicken too if you prefer. here it is:

tofu saag

8oz fresh spinach leaves, washed
1 inch piece fresh ginger root, grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 fresh chili roughly chopped
1 C water
2 T veg oil
2 bay leaves
1/4 t black peppercorns
1 onion finely chopped
4 tomatoes skinned and finely chopped
2 t curry powder
1 t salt
1 t chili powder
3 T plain yogurt (+ some for on top)
naan bread or rice

1.) Cook the spinach without water in covered pan 5 minutes. Put spinach, ginger, garlic, and curry into the food processor (or blender in my case) and process to a puree.

2.) Heat the oil. Add bay leaves and peppercorns and heat 2 minutes. Add onion and fry 6 min more.

3.) Add chopped tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes. Add curry powder, chili powder and salt. Stir well and cook for 2 minutes.

4.) Add spinach puree and remaining water and simmer for 5 minutes.

5.) Stir in yogurt 1 Tablespoon at a time.

6.) Add tofu (or chicken thighs). If using tofu cover and cook 15 minutes or so. If chicken 25-30 min or until chicken is tender.

Serve with yogurt on top and over rice or naan.

hope you get a chance to enjoy!

Monday, April 4, 2011

the camohawk

this is the newest hairdo that w affectionately refers to as the "camo-hawk"

some other random and funny things he has said lately:

w="mom- do you know what a female is?"
me="what?"
w= "it's a kind of a scary type of lizard."

(talking to kevin. can't remember the context of the conversation)
kev= "mice and rats are kind of the same"
w= "no they're not! listen dad; mmmice...rrrat.... see they are different!"

Sunday, April 3, 2011