Pipe Cleaner Alien

Red saw a pipe cleaner alien creature in one of his I Spy books and asked if we could make one.  I pulled out the pipe cleaners and obliged him as best I could.
I made one first with him watching me and then he made one himself. It does not look exactly like the one in the book but Red was pleased with the final result.

First Snow and MTM

This morning before he left for work Mike woke me up to tell me there was a dusting of snow outside.  I mumbled okay and fell back asleep but later when Red woke up I made sure the first thing he did was look outside. "It's all white. Snow!"
Even though it really was just a very light dusting and was melting by the time we got bundled up, we headed outside to play in the first snowfall of the season. 

The great thing about kids this young is that they think things like brushing the snow off my car and the driveway is fun. My neighbor saw them with the brooms and said she wishes her 13 year old son was still so eager to be clearing the snow off the driveway.

Once the kids decided they were cold we came inside and warmed up with a muffin tin lunch that was really a breakfast because the theme this week is Christmas morning.

In the tins: Christmas tree shaped pancake, fried potatos, ham, a pumpkin cookie and eggs. I need to get some of the cute Christmas tins that some other Muffin Tin Monday participants have.  Instead I just pulled out the silver muffin liners. The kids really loved this week's meal.  They both really love all the foods I served and gobbled it all up.

I usually make a nice big breakfast feast on Christmas morning and now I am looking even more forward to it than I was before. 

This post is being linked up with Muffin Tin Monday hosted by Michelle at Her Cup Overfloweth. For more information check out this FAQ post.

Changes

You might notice that once again I am making changes around here.  It'll probably take me a little bit of time to implement the changes I have in mind so don't be surprised to see things moving around and looking different around here for the next few days or so.

Five Little Monkeys

We have a monkey theme going on this week and have been reading several monkey books including Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow and 5 Silly Monkeys by Steve Haskamp.

To go along with all our reading Red made this fun 5 Little Monkeys craft.

I got the templates from Making Learning Fun. Red colored the bed and the monkeys and then I laminated them and cut them out.  I cut a hole in the bed and attached sticky back Velcro to the back of the monkeys and to a paint stirring stick.  While we read the books or say the rhyme Red will pull the monkeys through the bed and they fall off.

This post is being linked up with StArt found at A Mommy's Adventures.

More Emma and Masterpiece

I don't watch TV except on rare occassions and one of those occasions is when the Masterpiece Classic season airs. The upcoming lineup looks so great. I am getting very excited!
I am really looking forward to Return to Cranford, and Emma, of course. Oh! And the new Anne Frank looks promising. 39 Steps and Small Island also sound like movies I would enjoy. So much to look forward to!
I suggest you take yourselves over to the Masterpiece website and have a gander at all that they will be airing.
And here is another sneak peak at Emma. (Wish I could find some sneak peeks of Return to Cranford because I am honestly looking forward to that one even more than Emma.)

Caterpillar and Butterfly Crafts

To go along with our The Very Hungry Caterpillar activities we made some simple caterpillar and butterfly crafts.

First the kids made paper chain caterpillars.  I pre-cut some strips of paper from construction paper making one of the strips wider than the rest. I laid the strips out and told Red I wanted him to make a patten out of them and he decided to do green, pink, blue, green, pink, blue etc etc.  We glued them all together to make a chain and then attached the wider strip for the head. We glued googly eyes on, drew a face and attached antenna. We just rolled narrow strips of paper around a pencil to curl them a little and glued them to the head.  I should have taken a close up picture of one of the caterpillars but didn't.  Both Red and Miss L had fun playing with these for several days after making them.  Red was very protective of his but then left it on the floor on night and our new cat attacked it. :-(

We made butterflies using coffee filters and clothespins. The kids used markers to color coffee filters and then sprayed them with water so the colors would run.  Once they were dry I just scrunched up the coffee filter a little and clipped on a clothespin. Miss L is still playing with hers. She will fly it through the air saying "it was a beautiful butterfly!"

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Christmas at The Hen House starts the Saturday after Thanksgiving with Mike climbing the ladders to hang our Christmas lights.  We don't have much, a few strands of white and blue icicle lights and this year we picked up some of those net type lights to put on a couple of our bushes.  We figure if we add a little bit each year we will eventually have a nice collection. 

Once the Christmas lights are up we start stringing popcorn and cranberries for a garland to put on our Christmas tree.  I really like the look of this garland but it does take awhile to put together and my fingers get really sticky from the cranberries.  We will put on a movie and all sit around the table together, the kids eating popcorn while mom and dad do the actual work of making the garland.  Red helped a little this year but he has a hard time piercing the cranberries and popcorn with the needle.
We have a bigger tree this year than we ever had before and only made enough garland to cover the top half.  But that is okay because if it was on the lower half Miss L and the cat would just try to eat it. 

What signals the start of the Christmas season in your home?

In the Freezer: Turkey Stock

From this:

To this:

Take your entire turkey carcass, including all the bones and skin, and put it in a big pot along with some cut-up carrots, celery(including the leafy bits and ends) and a quartered onion.  Add some dried sage and thyme (or a poultry seasoning blend will work) and a couple of bay leaves. I don't usually measure any of this.  Probably about 1/2 teaspoon thyme and 1/4 sage.  More can be added while it is simmering if necessary so start with a little and add more if needed.

Cover it all with water and let it simmer the day away on your stove. Your house will smell yummy, just like it did on Thanksgiving.

When you are done simmering it strain it all really well through a colander lined with some cheesecloth.
Let it cool a bit and then put it in the fridge. Once the fat has risen to the top you can skim it off and then freeze your stock.  If you have a fat skimmer you can use that and then you don't have to wait for the fat to rise to the surface.  I was holding a fussy baby while I was skimming my fat off so did not do a great job.  If you look at the picture of the stock in the bags you can see bits of fat swimming around.  So, I don't recommend holding a fussy baby while doing this step.
I put my stock into freezer bags with about 16 oz in each one.  You could also freeze it in ice cube trays for smaller portions. It should last about 6 months in the freezer but I make a lot of soup so mine won't be around 6 months from now.
Using homemade broth really adds a whole new flavor dimension to soup or anything else that you might use it for. So yummy!

Baby Brother at 11 weeks

My little guy is growing fast and getting chubby.  At his two month check up a few weeks ago he weighed in at 14.5 lbs and was almost 25 inches long.  Both in the 97%.  And he has chunked up some more since that appointment. He was also still a little jaundiced at 2 months so I had to take him in to get some tests done. They came out fine and now I just have to give him some vitamins everyday to make sure he is getting enough vitamin D.

Baby Brother  at 11 weeks you are:

• Becoming a bit of a night owl.  You often have a long stretch of awake time between 11:00 pm and 2:00 pm.  You just want to be awake and playing then.  We are working on changing that to a more decent hour for mommy.  
• Sleeping (usually) for 6-8 hours at night.
  
• Smiling and cooing more and more.  You were hesitant to show us that cute little smile but we are seeing so much more of it lately.  I am wondering if maybe you will turn out to be my serious baby and child.

•  Your big beautiful eyes love to take in the world around them. Right now you especially love to lay up close to the Christmas tree and will stare and stare at the lights.  
• You still have a full head of dark hair that does not seem to be thinning out. Besides your big eyes I get the most comments from people about your hair.
• You are very vocal and very good at letting is know when you are hungry or need a diaper change.  
• You still love to be held close and snuggled but you no longer like to be swaddled when you sleep. 
• You are absolutely adorable and I just love to look at you.
• You are loved and adored by everyone in your family.  Red still looks after you and makes sure I know if you need burped or fed. He loves to just sit and stare at you as much as mommy does.  Miss L loves to touch your chubby cheeks and say "It's my baby brother." And Daddy is always happy to see you awake when he comes home so he can have some cuddle time with you. 

Muffin Tin Monday-Christmas Tree Picnic

We've started a tradition of having a little picnic under the Christmas tree after decorating it and this year I thought I'd make it a muffin tin picnic.

In the tins: apple slices and peanut butter for dipping them in, popcorn and craisens because we had just spent several hours making a cranberry and popcorn garland, cucumbers and ranch dressing for dipping.

(Miss L has worn her Snow White costume and little else since Halloween)

This post is being linked up with Muffin Tin Monday hosted by Michelle at Her Cup Overfloweth. For more information check out this FAQ post.

The Washing of Dishes...

"The washing of dishes does seem to me the most absurd and unsatisfactory business that I ever undertook.  If, when once washed, they would remain clean forever and ever (which they ought in all reason to do, considering how much trouble it is), there would be less occasion to grumble; but no sooner is it done, than it requires to be done again.  On the whole, I have come to the resolution not to use more than one dish at each meal."

-Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

Teaching Sequencing with The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Not only is Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar a great classic book it also provides many opportunities for learning extension activities.
I recently used The Very Hungry Caterpillar to teach Red and Miss L a little about sequencing.
The kids retold the story using graphics from dltk.  I gave them the pictures, they sorted through them, put them in order and used them to tell the story.

They had fun feeding a hungry caterpillar (a small piece of yarn with a button attached to one end) using more graphics from dltk which I punched holes into. They strung the fruit on the string in the same order that the caterpillar in the story ate it.
This was a great activity for Miss L to work on some fine motor skills as she tried to feed the fruit pictures onto the string. 

 

We also worked on size sequencing using some butterfly and caterpillar graphics from 1+1+1=1.

Because I laminated all of the above graphics I can pull them out and use them with the kids over and over again.  If you don't have a laminater (but I suggest you check out your local big box store.  I got mine for less than $30 and it works wonderfully and gets used a lot!) you can use clear packing tape or contact paper to extend the life of the graphics. 

We also used the book and some of the above linked graphics from dltk to discuss a butterfly's life cycle.  I divided a paper plate into 4 sections and had the kids put the pictures in order from egg to butterfly.

I was also able to pull together a quick counting game using The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Just cut out a leaf shape, gather up some white buttons and write some numbers on pieces of paper for this simple activity.
I gave each kid a leaf and a stack of numbers (Red had numbers going all the way up to 20, Miss L had 1-5.) They picked a number paper and placed that number of eggs (buttons) on the leaf.

Miss L was mostly just interested in playing with the buttons.

I've also posted a couple of caterpillar and butterfly crafts that we made.

Happy Thanksgiving

First

The Menu

I have really simplified my Thanksgiving menu this year.  I am taking a lot of shortcuts that I normally don't and I've changed up what is on the menu.  I am even forgoing the spices and seasoning I usually make my turkey with and just going with a simple butter rub. I just didn't feel up to the task of my usual Thanksgiving menu with little Baby Brother keeping me busy (and tired.)

Turkey and Stuffing-one place I will never take a shortcut is on the stuffing. My favorite part of Thanksgiving!

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Homemade Parker Rolls

Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots

Broccoli with Cheese

Deviled Eggs

Jell-O

Fruit Salad

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Second

The Tree

I must admit that it is not as full as it could have been because we forgot to add leaves as often as we remembered.

Here is a look at it on Thanksgiving morning.

 

Later we will take the leaves off and read through them together.

Third

Happy Thanksgiving!

Book Report: We Two

Reading this

We Two by Gillian Gill, 460 pages, published 2009

Just made me that much more impatient to watch this

It is finally, finally, finally going to have a limited release in the States on December 18. I don't know how I will swing it but somehow I am getting to a movie theater to watch this movie!
I have no doubt that the movie will perpetuate many of the myths (and maybe even create some) concerning Queen Victoria but I am still excited to see it.

I really enjoyed reading Gill's duel biography/history of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.  Sections of the book were devoted to their respective childhoods and then to their marriage and life together.  I learned that there is a lot about this couple that I did not know, especially Prince Albert, and became very absorbed in the telling of their lives.  I found it most interesting how these two individuals grew up to be so moralistic and set a tone and way of life that is still referred to as Victorian when they both grew up, especially Prince Albert, surrounded by so many people who were anything but moral.
I was also very interested to read about the balance of power that these two created between them.  A very enjoyable read that has me wanting to read more non-fiction accounts about these people and time period, a period of history that I have read woefully little about.

Christmas in the Historic District

What do you do while at the local street fair on a lovely November afternoon?
If you are Miss L you get very excited when you see anything with a princess on it.

If you are everyone else, you eat and drink.
Crab cake sandwiches

Root beer in a tin mug with unlimited re-fills

Elephant Ears

I had my favorite festival food: Walking Tacos.  The ones I had this time were not the best I've had.  They scrimped on the meat and the cheese was that melting nacho dipping kind of cheese. Know what I'm talking about?
Here is how I make my own walking tacos.
Cut open an individual size bag of corn chips and add your usual taco meat and toppings. Simple. Yummy. And fun to eat. (You can cut open the bag like I did in the above picture or you can just open it at the top and toss everything in.)

Oh, The Anticipation!

I know what I'll be doing January 24 at 9:00 PM. How about you?

Scribble Box

Got an empty box, some paper and some markers or crayons? If you do than you've got a great way to keep your kids busy and having fun (my favorite time to pull this out is when I am making dinner).

I cover an old diaper box with paper, give the kids some markers and they go to town drawing and scribbling all over the box.

Now, they do eventually start tearing the paper up but not until after they have scribbled all over it and kept themselves busy for quite awhile.  We just pick up the mess and toss the box back in the garage to await the next time I need to keep the kids out of my hair for 20-30 minutes. 

Leaf Lantern

Let me start this by sharing that my 4 year old does not like being cold, wet or dirty. He is rather persnickety about such things. So taking him on nature walks, especially this time of year, is always fun. I was planning on taking the kids to the park down the street that has a nice big wooded area to look for leaves but lucky for my son the baby kept me tied up most of the afternoon. We only ended up going on a walk around the block. Much less muddy and wet but even then I had a difficult time actually getting Red to pick up the wet leaves.
Anyway, once we got the leaves home we sorted them out and looked at the different shapes and colors. We noted that many were red, some were yellow and some were still green. We also noted that many were multicolored.
The next day we used some of our collected leaves to make a leaf lantern.This turned out to be a craft that required more work from mommy and I was not thrilled with the final result but it was still a fun use of some fall leaves.

What you need:
newspaper
2 sheets of waxed paper
2 strips of 3 inch colored paper.
iron
pipe cleaner
stapler
hole punch
fall leaves

Place one sheet of waxed paper on top of a newspaper covered table. Arrange leaves on the wax paper and cover with the 2nd sheet of wax paper. Cover with a layer of newspaper and use the iron, set on a low setting, to join the sheets together.
Fold the strips of construction paper in half lengthwise. Slip the folded strips of colored paper over the edge of the wax paper and staple into place. Form the wax paper into a cylinder and staple ends together.
Punch two holes in top of cylinder and twist pipe cleaner into holes to form a handle.
Why I was not super thrilled with this: I had a difficult time getting the wax paper to join together and some of the leaves kept shifting. But you can probably chalk that up to user error.

Muffin Tin Monday-Thankful

Recent conversation at our house:
Me: Hey Red, what foods are you thankful for?
Red: Every food!
Me: Any in particular?
Red: Mac and cheese! And Peas! And bread with butter! Can we have some right now?

Another conversation in our house:
Me: What foods are you thankful for Miss L?
Miss L: Huh?
Me: What are your favorite foods?
Miss L: Foods.
Me: Yes, foods. Which ones do you like the most?
Miss L: Uhhh, foods.
Me: All foods?
Miss L: Uhhh, pizza!

Well, we had pizza for last week's Muffin Tin Monday so Red won this one.  I did add a few things that I know Miss L loves, hot dogs and oranges.

In the tins: peas, macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, oranges, milk, bread with butter.

This post is being linked up with Muffin Tin Monday hosted by Michelle at Her Cup Overfloweth. For more information check out this FAQ post.

O Remember, Remember

Mini Bread Loaves Baking Guidlines

I like making quick breads to give away and often want to make mini loaves or even turn them into muffins or use some other cake mold for fun. The question then arises, how much batter do I use and how long do I cook it for?
Here is the conversion guide I use to convert recipes for big loaves of bread into smaller ones.
1/3 cup pan holds 1/4 batter. Bake 15 to 20 minutes

1/2 cup pan holds 1/3 cup batter. Bake 15 to 20 minutes

2/3 to 3/4 cup pan holds 1/2 cup batter. Bake 25-35 minutes

1 cup pan holds 3/4 cup batter. Bake 35-40 minutes

All baking done at 350 F
To find out how big your pan is fill it with water to the top and then pour the water into a measuring cup.

Happy Baking!