Banana Bread

Today we made banana bread. The girls all got together to help . . .

. . . but soon they disappeared to play instead, and Ryan took over the job.

Here Diego helps out as well.

After Ria's nap she enjoys some attention on the couch from Ryan and Eden.

This morning we had a larger crowd than usual. Here's snacktime . . . first the boys' side of the table (Diego & Dylan):

. . . and then the girls' side (Josephine & Orianna):

We made another batch of spider soaps today so that Dylan and Diego could each have one.

I bought a battery-operated pencil sharpener because I've gotten several blisters from sharpening colored pencils. Little did I know that the pencil sharpener itself would be far more fun than the colored pencils. Here Orianna gives it a try . . .

. . . and then Josephine has a turn.


Update on Rosie the June bug:

We temporarily donated Rosie and her habitat to Josephine's kindergarten class, as they were studying insects at the time. Miss Bonnie, the teacher, actually found another June bug which she added to the habitat, so that Rosie could have a friend. We recently got back both Rosie and her friend and decided we should let them go. One of them, however, was not doing well. We don't know which is which, but we like to think that this is not Rosie. Its legs are a little damaged and it doesn't move too much. Rosie, on the other hand, (or what we like to think is Rosie) flew happily away.

Eden and Josephine look at the two June bugs before we release them.

Since the injured June bug didn't move very much, we could not release it. Everyone donned gloves and took turns holding it. Here is Ryan:


. . . and Josephine:



Finally, the kids all moved into the still-unfinished playhouse and set up an insect hospital.

Shuttle Launch and Kidwriting

This morning we got a phone from Iain's father alerting us, just seconds beforehand, of the shuttle launch. We turned on the NASA channel just in time to see the shuttle lifting off. So we had snack on the couch and watched it soar through the air.

In the afternoon I was reminded once again about how fabulous it is to have a mix of younger and older children. While Katie (fourth grader) was doing her homework, Josephine (kindergartner) was hovering nearby, wanting to do her own "homework" (writing in her journal--self-assigned). When Katie finished her homework, Josephine shared her journal with her. Katie went through, page by page, reading Josephine's words, writing the adult version underneath, and pointing out the similarities. At their school, this is the method of teaching used, and it is called "Kidwriting." Katie was absolutely fantastic at it. She did and said all the things that the parents and teachers are trained to do, only without the formal training. Josephine was completely engaged and was so proud to have her work acknowledged.

Katie also looked at all the drawings that Josephine did, and commented on small specific details: "Oh, I see she's wearing high-heeled shoes," and "That pencil even has an eraser." Once again, Katie was exhibiting skills that child care professionals learn through training, how to respond to children's art. This showed me two very important things. First of all, for Katie to respond in the way she did to both the words and the art, she must have experienced that herself for years, proving to me that this school is a wonderful place for my daughter. Second, it shows me what a beautiful, thoughtful, and talented child Katie is.

New Feature . . . Labels

I've added a new feature this weekend to the blog . . . LABELS. At the end of each entry, you will see the word LABELS, followed by names. If you click on a name, you will get every blog entry containing that person. I'm putting all the labels at the end of this blog entry so that you can give it a try.

Gourds!

Last month we had a very unfortunate event in our garden. Heavy winds blew over (and basically destroyed) our garden arch which was loaded with hanging gourds. We had not yet re-erected it, for fear of damaging the plants growing on it, but today, with the help of a new friend, Dylan, we set about fixing things.

Here Josephine and Dylan are examing the gourd plants, searching for damaged gourds that are certain not to grow to maturity.

We picked the ill-fated gourds and sliced them open to get a glimpse of what is going on inside a growing gourd. Dylan showed everyone our amazing discovery.

When you look up close, you can see the tiny little seeds lined up inside.

Here is a larger gourd, which is almost "spongey" inside.

Then we took out shovels, bamboo poles, and rope, and set about re-erecting the arch. Dylan was a huge help in this.

Yippee!!! Now the gourds have a better chance of finishing off their growing season, now that they are off the wet ground and once again hanging as they should.

Dylan was worried about the larger gourds, thinking they needed support instead of hanging like that. I showed him how thick and strong their stems are, and then I showed him in a gardening book pictures of hanging gourds, even bigger than ours, just hanging. He spent his entire snacktime excitedly looking through the whole book, thrilled at all the garden photos inside.

Pretend Candy and Swings

In the morning, Josephine and Diego were busy at the art studio.

In the afternoon, Orianna and Josephine were taken up with making candy (out of paper) for a pretend birthday party . . .

. . . . while Marie and Lucas played outside on the swings and in the tent.

Making Spaghetti

The morning began with Josephine and Diego playing with blocks. These blocks have clear colored acrylic "windows," so the kids experimented with shining flashlights through them. It became very interesting . . . what if two colors are put together? . . . what if an object is put on top?

In the afternoon, we made a batch of pasta dough, which basically consists of lots of flour, some eggs, a little water, and a little salt.

Here Eden adds an egg . . .

. . . and Katie adds an egg . . .

. . . and Orianna adds an egg . . .

. . . and Lucas . . . well, you can see for yourself . . .

. . . and Ryan adds an egg . . .

. . . and Josephine, who does not care to dirty her princess hands with messy eggs, adds the salt.

Then everyone watches as the ingredients are mixed together.

The dough did come together, but basically it was too dry. But it shouldn't be overworked, so it was a little late to add extra water. Next time I think we'll do the mixing by hand.

Eden helped out with kneading the extremely tough dough . . .

. . . and then took a little break to play with small plastic animals and blocks with Lucas, who of course disappeared when the camera came around the corner.

Everyone took turns making their own strands of spaghetti. Here you can see Orianna "conditioning" or "kneading" her dough with the machine, feeding it through several times.

Then the roller was exchanged for a pasta cutter, and the sheets became spaghetti.

And here we have all the finished spaghetti on drying racks, ready for tomorrow's lunch.

Because Lucas would not be here for lunch tomorrow, he wanted a sample of his spaghetti. We cooked it up and added freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Wow, hardly a scowl! That pasta must be really good.

Pirate Parades and Gender Wars

Today in Josephine’s kindergarten class they had Pirate Day. Though this is a school event and not part of my “family child care,” I’m including pictures, as there are a few kids in her class who are also in my afterschool program.

The fun began with a parade, in which the children emerged from the classroom as all us parents stood around taking pictures. Here we see Georgia on the far left, Orianna on the far right, and the tall one is Ms. Bonnie, their teacher.

Josephine and Claire

They all stopped and broke into a rollicking pirate song . . . “There were no pirates upon the ship. Hey, ho, argh! Then one pirate got on the ship. Hey, ho, argh!”

They then marched off and into the office, where they sang the song there for the principal and office staff.

Josephine, with a pirate bandaid mustache

Diego

They then continued on to Mr. A’s 4th grade class and sang the song yet again. This class also happens to be Katie’s class, so here’s a picture of Katie watching the show.

Josephine waving to the camera

Georgia waving to the camera

Georgia, Claire, and Josephine

In the afternoon, I served snack to Jack and Iain in the playhouse and asked the girls to let them be alone. Iain had had a rough dropoff, and I really wanted to give him a little quiet boy-bonding time with Jack.

Little did I know, I was actually starting a gender war. The girls were indignant about being excluded, and in no time they had signs up on the house.

I was beginning to get a little worried about how things were escalating, but then once the boys saw the signs, they said they wanted some too. Surprisingly, the girls were more than eager to help out, and they themselves wrote and hung the signs. They then proceeded to decorate the playhouse with stuffed toy animals for the boys. Apparently there wasn’t too much animosity. Later on, Josephine even switched sides and played outside with the boys while Georgia and Eden stayed inside.

Later on, Georgia had her turn at trying out the melted wax drawing.

Here is Georgia’s drawing: