The Cookie Cutter Addiction Continues!

Yes, that is Story's name in pancake! No, she didn't ask me to do it!

Chocolate Cake--YUM!

Devon had to work today. So I decided the girls and I would do some baking. I bought some unsweetened chocolate squares awhile back, but never used them. So, I got on the internet and found a couple of recipes to let the girls choose from: chocolate cake, chocolate sugar cookies, or brownies. I really wanted to make the chocolate sugar cookies because I don't ever remember having chocolate sugar cookies, but they chose the chocolate cake-- chocolate is chocolate does it really matter what it is in?

Story Bell loves the mixer!I am the only one in the family who eats pecans, so we only put them on part of it. (I know they are crazy- none of them like nuts!)Lyric gave it two thumbs up.Story was too busy eating to give her rating. I guess that means she liked it!Cadence enjoyed it. If you look closely at her shirt you can see she even decided to save some for later. The cake is gone. Get me out of this seat! Get me out NOW!The chocolate cake was yummy and we still have some of those squares left, so maybe we will make the chocolate sugar cookies next;-)

Echolocation

This month it was Lyric's turn to host the Science play date for the four year olds in our group. We decided to we would learn about bats since Halloween is so close. We read a book about a bat's first night out to hunt for bugs, Hector's Escapades The First Night Out by Jane Scoggins Bauld.

We talked about echolocation and played a cute little game to help demonstrate how bats find their food. Poor J was being 'eaten' by Lyric and Story in this picture.

Here J is the bat and the other kiddos are the insects.

We also did a bat craft. I would include a picture, but both of the girls decided it would be much more fun to play than finish the craft... I will be sure to post a picture when we do finish them.

* Thanks J for the pictures. I took my camera to this play date and didn't take a single picture!

8th Grade--5th Grade... Not Really That Different

Devon and I decided I would start subbing to make some extra money. We also think it will be good for all of us to have me gone a few days a week and have him be with the girls. He thinks it will be good for me to see what he goes through being gone all day and then coming home and being knee deep in children. I think it will be good for him to see what it is like to be here ALL day with the girls!

I applied to sub a couple of weeks ago and had to be fingerprinted. I got a call yesterday that I was in the system and last night I got a call for a job. He was standing next to me when they called and I asked him if I should take it. He said yes, so I did. It was for middle school social studies. I was a little nervous because I haven't taught middle school, but I was a little excited. I thought maybe they would be taking a test and I could take a book to read or just the thought of driving in the car and listening to what I want to listen to on the radio... yea, it doesn't take much to excite me.

Devon was really nervous. He kept talking about it last night. He said, "It is just all of a sudden. I didn't know you were going to start tomorrow." He was nervous, but also excited to spend time with the girls. I told him he was going to have to start blogging to tell everyone about his Mr. Mom adventures!

Well, today I get to the middle school and find out I am teaching 8th grade Social Studies. I was excited about it being Social Studies, but I was really nervous about it being 8th grade. I mean they are almost high schoolers!

It was the strangest thing for me! They really were not that much different than my 5th graders. It was so weird! I was just looking at them and thinking, 'These are 5th graders in a bigger body!' I could not believe how immature and young they seemed! Overall I had a good day, but I don't see 8th graders near as "old" as I once did!

Story Says

Tonight I was sitting at the desk when Story came up and asked me to come play with the Weebles with her. I said I would in just a minute, so she climbed on my lap. There was a calculator sitting on the desk. She picked it up and said, "Is this escalator on?"

A couple of minutes later she rubbed her hand on my leg and saw a small piece of fuzz on the tip of her finger. She looked at me in amazement, "Look mama, I got that mole off!" She was looking down at my leg to see if the mole was gone. It wasn't.

Muffin Tin Monday for Breakfast

The girls and I were going to the park for a picnic today, so we decided to do our Muffin Tin Monday for breakfast.

This was actually Story's second breakfast. Daddy made her french toast when they got up at 5:00. She decided to eat again with me at 7:00. She said when she ate with daddy it was just a snack.

For her muffin tin she had Cheerios, bananas, ghost shaped toast and apple juice.

Miss Lyric had her breakfast at 9:00 and yes, Story ate again (pancake this time--no muffin tin).

Lyric just wanted fruit this morning: strawberries, grapes, apple and apple juice. She wouldn't even try the french toast daddy made.

If you want to join in go check out Sycamore Stirrings.

Addiction

Hi, my name is Christy and I have an addiction. I am addicted to my cookie cutters. It all started on that first Muffin Tin Monday September 22. I thought it would be fun to cut out the girls initials in cheese. Then on September 29 I used three different round cookie cutters to make everything round for Muffin Tin Monday shape challenge at lunch. That night I used my heart cookie cutter to make grilled cheese lollipops for supper. The next day the cookie cutter was already out, so how fun would it be to make heart shaped pancakes? Yes, it was fun. On Saturday October 4th Story asked, "Are you going to surprise me with my pancakes today?" You know I have a serious problem when that makes me smile... the possibilities, what shall the pancakes be shaped like today? It is October, so why not do a Halloween theme? But it gets worse! I remembered that I have the Food Writer markers, now not only can I use my cookie cutters to make shapes, but I can also draw on the food!

This morning Story asks if I can make a baby doll pancake... Well, you know it. Not only did I make a baby doll, but I did her daddy, too!

So, I know you are thinking this isn't an addiction this is a woman who is trying to make her kids happy by making shapes with their food. Yea, that is what I thought too until lunchtime today. They asked for peanut butter and jelly. Sure, no problem... but wait, what shape can I make it? That is right I used my cookie cutters on their PB and J all because I wanted to and yes I drew on them!

I need help, serious help! Is there a 1-800 number for this?

Finger Puppets

Mimi J bought the girls a finger puppet kit to make for Halloween. We made a few today. As you can see on the package there are pictures of what is included and the way the puppets should look. So, we had a few witches, a couple of pumpkins, some ghosts and a pirate. Yes, I know there is no pirate on the box, but Lyric decided she was going to make a pirate. She used the patch for Frankenstein's clothes on his eye, she used the devil's pitchfork for his oar and the pumpkin's head for his boat. I think it is great that she likes to do her own thing and not necessarily do things "the right way", but I will say that is one of the reasons high on the list of Reasons I Plan to Homeschool! I can not imagine telling that child, "But your teacher said you should do it this way." That would be a fight waiting to happen.

And then there is my little Story Bell. If you look closely at our little group finger puppet photo you will see a ghost with his head on backwards. I said, "Story, you know his head should go on the other way, right?" Her response, "I like it that way." This is the same child who wears her shoes on the wrong feet because, "I like them that way." Here is another typical conversation with Story:

Story-"I want to wear this yellow shirt today."

Me-"Okay, but that is an orange shirt."

Story-"How 'bout you call it orange and I will call it yellow-okay?"

Me-"Okay, Story I think that 'yellow' shirt is a great choice."

The puppets may not look just like the ones on the box, but they worked really hard and we are going to have lots of fun with them!

Lollipops for Supper

Yes, it is true the girls had lollipops for supper tonight! No, not real ones. I saw this on a blog the other day, sorry, I don't remember who's. I just had to try it!

Lollipop grilled cheese, YUM!

Here is Miss Cadence with her Oreo face, too cute!

Muffin Tin Monday

This week the theme for Muffin Tin Monday was shapes. We decided to do circles. We didn't have much food in the house today (going grocery shopping tomorrow:-), so we worked with what we had!

From Left to Right: turkey hot dogs, ham, apple slices, turkey hot dogs, cheerios, tortilla, ham, cheerios, cheese, cheese, kiwi, kiwi

Yes, I used the circle cookie cutters on the cheese, kiwi, ham, and tortilla... it was fun:-)

I took a picture of Cadence's muffin tin, but it didn't go with the shapes theme. She just had the scraps from what was left over after cutting out sister's circles.

This isn't a very good picture of the girls, but they all wanted to take a picture together and that doesn't happen often, so I decided to include it.