Excuses and Hedgehogs

The holidays are over and it is back to business as usual. At least I am trying to get back to normal. The no more sleeping in, is wearing on me! Pass me another pot of coffee please!!

I droped off the grid about Thanksgiving, sorry for the long hiatus. I should have let ya know I was going to be away for a while but I didn’t know myself. Before Thanksgiving I had phone troubles (I know- dial-up is from the dark ages, but it is what I’ve got!). This is my first excuse. Then when the phone was finally fixed (which took about 2 weeks-ahhh!) I went into just get through Christmas mode. That sounds really Scrogge-ish but my father passed away in August and this was the first Thanksgiving and Christmas without him. I was in a bit of “let’s get this over with” kind of mood. I won’t say it was a good Christmas but better than expected.

During Christmas break I was very productive trying out lots of new crochet projects and when Nana got here even a few knitting projects. Yea, you heard me right KNITTING! I made a knitted then felted star that was way fun. My husband was teasing me that I used knitting and fun in the same sentence. I also made a hat from a pattern that was written wrong – this was a big boost to the knitting ego! And now I am trying to finish a pair of slippers. Though it was agreed upon that I could have crocheted the slippers faster it was a good learning and muscle building experience (the slippers are knitted with two strands so I have tender finger tips and sore shoulders).

I am trying to get school spirit back up. It is hard to compete with Christmas. Chocolate is always a good motivator (for the kids and mom)! Little Chief is reading “Milly-Molly-Mandy.” If you have never read this book check it out at your library. Sometimes a good kid’s book is just what the doctor ordered for a damp and dreary winter’s day. Today Milly-Molly-Mandy found a hedgehog. Chocolate + Hedgehog makes for a pleasant enough evening (until the kids are running around yelling from the sugar high! You have to take the good with the bad in life!)

Chocolate Hedgehog Cookies
1 C chocolate chips (or more!)
1 C marshmallows
1 C chunky peanut butter
2 Tbs butter
1-2 C Chinese noodles
Melt the first 4 ingredients over low heat. When melted take off heat and stir in noodles. Scope onto wax paper and place in freezer.

These are a little crumbly and the kids kept saying “ouch!” with every bite, since they 'are' hedgehogs. But once you get past their prickles hedgehogs can go down quite smoothly. Lots of chocolate is the key!!

"T" Time

Friday was brought to us by the letter "T"! To celebrate the new letter of the week (because every letter should have some celebration!) my daughter hosted a "T" ParTy! This project was perfect for my fairy tale minded daughter!! We sat down the day before and made a check list of all she wanted to have for her parTy. She set to work making a invitation that was to be emailed to Grandma. Grandma gladly accepted and so Friday morning was a buzz of parTy preparation. This was a very low key affair but high priority in her eyes. "T"s were cut for the table and place settings. All of our play dishes were Tastefully arranged. She felt that we needed to pile every dish up as high as we could. "This is to remind us of the Tower of Babel," she said. The Tower of Babel is our Bible topic of the week. Very fitting for our week of "T"s! (You could say that I planned it that way, but I wouldn't;) Our menu for the affair was Tuna salad on biscuits, Chocolate Chip Tookies and of course Tea.



"Terrific....", "Tantalizing...." , "Triumphant.....", "Tasty..." these are just a few of the reviews that were given of the event.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Fridays are unofficially called "goof off in school day". I have not shared this name with the kids. Our work load is a little less than the rest of the week, so this frees me up to “kick it up a notch.” While we start every school day with memory work, on Fridays I try to do a memory game of some sort. Last Friday we played memory hopscotch.

This idea came to me via H.O.T.T. Tips newsletter from Amy Pak. Amy puts out an amazing newsletter! She gives great ideas for history unit studies and other teaching tips - she puts a lot of time into these newsletters. They have been a tremendous help!

My kids are a bit young to play hopscotch “professionally.” So the rules were adjusted and the game was quite informal. Questions are asked and the one that knows the answer gets to toss the bean bag and hop along! It is nice to have a little change of pace for me and the kids. Yet, please, don’t tell them they are learning!!!

P.S. I looked up Hopscotch on wikipedia. It was kind of fun to learn some of the origins of the game. You might enjoy a little trivia reading.