July 15, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
May I introduce….
Carrot Noodles!
They hang nicely off a fork, just like real noodles:
And they twist up in a well-behaved way, just like real noodles:
And they have a really nice flavour and texture. I like them way better than whole wheat pasta noodles, and I think I like them better than white pasta noodles—the sweet carrot flavour is quite yummy!
Recipe?
Carrot Noodles
Carrots.
Just keep peeling the carrots into long strips—I turned my carrots after each time I peeled it to keep the strips thin (instead of just peeling on one side and getting wide noodles from the middle). I steamed mine until the crunch was gone but they were still fairly firm.
Serve with a yummy sauce (I just used a basic white sauce with a little cheese sprinkled on top).
July 14, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 1 Comment
The moment we were finished with breakfast Giant was begging to do a Nature Experiment:
We did have our Gospel Message first though. I like how much better our day goes when we study the gospel and have a prayer first. We talked about how God talks to us, through the prophets:
For our Nature Experiment we looked at how water is a part of plants. We weighed a tomato, some rice, and cup of water and wrote down their weight:
Galoot really wanted the tomato:
…and actually succeeded in grabbing it. Note to self—that kid has LONG arms!
We put our cups into the oven to evaporate some water. We were then supposed to measure the cups again and note the change in weight:
There was no change in weight.
Either our scale was not sensitive enough or we didn’t loose enough water, but there was really nothing exciting to note. Looking back, we could have just noted the physical changes—a shriveled looking tomato, a lower water mark, nothing really different with the rice. Oops. Oh well.
Disappointed but not undaunted, I grabbed another experiment about plants and water:
Popcorn!
We popped some corn (heating the water in the kernals until they exploded), cleaned up our other experiment,…
…and watched Zaboomafoo!
Which led to a little research project into coatis:
Which led to Giant asking a zillion questions about maps and countries and such:
Which led to a trip to the library for a kid friendly atlas (I didn’t want to spend the time hunting for a good kid friendly geography website):
Which led to a great investigation of maps and the geography of the world:
One of those learning moments you just can’t make happen!
The boys also read their phonics books:
Ettin hunted for t’s and m’s, and Giant read about a Tin man and a Pig.
July 14, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
I tried Kale Chips today!
I have been waiting to try these for months…The kale I could find in the store has always been way too limp and expensive to justify buying for an experiment.
But I had high hopes. In fact, I was pretty sure these babies would replace all our chip needs—people seem to really love them!
With my Kale is growing nicely, I decided to give them a try…
I’ll admit, they were surprizingly good at first. Crunch, salty, greasy—very reminicent of a potato chip.
But after each bite I was left with a rather grassy aftertaste that just seemed to intensify with each chip, until I had to acknowledge that I was eating something quite reminicent of fried grass.
Not that I’ve had fried grass…
…nor will I need to.
Methinks I should start looking for a different chip replacement…
July 13, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
Mommy was feeling a little slow today. Galoot just couldn’t make it until gym time, so he went for an early nap and we didn’t go to gym.
What to do instead?…
But it was educational!
We watched The Lottery and had some great discussions about needing to disagree appropriately. Giant, in response to a heated protest about letting a Chartered school take over a district school building that was being shut down, asked, “Mommy, why are those people yelling so much?” Honestly, I wasn’t to sure. It seemed like aside from space issues, anyone could enroll in the Chartered school. Why would you not want a better education for your child? We decided that it would have been better if they just talked about what they wanted their kids to be taught and figured out how to do that together. I was also struck by the families the documentary followed. All of them had parents who deeply loved and were invested in their children. They were already doing so many educational activities with their children. And their children were learning. And yet these same parents were worried that their kids would go to a school that wouldn’t teach them well, and thus they would never acheive the amazing potential they have within themselves. Umm, was I the only one thinking Homeschooling! Seriously, you’re already teaching your children their letters, numbers, and love of learning. Keep it up! They’ll be fine. Stop feeling so helpless and take that power as a parent back into your own hands and give your children the education that you want them to have! Your tenacity and desire for your children’s good education gives you better credentials than a lot of teachers out there. You will find solutions to any hesitations and concerns you have, and you will show them the power we as families and communities have when we work and learn together.
Anyway, that’s just my two bits….From a mom who watches documentaries with her kids for homeschool time…Hmmm, maybe I’m not the best reference 😉
The movie did inspire Ettin to want to “play school.”
Which, for some reason, had to involve:
Using it as more of a novelty than a bribe, I told them that to play school we had to read a story and then they could have a tic tac. So Giant read Mac and Tab (fairly smoothly too!), and Ettin found the T’s and B’s on each page:
…then they had a tic tac.
We did eventually get to our Gospel Lesson: Following the Prophet.
We talked about why people didn’t listen to the Prophet Noah (even though they should have), and what happened when they didn’t:
And we sang a few verses of “Follow the Prophet”:
And finished up with a game of upside-down tug-of-war, played like so:
July 13, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
Lots of lovely Strawberries!
Kale:
Tsat Tsoi Bok Choi:
Broccoli (lots of teeny fleurettes):
Some other type of bok choi (interestingly, this one loved the cool and bolted in the recent hot weather. Its bok choi friend above shivered in the cold and is now flourishing):
Little radishes. What do you do with radishes?
Green onions:
But the best thing growing right now?
That cute Galoot in the background! The sweet boy has found his legs and is toddling EVERYWHERE now!
Especially all over my garden.
