A puzzling afternoon, the best laid plans, a movie and a little French.

Ever get too busy to remember to parent? Or is that just me? Today was one of those days. I had plans. BIG plans. I was going to go to Lisa's or meet up in SUPER TARGET, or go to the library, or go for a walk or or or..... but THINGS got in the way. THINGS kept cropping up. Work stuff, piddly stuff, Jack throwing things at people's heads stuff, the dog escaping and (luckily) being spotted in the front yard stuff, paying the bills stuff, not being dressed until THREE PM stuff..... you know, one of THOSE days. It threatened to be a really REALLY sucky day, especially because, with Jackster, when he is at his worst is when he needs YOU to be at your best. I needed to be on the ball, on top of his behaviour, paying attention to him, distracting him, MOTHERING him.... but, nope, not today!!! It wasn't until late afternoon that I finally found a moment to come up for air and realise my fundamental mistake. I'd been so busy working out problems online I'd barely spared a moment for the short guy, so, we got out the puzzles. Ahhh.... puzzles. The hardest part for ME when Jack is doing a puzzle is to sit on my hands and let him figure it out for himself!!! I positively ITCH to point to the right piece and it drives me half crazy to watch him try and put a piece in upside down.... but... I do. I let him do it and he is always so proud of himself afterwards!





Jessie was very disappointed we didn't end up going out... me too... but she bore up, bless her. She spent a lot of her day on the computer or reading a book at the table.







She's a superstar of a kid. I'm really very proud of her.

Daddy came home and saved the day with a giant sack of Runza French Fries. Hot Runza French Fries. You've gotta love that guy!! It was just what I needed too. I was starting to get another headache and I think what I needed was a little hot grease!! ;D Hubby also brought home a movie for the kids to watch. The Iron Giant is an absolute treat. Set in 1957 America a 10 year old boy befriends an iron robot that fell from the sky. It's a really wonderful, touching film. We all loved it. I'm sure Jack will watch the heck out of it before it goes back to Blockbuster!

Once we were movied out and French Fried up, we headed up to bed. For some reason I started speaking French with the kiddoes... Ouvrier la bouche, ferme la porte, that sort of thing. They LOVED it!!! They both kept asking me to please say this or that in French and I wished them both Bon Nuit as I put them to bed!! I'm going to take that as a cue and run with it... on Monday... languages!!! I've been thinking of making a board game with languages for YEARS now. Maybe this will be the year?!!? :D

Anyway, once more the couch is calling me and the warm aroma of coffee and Kahlua is not being too subtle either.

G'night all...!!

In which the kids make dinner and everyone loves it!!

Well folks, the day finally arrived when I no longer have to make dinner. This is it! Never again will I have to decide what we are having, scramble around at 4:45 for ideas and root through the near barren pantry for an elusive can of beans! No sireee!! The KIDS have taken over the kitchen and they are MORE than welcome to it!! ;D The wooden spoon has been passed!! :D

Tonight's menu was courtesy of THIS wonderful book...



..a Vegan cookbook full of yummy and natural deliciousness!
This is the recipe Jessie picked to make.



I was so in awe of her prowess in the kitchen that I TOTALLY spaced off taking step by step pics of the casserole, but here it is before going into the oven...



Looks delicious, yes??!

....and in it goes!!!





Alongside the casserole Jessie made Roasted Broccoli, which we all love... it's crispy crunchy and yummy!!

First take your broccoli (that's 2c's and 1 L folks. How many times must I misspell that?!?!?! )



Using it as a microphone is purely optional....!



Rinse and chop it into big florets....



Find yourself a nice sized pan...



Stick the broccoli in it ( Whooohooo!! I remembered!!! 2c's 1 L.!!) and drizzle it generously with olive oil...






And sprinkle with salt.



Place the pan carefully in the oven...



... and send your little brother in!






Little brother, Jackster, was going to make Cornbread muffins to go with dinner.
Here he is measuring the butter into a dish so we could melt it in the oven.



Next he gets to tear open the packet mix and pour that into a bowl.








Next add the butter, 1/3 cup of milk and one egg.











And "Turn" ( stir! ) it!!



Spoon the mixture into 6 muffin cups that you have lightly sprayed with non stick spray.



Cook 'em. !!

When dinner is ready make have everyone sit at the table and sample your delicious food!! We all had several servings of everything and wished we had more cornbread muffins!!!













Yum Yum Yum !!!!!


Robin Robertson also wrote this fabulous book too, I just LOVE it. All natural, healthy, Vegan meals.....! I'll have Jessie pick out next week's menus from here tomorrow!!!




So there ya go. The kids finally have control of the kitchen.... All I have to do is sit around and eat bonbons.... AT LAST !!! :D

Spinning, sniffing and strumming!

Spinning......









Sniffing.....






and Strumming.....






It's always a fun day, when friends come to play !!

A nest, science, the laundry wagon and a bit more science!

You'd never guess today was going to be History lesson day with a title like that, would you!? :D This day was a loooooooong day! ;D It started for me at 4:45 am. I. am. not. kidding. !! I got up with the dog and decided to just go with it and stay up. I got lots of work done, I was showered and dressed before 8am (!!!) at about 11am I'd have SWORN it was 3pm! Those extra hours really do make a difference to your day! I'm planning on trying it again tomorrow, we'll see how it goes! ; D

Jack decided to make himself a nest with all the couch cushions this morning. It usually drives me bonkers when he does that, but he looked SOOO sweet sitting in there like a little bird so naturally he was forgiven! ;D






Jessie got to work on some history this morning with a website that Risa told me about.... A History of the World Through Objects... it's fascinating!! Jessie was entranced ... especially with the carving of the swimming deer on the tip of a mammoth's tusk.... wow.... Anyway, she spent quite a lot of time on that...!!!




The creatures just looked so content today I was forced to take snap shots of them.... Lucy sleeps by my feet under my desk when I'm working ( she's there right now as I type...! )



Brecon stretches out on the couch and will snooze the day away if someone is considerate enough to remove the cushions... see Jack's nest...!! ;D



and Herman, the cat, seemed to sleep in a random spot in the middle of the room.... he's ALSO there now as I type.... Rex figured out this morning that he is lying directly over the furnace and the ducts that carry the heat through the house!!! I'm betting it's toasty warm there... and I'm trying not to think of all the heat we waste that way... !!!




I came up with a cunning plan to tackle the laundry wagon today! ;D I laid out four baskets, labeled each with the name of a family member and then we had a mad dash to load the baskets from the huge pile of laundry I'd stacked on the chair!!! Jessie was in charge of my basket and Daddy's basket and Jack was in charge of his and Jessie's basket... I would grab laundry and fling it behind my calling out the name of the owner. The kids would grab their respective laundry and put it in the correct basket!! We got TONS sorted in only 6 minutes... Jessie had the timer!! ;D
( I love the pics of the flying underpants!! :D )
















Tomorrow we play FOLD the laundry!! ;P

In between flying underwear, sleeping pets and so on, Jessie sat watching the squirrels and birds and listening to Bill Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything. It's such a fascinating portrayal of science and history that you get caught up in it. She seems to really enjoy it.



Jack got really wild this afternoon and I realised that he was lacking some of my attention... I remembered Risa's simple experiment and thought now would be a perfect time to try it out!! ;D

The first thing we needed was "lab coats".....!!

Here's Jack trying to play mad scientist and not really "getting it" !!



And Jessie... rocking the "We don't have another Lab coat so here's a nurse outfit I got from the dress up box instead" look!



Have your smallest scientist mold a big lump of Playdoh, put it in the bottom of a pan..



...and stick a candle in it!



Next ya need ya Baking Soda!



and ya vinegar!! ;D (I'm talking like that on purpose by the way... just in case you thought I might have banged my head somewhere...!!)



Have your slightly bigger scientist pour some baking soda into a small open container ( an egg cup in this case! )



and place it in the pan with the candle.



Move to the dining table when it become apparent that your smaller scientist "Can't see" and have your slightly larger scientist who is afraid of fire, light the candle ( that's Good Parentin' Right thar !! ) ( again, meant to do that.!! )



Have smallest bespectacled scientist pour vinegar on to the baking soda....



Watch the flame.... !! It gets smaller and smaller until... "THE CANDLE WENT OUT!!!"


Be prepared to repeat this experiment over and over again.

And of course beware that this will always lead to the obligatory Playdoh volcano experiments....



I tell ya, it's a good job that baking soda and vinegar are cheap... once they start messing with Uranium and such, why, they can use their OWN pocket money.....

...I'll need all mine for Chocolate. ;D