Amirah's favorite subject is definitely not writing. I suspect it's something to do with the physical act of writing. Narrations she'll do ad infinitum and not skip a beat. If a task involves writing, however, she'll try to do as little as she can get away with. Her pencil grip is correct so there's no interference there. Her writing does look nice. It may just be something that will take a little more time to become more effortless.
So... I had been brainstorming over different ways to incorporate writing activities that would be as inviting as possible. Hence, the invention of Pillow Mail. Amirah and I picked out a cute little notebook. I wrote her a short letter, then put the book under her pillow. She found it, and a little while later there was a letter to me under my pillow. When I have a chance I'll write back to her and back and forth it will go. She really likes the idea and is enthusiastically writing away. I hope to come up with a few more activities like this that will hook her into the act of writing and give her some pleasure. And who wouldn't love finding secret messages from their dear daughter under their pillow?
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Our New Schedule
At last, we've cranked up to full-steam ahead. Except the part about having dinner ready. I haven't figured out how to do that again. Or how to have the house cleaned (kind of, sort of) long before 11:00 pm. (10:00 would be good!)
So, for now, this is a day in the life of the Alpidarko Family. :)
8:45, davening
9:30, breakfast
10:00, parsha stories, studying chagim (holidays), Hebrew songs
10:45, Amirah's kodesh studies (mostly chumash and Hebrew)
11:45, Eli's studies, part A (math, writing)
12:15, Raizel's studies (math, writing, Hebrew)
12:45, lunch
1:30, story time (science alternating with history + our current readaloud)
2:15, history or science activity w/all (if needed)
2:30, Amirah's chol studies (language arts and math)
3:45, Eli's studies, part B (Hebrew, reading)
This is all pretty approximate. I don't stick to the clock to the minute at all. Sometimes I'll skip Raizel's time if we're a little behind. Or if we're running well ahead of schedule I'll skip a subject here and there. (Being ahead is good; we can bank it for sick time later!)
I'll elaborate more on Amirah's studies in another post. We've been having a good time so far, and I'm really happy with the materials we're using. We're still waiting for a supplementary box of books of logic puzzles, one-minute mysteries, etc. to spice up our day a little.
So, for now, this is a day in the life of the Alpidarko Family. :)
8:45, davening
9:30, breakfast
10:00, parsha stories, studying chagim (holidays), Hebrew songs
10:45, Amirah's kodesh studies (mostly chumash and Hebrew)
11:45, Eli's studies, part A (math, writing)
12:15, Raizel's studies (math, writing, Hebrew)
12:45, lunch
1:30, story time (science alternating with history + our current readaloud)
2:15, history or science activity w/all (if needed)
2:30, Amirah's chol studies (language arts and math)
3:45, Eli's studies, part B (Hebrew, reading)
This is all pretty approximate. I don't stick to the clock to the minute at all. Sometimes I'll skip Raizel's time if we're a little behind. Or if we're running well ahead of schedule I'll skip a subject here and there. (Being ahead is good; we can bank it for sick time later!)
I'll elaborate more on Amirah's studies in another post. We've been having a good time so far, and I'm really happy with the materials we're using. We're still waiting for a supplementary box of books of logic puzzles, one-minute mysteries, etc. to spice up our day a little.
Friday, August 20, 2010
The Menu
Here 'tis:
challah
tilapia fish cakes
roasted eggplant, peppers, and onion with preserved lemons
mashed sweet potatoes
baked potatoes with tofu sour cream
chicken with barbecue sauce
chocolate cake
(Still in minimalist mode!)
And for lunch...
Eating out!
challah
tilapia fish cakes
roasted eggplant, peppers, and onion with preserved lemons
mashed sweet potatoes
baked potatoes with tofu sour cream
chicken with barbecue sauce
chocolate cake
(Still in minimalist mode!)
And for lunch...
Eating out!
Down For a Few Days!
After Amirah's fever and recovery she seemed to get worse again. In fact, this morning all of her symptoms mirrored exactly the list of symptoms for meningitis! B"H it's just strep, and as an afterthought I had Eli tested while we were at the doctor's. Both of them were positive. So, now all the kids are on antibiotics - a prophylactic for Raizel and Avi. Very glad it was just strep.
Needless to say, with all of that we just did a small amount of learning time this week. But what we did learn about was very interesting!
•The final fall of the Roman Empire, the conquering Barbarians, and the fearsome Celts.
•Jellyfish - not as simple as they appear, especially with their incredible system of rapid-firing nematocysts. WOW!
•Readalouds: Two Nancy Drew mysteries plus the Chofetz Chaim/Family Lesson a Day on the laws of speech
•Math - Amirah started Level 2 in Singapore Math. It's mostly just review, so I was able to pass her the book to go work on at her desk. Eli is gleefully tearing through Level 1, and Raizel is doing the same with her kindergarten book. They all really like math, especially Eli.
•Language - We're memorizing a new poem (anyone remember The Goops??!!)
•Chumash - We're reading through the first parsha of the torah now. What a pleasure! We started a shoresh list too (shoresh is a word root, upon which many related words are based).
•Tefillah - We're mostly focusing on fluent translation of all our daily berachos.
•Hebrew - We're just reviewing male/female verb and adjective forms and working quickly through the second half of Yesodos Halashon, Book A.
So... a nice half-week, more or less. Since we didn't do any learning today I was able to tackle those last few boxes. I think I only have 2 or 3 boxes left now. Mostly a bunch of learning/office supplies and a box of games that just need to go into the games closet. I also had a chance to give the floors a good mop. They felt great! For about 15 minutes! :) My next project is to organize our learning supplies in a useful way and make good use of my mama-only storage cabinet! Hoping to tackle that Saturday night.
Off to bed now, and hoping that Amirah has a much more restful night than last night!
Needless to say, with all of that we just did a small amount of learning time this week. But what we did learn about was very interesting!
•The final fall of the Roman Empire, the conquering Barbarians, and the fearsome Celts.
•Jellyfish - not as simple as they appear, especially with their incredible system of rapid-firing nematocysts. WOW!
•Readalouds: Two Nancy Drew mysteries plus the Chofetz Chaim/Family Lesson a Day on the laws of speech
•Math - Amirah started Level 2 in Singapore Math. It's mostly just review, so I was able to pass her the book to go work on at her desk. Eli is gleefully tearing through Level 1, and Raizel is doing the same with her kindergarten book. They all really like math, especially Eli.
•Language - We're memorizing a new poem (anyone remember The Goops??!!)
•Chumash - We're reading through the first parsha of the torah now. What a pleasure! We started a shoresh list too (shoresh is a word root, upon which many related words are based).
•Tefillah - We're mostly focusing on fluent translation of all our daily berachos.
•Hebrew - We're just reviewing male/female verb and adjective forms and working quickly through the second half of Yesodos Halashon, Book A.
So... a nice half-week, more or less. Since we didn't do any learning today I was able to tackle those last few boxes. I think I only have 2 or 3 boxes left now. Mostly a bunch of learning/office supplies and a box of games that just need to go into the games closet. I also had a chance to give the floors a good mop. They felt great! For about 15 minutes! :) My next project is to organize our learning supplies in a useful way and make good use of my mama-only storage cabinet! Hoping to tackle that Saturday night.
Off to bed now, and hoping that Amirah has a much more restful night than last night!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Our Latest Projects
What a few weeks it's been! B"H Amirah's fever was fast and furious and by Saturday afternoon she was completely fine. DH and Eli are still coughing the nights away, however, poor guys. :(
Slowly but surely, a few more boxes are getting emptied. For some reason, that last 10% of unpacking always takes forever! Several little boxes full of little pieces of this and that. Not the most exciting part of unpacking, and I've been dragging my heels.
There are a couple of things we need to do with the house... add a fence for the side yard, replace the kitchen sink, and the learning room and music room (not the playroom any more!) really need a new floor. I read a bunch about installing a tile floor, and it's really not hard so I may tackle that. I've done lots of mosaics, and this is just as simple so I think we could handle it. Assuming the subfloor is in good shape, of course! The worn-out carpet in both rooms is really full of cat urine smells. BLEAH.
Other things we're doing... I set up our worm composting bin and now we're waiting for the arrival of our worms. All of our kitchen scraps will get fed to the worms, and the castings will make really great compost!
I also just re-ordered kefir grains. I did that for a year or so in Portland, and it's delicious. Ran into the opportunity to order some more for just a few dollars, so I did that. It's a delicious drink and I'm looking forward to restarting it. The grains grow, so if anyone in Savannah wants to try it I can share in a few months!
I just finished up the last of our orders for learning materials for the coming year. Got some art supplies... the usual suspects: black construction paper, metallic markers, oil pastels, black sharpies, large set of colored pencils... A lot of other supplies we still have left from last year like watercolor paper, crayons, craft materials, etc. I also got a few things to spice up our learning time like One-Minute Mysteries (you get the clues and have to solve the mystery). I also got some tangram, geoboard, and pattern block challenge puzzle books, some new (to us) Draw Write Now books, a few books on the middle ages, and a kit to build a medieval castle. I may have a couple more things to order for kodesh studies then that should do it.
We did a little learning today, mostly history and math. We're also excitedly tearing through several Nancy Drew mysteries. Mysteries are definitely Amirah and Eli's favorite genre. Non-fiction science is high up there too.
So that's some of the latest around here. We'll be doing learning in the mornings only this week, and hopefully unpacking the last of the boxes and playing with friends in the afternoons. I got the pantry cleared out of boxes today. All that's left in that room is to remove 50-60 (!) cans of paint to an outside storage area. Then we can put all of our games and cleaning supplies there right below the PESACH CUPBOARDS! I can't believe we have pesach cupboards, but then I really can't believe we have this house at all...
So there you have it! Life goes on and Hashem is good!
Slowly but surely, a few more boxes are getting emptied. For some reason, that last 10% of unpacking always takes forever! Several little boxes full of little pieces of this and that. Not the most exciting part of unpacking, and I've been dragging my heels.
There are a couple of things we need to do with the house... add a fence for the side yard, replace the kitchen sink, and the learning room and music room (not the playroom any more!) really need a new floor. I read a bunch about installing a tile floor, and it's really not hard so I may tackle that. I've done lots of mosaics, and this is just as simple so I think we could handle it. Assuming the subfloor is in good shape, of course! The worn-out carpet in both rooms is really full of cat urine smells. BLEAH.
Other things we're doing... I set up our worm composting bin and now we're waiting for the arrival of our worms. All of our kitchen scraps will get fed to the worms, and the castings will make really great compost!
I also just re-ordered kefir grains. I did that for a year or so in Portland, and it's delicious. Ran into the opportunity to order some more for just a few dollars, so I did that. It's a delicious drink and I'm looking forward to restarting it. The grains grow, so if anyone in Savannah wants to try it I can share in a few months!
I just finished up the last of our orders for learning materials for the coming year. Got some art supplies... the usual suspects: black construction paper, metallic markers, oil pastels, black sharpies, large set of colored pencils... A lot of other supplies we still have left from last year like watercolor paper, crayons, craft materials, etc. I also got a few things to spice up our learning time like One-Minute Mysteries (you get the clues and have to solve the mystery). I also got some tangram, geoboard, and pattern block challenge puzzle books, some new (to us) Draw Write Now books, a few books on the middle ages, and a kit to build a medieval castle. I may have a couple more things to order for kodesh studies then that should do it.
We did a little learning today, mostly history and math. We're also excitedly tearing through several Nancy Drew mysteries. Mysteries are definitely Amirah and Eli's favorite genre. Non-fiction science is high up there too.
So that's some of the latest around here. We'll be doing learning in the mornings only this week, and hopefully unpacking the last of the boxes and playing with friends in the afternoons. I got the pantry cleared out of boxes today. All that's left in that room is to remove 50-60 (!) cans of paint to an outside storage area. Then we can put all of our games and cleaning supplies there right below the PESACH CUPBOARDS! I can't believe we have pesach cupboards, but then I really can't believe we have this house at all...
So there you have it! Life goes on and Hashem is good!
Friday, August 13, 2010
The Menu
Virus City around here. Amirah has a really high fever now that came on suddenly in the late afternoon. Eli isn't feeling well either, but not as bad as Amirah. DH has a mild version, thanks to Chinese herbs (Yin Chiao), and B"H mine is almost gone so I can take care of everyone else! I think tomorrow we'll be lying around reading lots of goods and missing the friends we were going to spend shabbos afternoon with. :(
And the menu again is an abbreviated version of the usual...
For dinner:
challah
roasted vegetables with preserved lemons
garlic lemon chicken
garlic lemon potatoes
green salad
roasted eggplant
peach cake
And for lunch:
anything that's leftover
with other options being...
pastrami
cholent
steak and bok choi salad
other salad combinations that fall out of the fridge
lots of veggie ingredients to mix and match however we want!
Good shabbos, all!
And the menu again is an abbreviated version of the usual...
For dinner:
challah
roasted vegetables with preserved lemons
garlic lemon chicken
garlic lemon potatoes
green salad
roasted eggplant
peach cake
And for lunch:
anything that's leftover
with other options being...
pastrami
cholent
steak and bok choi salad
other salad combinations that fall out of the fridge
lots of veggie ingredients to mix and match however we want!
Good shabbos, all!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Flat Stanley
We are participating in a Flat Stanley project with homeschooling families around the country. Amirah dictated a letter about her life here that will go with the picture of herself to the participating families. Here's the letter!
===========================================
Hello!
My name is Amirah Binyaminah Earlix. I am seven years old. I have two brothers and one sister. My brother, Eli, is five years old. My little sister, Raizel, is four. My littlest brother, Avi, is two. My parents’ names are Kerith and Dean Earlix. We adopted Avi and Raizel from Ethiopia two years ago. I wish we could go back and adopt three more sisters and a brother.
We live in Savannah, Georgia. We moved here from Portland, Oregon in January. We really enjoy Savannah. We get a very tiny bit of snow every few years. The summers are humid and very hot. The best seasons here are fall, spring, and winter. We are twenty-five minutes away from the ocean. Downtown has horses and buggies and cobblestone streets. Downtown is very, very old. There are lots of alligators, jellyfish, and dolphins in the waters around here.
We have a 35-gallon fish tank with four cichlids and a suckerfish. We also have two hermit crabs. We used to have a cat, but he died at 19. We also used to have two guppies. They died not too long ago. We’re hoping to get chickens and ducks soon, and also some worms to make compost.
My favorite subject is science, especially zoology. My least favorite subject is writing. I like to do art projects, especially painting with messy paints. I also like to go camping.
Our family is Jewish. My favorite day of the week is called shabbos. It starts on Friday night. We spend all day Friday cooking and cleaning. We make a special bread called challah to eat with every meal. It tastes delicious. Before dinner, I go to the synagogue with my father. I like the synagogue because there are a lot of friends there to play with. Afterwards, we come home and sing and eat a special meal. The next day, I go back to the synagogue with my father for the whole morning. Most times, my mother comes to the synagogue with my brothers and sister after the 3-hour service is over. We talk and visit then go home or to a friend’s house for lunch. The rest of the day is for resting, playing, and listening to torah stories. At the end of the day we go back to synagogue, then after that a new week begins!
Sincerely,
Amirah Earlix
===========================================
Now we just have to get our first package ready to send off. A fun project! We'll be keeping track of where the other Flat Stanley letters come from, and where ours go to, and learn a little US geography along the way.
===========================================
Hello!
My name is Amirah Binyaminah Earlix. I am seven years old. I have two brothers and one sister. My brother, Eli, is five years old. My little sister, Raizel, is four. My littlest brother, Avi, is two. My parents’ names are Kerith and Dean Earlix. We adopted Avi and Raizel from Ethiopia two years ago. I wish we could go back and adopt three more sisters and a brother.
We live in Savannah, Georgia. We moved here from Portland, Oregon in January. We really enjoy Savannah. We get a very tiny bit of snow every few years. The summers are humid and very hot. The best seasons here are fall, spring, and winter. We are twenty-five minutes away from the ocean. Downtown has horses and buggies and cobblestone streets. Downtown is very, very old. There are lots of alligators, jellyfish, and dolphins in the waters around here.
We have a 35-gallon fish tank with four cichlids and a suckerfish. We also have two hermit crabs. We used to have a cat, but he died at 19. We also used to have two guppies. They died not too long ago. We’re hoping to get chickens and ducks soon, and also some worms to make compost.
My favorite subject is science, especially zoology. My least favorite subject is writing. I like to do art projects, especially painting with messy paints. I also like to go camping.
Our family is Jewish. My favorite day of the week is called shabbos. It starts on Friday night. We spend all day Friday cooking and cleaning. We make a special bread called challah to eat with every meal. It tastes delicious. Before dinner, I go to the synagogue with my father. I like the synagogue because there are a lot of friends there to play with. Afterwards, we come home and sing and eat a special meal. The next day, I go back to the synagogue with my father for the whole morning. Most times, my mother comes to the synagogue with my brothers and sister after the 3-hour service is over. We talk and visit then go home or to a friend’s house for lunch. The rest of the day is for resting, playing, and listening to torah stories. At the end of the day we go back to synagogue, then after that a new week begins!
Sincerely,
Amirah Earlix
===========================================
Now we just have to get our first package ready to send off. A fun project! We'll be keeping track of where the other Flat Stanley letters come from, and where ours go to, and learn a little US geography along the way.
Friday, August 6, 2010
The Menu
This is my "I'm too tired" menu! :)
challah
minute steaks (small package for a treat)
roast chicken
roasted sweet potato
baked potatoes
green salad
marinated vegetable salad
lemon pie (which I just burned, er, overbrowned!)
and for lunch...
sushi!
Good shabbos, all!
challah
minute steaks (small package for a treat)
roast chicken
roasted sweet potato
baked potatoes
green salad
marinated vegetable salad
lemon pie (which I just burned, er, overbrowned!)
and for lunch...
sushi!
Good shabbos, all!
Long Time, No Blog!
We've been a bit busy! Camp for the three bigs, moving down the street, unpacking, and fighting various viruses (thanks to camp, no doubt!).
Top headlines:
The kids have had a GREAT time at camp.
I had a great time packing and unpacking with most of the kids at camp.
We acquired a 35-gallon aquarium with 4 cichlids and 1 suckerfish for peanuts (the fish are 5-7 inches long!). Perfect for the marine biology class we're in the midst of! Hermit crabs fit in with that unit too (although ours are land crabs). We like our "classroom pets."
The house is lovely, lovely. I'm so glad we moved here and can't wait to get some fencing up to enlarge the area of the backyard. Looking forward to putting together new bookshelves and beds when we get an opportunity, hopefully on Sunday.
The hermit crabs have been playing musical shells. Kind of fun to wake up and see who is where!
I'm fighting a bad cold and dreadfully tired, but looking forward to shabbos and lots of sleep. Hoping to be back to full steam on Sunday to get closer to being done with the unpacking. We're really down to books and a few miscellaneous boxes. I also need to do some organizing in our learning room so that's all ready. We'll probably take the coming week off, more or less. Maybe just some reading and science. Get the last of the stuff put away. Then the following week we'll be back at it! The holidays are really early this year, so I want to get an early start.
So... next, the menu!
Top headlines:
The kids have had a GREAT time at camp.
I had a great time packing and unpacking with most of the kids at camp.
We acquired a 35-gallon aquarium with 4 cichlids and 1 suckerfish for peanuts (the fish are 5-7 inches long!). Perfect for the marine biology class we're in the midst of! Hermit crabs fit in with that unit too (although ours are land crabs). We like our "classroom pets."
The house is lovely, lovely. I'm so glad we moved here and can't wait to get some fencing up to enlarge the area of the backyard. Looking forward to putting together new bookshelves and beds when we get an opportunity, hopefully on Sunday.
The hermit crabs have been playing musical shells. Kind of fun to wake up and see who is where!
I'm fighting a bad cold and dreadfully tired, but looking forward to shabbos and lots of sleep. Hoping to be back to full steam on Sunday to get closer to being done with the unpacking. We're really down to books and a few miscellaneous boxes. I also need to do some organizing in our learning room so that's all ready. We'll probably take the coming week off, more or less. Maybe just some reading and science. Get the last of the stuff put away. Then the following week we'll be back at it! The holidays are really early this year, so I want to get an early start.
So... next, the menu!
Friday, July 23, 2010
The Menu
Short on posts lately... busy packing, nursing a cold/fever, getting enough sleep, and looking forward to the move! Hoping to get lots of rest over shabbos so I can pack with a vengeance starting Saturday night. Not too much got done this week unfortunately. Yesterday morning, I just needed a nap, and in the afternoon, a bank errand that should have taken 30 minutes ended up taking 3 hours (and four visits to banks). We are now all set to close on Tuesday. YES! Move on Wednesday. Clean old house (er... HAVE it cleaned!) on Thursday, and carpets cleaned on Friday.
The three oldest kids have been in SEED camp this week, and are all having a great time. That left Avi and me at home to pack. Fortunately, we got a good bit done at the beginning of the week! SO glad it is shabbos soon...
And the menu!
challah
shoulder roast, in crock pot (40% off!)
baked potatoes
spinach kugel (received an enormous gift of spinach)
roasted carrots w/lemon zest
eggplant (roasted eggplant, onions, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika... YUM! And also a gift...)
liver pate
peach crisp
And for lunch:
shoulder roast sandwiches
green salad
plus above
So very, very glad another shabbos is here. Our last one in this house that has been so good for us these past six months! Good shabbos, all!
The three oldest kids have been in SEED camp this week, and are all having a great time. That left Avi and me at home to pack. Fortunately, we got a good bit done at the beginning of the week! SO glad it is shabbos soon...
And the menu!
challah
shoulder roast, in crock pot (40% off!)
baked potatoes
spinach kugel (received an enormous gift of spinach)
roasted carrots w/lemon zest
eggplant (roasted eggplant, onions, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika... YUM! And also a gift...)
liver pate
peach crisp
And for lunch:
shoulder roast sandwiches
green salad
plus above
So very, very glad another shabbos is here. Our last one in this house that has been so good for us these past six months! Good shabbos, all!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Phone Out!
Just wanted to let everyone know that our phone is out and may be out until Monday (!). Meanwhile, when you call us you will get a busy signal. I will send out an email to individuals with Deans cell phone number (apostrophes arent working on our keyboard!).
We had one huge thunderstorm yesterday and apparently a lot of us are still without service. The thunder was shaking the windows, floors, and ceiling fans! Once I even jumped straight up out of my rocking chair. NEVER have I heard thunder that loud! Love it, but miss my phone. :) Let me know by email after tonight if I didnt send out the cell phone number to you.
Hope everyone out there is doing well!
We had one huge thunderstorm yesterday and apparently a lot of us are still without service. The thunder was shaking the windows, floors, and ceiling fans! Once I even jumped straight up out of my rocking chair. NEVER have I heard thunder that loud! Love it, but miss my phone. :) Let me know by email after tonight if I didnt send out the cell phone number to you.
Hope everyone out there is doing well!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Flat Frog
Just had to post before sleep... We now have a new house policy that everyone needs to check their shoes and wear socks. This after Eli wore a frog inside his shoe for a day (or some period of time)! Squished perfectly flat and flung casually onto the couch. Then a sibling freakout shortly after that over "smashed frog pieces" on the living room floor. Papa (definitely NOT mama) investigated and determined that it was bits of cereal. Huge sigh of relief. That said, CHECK YOUR SHOES FIRST! We live in critter country now.
Friday, July 2, 2010
The Menu
We did a good bit more than the usual housecleaning today (mostly in places no one really sees!), so I made an easy-to-prepare menu that wouldn't take much time in the kitchen. Here it is!
challah
chicken in homemade barbecue sauce
baked potato with green onions and tofu sour cream
roasted cabbage
roasted sweet potatoes
steamed carrots
spinach salad
brownies with chocolate marshmallow topping
and for tomorrow...
SUSHI!
One of these days I really need to just make a two-year supply of barbecue sauce and can it. It's not that much harder, and would probably be a good deal cheaper. We use it 1–2x per month, so 72 cups would be enough for two years. That's just 18 quarts, or maybe I'd do pints since that's how much I use for a batch of chicken.
I'd love to do the same with different spice mixtures. Place a community order of various spices and then pre-mix them, like harissa (Moroccan), berbere (Ethiopian), and za'atar (Israeli), and pass it out to the community. Yum.
New house fantasies? They've involved worm bins (for composting kitchen scraps), a spiral herb garden by the front door, daydreams about three chickens (or three ducks; can't make up my mind), and a couple of pygmy goats (there the reality might be too much for our medium-sized space; we'll see!). We're hoping to meet with a permaculture consultant to assess our space and come up with a (very) long-term plan for the outside. Dean dreamed up a mosquito trap involving hanging geckos and dry ice. Hmmmm... A solar shower would be nice too. Free heat and free water. But what about that free time???? In reality, I'll be happy with one 4x8 foot veggie plot and one 6-foot-circle herb garden. Little by little. And as the kids get older it gets easier and easier to have their help with projects like this. Great learning-at-home opportunity!
Back to the reality that shabbos is upon us and I'd better quickly go do those last couple of things. Ahhhhh, shabbos. BE"H, we'll only have three more shabboses here in this house!
Good shabbos, all!
challah
chicken in homemade barbecue sauce
baked potato with green onions and tofu sour cream
roasted cabbage
roasted sweet potatoes
steamed carrots
spinach salad
brownies with chocolate marshmallow topping
and for tomorrow...
SUSHI!
One of these days I really need to just make a two-year supply of barbecue sauce and can it. It's not that much harder, and would probably be a good deal cheaper. We use it 1–2x per month, so 72 cups would be enough for two years. That's just 18 quarts, or maybe I'd do pints since that's how much I use for a batch of chicken.
I'd love to do the same with different spice mixtures. Place a community order of various spices and then pre-mix them, like harissa (Moroccan), berbere (Ethiopian), and za'atar (Israeli), and pass it out to the community. Yum.
New house fantasies? They've involved worm bins (for composting kitchen scraps), a spiral herb garden by the front door, daydreams about three chickens (or three ducks; can't make up my mind), and a couple of pygmy goats (there the reality might be too much for our medium-sized space; we'll see!). We're hoping to meet with a permaculture consultant to assess our space and come up with a (very) long-term plan for the outside. Dean dreamed up a mosquito trap involving hanging geckos and dry ice. Hmmmm... A solar shower would be nice too. Free heat and free water. But what about that free time???? In reality, I'll be happy with one 4x8 foot veggie plot and one 6-foot-circle herb garden. Little by little. And as the kids get older it gets easier and easier to have their help with projects like this. Great learning-at-home opportunity!
Back to the reality that shabbos is upon us and I'd better quickly go do those last couple of things. Ahhhhh, shabbos. BE"H, we'll only have three more shabboses here in this house!
Good shabbos, all!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Ahhhhhhh....
We've temporarily settled back into our learning routine. The house just seems to hum when we're doing our regular thing. It's so nice. We're just finishing up a few things and continuing on with others. Davening, parsha study, Hebrew, reading, math, and science mostly. About half what we normally do, so we can go out and have little adventures in the afternoon and have friends over to play.
Yesterday afternoon we went to a program on electricity at the library. Everyone enjoyed it, especially Eli. It's nice to be at the point where three of them will listen and really enjoy it. Avi did pretty well playing in my lap. Today we went to our little aquarium, where Eli was positively bursting forth with all the things we've been learning in our study of ocean creatures. They were all so excited to look at everything. Afterwards we went to a fish/reptile store to buy some goldfish food and some climbing vines for our little hermit crabs. As much exploring was done there as at the aquarium. The crabs have now been named - Nutshell and Smutter. Not sure where Smutter came from, but the name suits him well! Tomorrow we may go pick some fruit. My strawberries are still waiting in the freezer to be turned into jam. Better get on that to make some more room!
Starting to think about packing some boxes too. We may actually do the big move on the 28th instead of the 1st. I don't think we'll need D around for the big move - just our hired muscles! Then we can spend that Sunday instead unpacking boxes. That would be nice. Might make shabbos a little crazy, but I'm sure we can manage. The inspection and appraisal are done, and it turns out there's about 200 more square feet than listed. Not sure how that happened! Most of my fantasies are about our giant walk-in pantry and the studio that will be our learning room. Fun things to think about, so may it all go through as scheduled and may we get all moved in. So grateful to hashem for all that he has brought us in the last year, wait, two years (Raizel & Avi), wait seven years (Amirah & Eli), well eight years (beshert!!!!!!!), well, our whole lives. I'm so grateful that everything that came before has brought us here.
Yesterday afternoon we went to a program on electricity at the library. Everyone enjoyed it, especially Eli. It's nice to be at the point where three of them will listen and really enjoy it. Avi did pretty well playing in my lap. Today we went to our little aquarium, where Eli was positively bursting forth with all the things we've been learning in our study of ocean creatures. They were all so excited to look at everything. Afterwards we went to a fish/reptile store to buy some goldfish food and some climbing vines for our little hermit crabs. As much exploring was done there as at the aquarium. The crabs have now been named - Nutshell and Smutter. Not sure where Smutter came from, but the name suits him well! Tomorrow we may go pick some fruit. My strawberries are still waiting in the freezer to be turned into jam. Better get on that to make some more room!
Starting to think about packing some boxes too. We may actually do the big move on the 28th instead of the 1st. I don't think we'll need D around for the big move - just our hired muscles! Then we can spend that Sunday instead unpacking boxes. That would be nice. Might make shabbos a little crazy, but I'm sure we can manage. The inspection and appraisal are done, and it turns out there's about 200 more square feet than listed. Not sure how that happened! Most of my fantasies are about our giant walk-in pantry and the studio that will be our learning room. Fun things to think about, so may it all go through as scheduled and may we get all moved in. So grateful to hashem for all that he has brought us in the last year, wait, two years (Raizel & Avi), wait seven years (Amirah & Eli), well eight years (beshert!!!!!!!), well, our whole lives. I'm so grateful that everything that came before has brought us here.
Friday, June 25, 2010
The Menu
A lovely week...
We had a treasure hunt birthday party for Amirah. The treasure, of course, was torah, and the other treasure was the world Hashem created for us and everyone got some shells to take home to remind them of how wonderful this earth is. We also played a few other games and had a very homemade-looking ice cream cake. YUM. Everyone had a good time (and the whole thing only cost $10... sh!).
We also have two new hermit crabs happily walking around their new dwelling. They were the co-stars of the birthday party. They don't seem to like their crab pellets very much, but they're quite fond of cilantro and apple. One is very shy, and the other is extremely extroverted and will crawl all over your arm. Names are TBA.
We also went and visited the train museum for the first time. HUGE HIT! And the very reasonable annual membership gets us into the train museum, Ft. Jackson, the Revolutionary War memorial, and the history museum. A bargain! We had a great time climbing on some trains, admiring others, and Eli went nuts in the model train room - just absolutely loved watching the trains go around and discovering all the many details in the large setup.
The house is moving along. The agreed to all the repairs we requested (short list!). When we walked over to drop Amirah off at the kollel camp, the insulation man was there installing new insulation upstairs. When we walked back to pick her up the electrician was there covering up junction boxes. So... the weeks are ticking along! Moving date is scheduled for August 1! Probably move a few things over before that. Very happy about this.
AND our former next door neighbors from Portland will be visiting us over the weekend. Looking forward to some adventures with M, S, E, & E!
And the most amazing thing that happened this week... DH started saying Perek Shira last shabbos and davening for an improved job situation. On Day 1 he heard of a job for which he was well-suited. On Day 2 he applied AND it was the closing date. And on Day 3... suffice it to say that his work situation suddenly changed/improved drastically and it can't be explained by anything but perek shira and Hashem. I'm talking about major personnel changes and major changes in employee workload. The immediate benefit is that it's looking very much like he won't be working Sundays any more!!!!! There are still policies that make it not the most employee-friendly environment and he'll continue to explore alternatives, but at least (B"H) it's become much more manageable. Such a relief. And his co-workers are actually chatting in the hallway and telling jokes (NOT what was happening before!). So, "baruch hashem" is all I can really say in closing. BARUCH HASHEM!!!!!!!!
And now for the menu...
DINNER
challah
beef braised in master sauce
cucumber salad
soba noodle salad
Asian coleslaw
eggplant sesame salad
roasted vegetables
fresh Georgia peach upside-down cake
LUNCH
same thing, except chicken braised in master sauce
We had a treasure hunt birthday party for Amirah. The treasure, of course, was torah, and the other treasure was the world Hashem created for us and everyone got some shells to take home to remind them of how wonderful this earth is. We also played a few other games and had a very homemade-looking ice cream cake. YUM. Everyone had a good time (and the whole thing only cost $10... sh!).
We also have two new hermit crabs happily walking around their new dwelling. They were the co-stars of the birthday party. They don't seem to like their crab pellets very much, but they're quite fond of cilantro and apple. One is very shy, and the other is extremely extroverted and will crawl all over your arm. Names are TBA.
We also went and visited the train museum for the first time. HUGE HIT! And the very reasonable annual membership gets us into the train museum, Ft. Jackson, the Revolutionary War memorial, and the history museum. A bargain! We had a great time climbing on some trains, admiring others, and Eli went nuts in the model train room - just absolutely loved watching the trains go around and discovering all the many details in the large setup.
The house is moving along. The agreed to all the repairs we requested (short list!). When we walked over to drop Amirah off at the kollel camp, the insulation man was there installing new insulation upstairs. When we walked back to pick her up the electrician was there covering up junction boxes. So... the weeks are ticking along! Moving date is scheduled for August 1! Probably move a few things over before that. Very happy about this.
AND our former next door neighbors from Portland will be visiting us over the weekend. Looking forward to some adventures with M, S, E, & E!
And the most amazing thing that happened this week... DH started saying Perek Shira last shabbos and davening for an improved job situation. On Day 1 he heard of a job for which he was well-suited. On Day 2 he applied AND it was the closing date. And on Day 3... suffice it to say that his work situation suddenly changed/improved drastically and it can't be explained by anything but perek shira and Hashem. I'm talking about major personnel changes and major changes in employee workload. The immediate benefit is that it's looking very much like he won't be working Sundays any more!!!!! There are still policies that make it not the most employee-friendly environment and he'll continue to explore alternatives, but at least (B"H) it's become much more manageable. Such a relief. And his co-workers are actually chatting in the hallway and telling jokes (NOT what was happening before!). So, "baruch hashem" is all I can really say in closing. BARUCH HASHEM!!!!!!!!
And now for the menu...
DINNER
challah
beef braised in master sauce
cucumber salad
soba noodle salad
Asian coleslaw
eggplant sesame salad
roasted vegetables
fresh Georgia peach upside-down cake
LUNCH
same thing, except chicken braised in master sauce
Monday, June 21, 2010
Math
A nice big box arrived from Singapore Math today in the middle of dinner. Instantly, dinner was devoured, dishes cleared, and children's hands tearing at the box. But I did convince them to go for a swim first while it was still nice out! So after swimming, we took out the books and distributed them. Raizel was so excited to get her Earlybird Kindergarten books, Eli his 1A books, and Amirah the books that she'll need by September (2A/2B). We spent the rest of the evening happily doing math. It wasn't even too terribly crazy with all three needing help at the table. They were so excited, especially Raizel who was finally doing math with the Big Kids.
We haven't done much learning time in recent weeks, and I've really missed the regularity and excitement of our learning time. I've discovered that trying to do half-days of camp (at our synagogue) followed by half-days of learning time doesn't really work so well. It's hard to change gears from summer fun and playing with friends to learning time. It's much easier to go the other way! So... no learning now, but the next three weeks will be camp-less so we'll dive in to finish up a few things and maybe get a head start on some new things.
We've had fun with readalouds lately. The subsequent Boxcar Children books we've read have been MUCH better than the one I initially referred to, B"H! We've enjoyed tearing through those, and it's been especially fun to see Eli's narration skills increase quite a lot. Tonight we started reading Thomas Mallory's The Boy's King Arthur, first published in 1880. This was a big hit, despite the very different language used at times. I did substitute some words for clarity! They followed the story just fine.
For science, we've been setting up a hermit crab habitat and now that the habitat is ready and has the right humidity and temperature, we're ready for three little creatures to move in. We went to the aquarium place near our house, but it turns out they are closed on Mondays. :( Disappointed, we came home and had lunch and went to Miri's annual doctor exam. Then on a whim we zoomed up to a place that was about 25 minutes away. Alas, they only had the extra-fancy painted shell hermit crabs and we wanted the plain kind. But they did have small snails and we wanted a couple for Amirah's goldfish bowl, so we got those set aside for us while we looked at all the other amazing creatures. When we were getting ready to leave the man said there was no charge for the snails (!) and wished us a good day. Amirah's eyes got big and round and happily shouted out a big THANK YOU! She was obviously so touched that he wasn't going to take money for them. It was very sweet, and he was indeed a very nice man. A fun experience. Hopefully, the local store will have hermit crabs available tomorrow. If not, we'll mail order them. :)
A good week, as usual, and the house is moving along! We will submit our small repair list tomorrow, and hopefully they will take care of it. Closing is scheduled for five weeks from tomorrow! Still seems surreal...
Off (almost) to bed...
We haven't done much learning time in recent weeks, and I've really missed the regularity and excitement of our learning time. I've discovered that trying to do half-days of camp (at our synagogue) followed by half-days of learning time doesn't really work so well. It's hard to change gears from summer fun and playing with friends to learning time. It's much easier to go the other way! So... no learning now, but the next three weeks will be camp-less so we'll dive in to finish up a few things and maybe get a head start on some new things.
We've had fun with readalouds lately. The subsequent Boxcar Children books we've read have been MUCH better than the one I initially referred to, B"H! We've enjoyed tearing through those, and it's been especially fun to see Eli's narration skills increase quite a lot. Tonight we started reading Thomas Mallory's The Boy's King Arthur, first published in 1880. This was a big hit, despite the very different language used at times. I did substitute some words for clarity! They followed the story just fine.
For science, we've been setting up a hermit crab habitat and now that the habitat is ready and has the right humidity and temperature, we're ready for three little creatures to move in. We went to the aquarium place near our house, but it turns out they are closed on Mondays. :( Disappointed, we came home and had lunch and went to Miri's annual doctor exam. Then on a whim we zoomed up to a place that was about 25 minutes away. Alas, they only had the extra-fancy painted shell hermit crabs and we wanted the plain kind. But they did have small snails and we wanted a couple for Amirah's goldfish bowl, so we got those set aside for us while we looked at all the other amazing creatures. When we were getting ready to leave the man said there was no charge for the snails (!) and wished us a good day. Amirah's eyes got big and round and happily shouted out a big THANK YOU! She was obviously so touched that he wasn't going to take money for them. It was very sweet, and he was indeed a very nice man. A fun experience. Hopefully, the local store will have hermit crabs available tomorrow. If not, we'll mail order them. :)
A good week, as usual, and the house is moving along! We will submit our small repair list tomorrow, and hopefully they will take care of it. Closing is scheduled for five weeks from tomorrow! Still seems surreal...
Off (almost) to bed...
Friday, June 18, 2010
The Menu
Yep, another menu posting. You can tell when it's busy. House is proceeding as scheduled. The inspection was today, and only very minor things came up. We should be closing at the end of July. Very excited (and a little in shock).
And...
For dinner...
Well...
It IS Amirah's birthday (7!)...
So...
Hamburgers and french fries!
And challah and salad.
And dessert.
And for lunch...
challah
tilapia cakes w/special sauce
eggplant salad
stuffed cabbage (in bbq sauce)
sweet potato kugel
three-bean salad
orange cous cous salad
sun-dried polenta squares
lemon poppyseed cake
coconut cranberry pineapple sorbet
And lots of guests (but we won't eat them)...
Good shabbos, all!
And...
For dinner...
Well...
It IS Amirah's birthday (7!)...
So...
Hamburgers and french fries!
And challah and salad.
And dessert.
And for lunch...
challah
tilapia cakes w/special sauce
eggplant salad
stuffed cabbage (in bbq sauce)
sweet potato kugel
three-bean salad
orange cous cous salad
sun-dried polenta squares
lemon poppyseed cake
coconut cranberry pineapple sorbet
And lots of guests (but we won't eat them)...
Good shabbos, all!
Friday, June 11, 2010
The Menu
It's been a really busy couple of weeks with all kinds of adventures while grandma and grandpa were in town. So nice to have them here. AND we bought a house. Well, our offer got accepted. We weren't even shopping, but a great deal popped up down the block and we dropped by the Sunday open house. We saw it again with our realtor on Wednesday, made the offer on Thursday, made a better offer this morning (since two other offers were pending) and got it accepted this afternoon. So... how's that for efficient house shopping? This house was just too good a deal to pass up, especially for the amount of space it has. We were NOT, no way, nohow, expecting to get a house that was actually bigger than our old Portland house, but here we are. It even has a teaching studio with a separate entrance, which will be great for whenever I start teaching music classes again. I may do an hour or two this fall... we'll see! And Farmer Eli is already planning what crops he'd like to plant. For some reason he's really enthusiastic about spinach and (for good reason) kiwis.
Anyway... on to the menu!
For dinner:
challah
chopped liver
chicken (for some) and osso bucco (for others)
ratatouille
roasted potato wedges
marble cake
and for lunch:
green salad
egg salad
ratatouille
guacamole
chips
turkey pastrami sandwiches
marble cake
All things I could make in a hurry since I've been a bit, er, distracted...
Shabbat shalom!
Anyway... on to the menu!
For dinner:
challah
chopped liver
chicken (for some) and osso bucco (for others)
ratatouille
roasted potato wedges
marble cake
and for lunch:
green salad
egg salad
ratatouille
guacamole
chips
turkey pastrami sandwiches
marble cake
All things I could make in a hurry since I've been a bit, er, distracted...
Shabbat shalom!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Humidity
Relative humidity: 80
Temperature: 87
And the weird thing is... I like it (?!?!?). I always thought my ideal place was high up in the mountains by a tumbling stream. Never in a million years did I imagine loving a subtropical climate gearing up for summer. I've been trying to figure out why I like it so much, and really it must be that the air reminds me of some of the best memories I have before I had a husband and children to provide my best memories. Hiking in the Guatemalan rain forest and resting in the hot springs with a dear teacher friend (hi, MH!). Summer music workshops at Amherst. Summers in beautiful, beautiful southern Indiana where I went to college. Music teacher training several summers in Memphis. A solo trip I took through MA, VT, NH, and upstate NY one summer.
Of course, I also remember 100 degrees when the relative humidity is in the 90s. Utterly unpleasant. That will be here all too soon. But for now, I really like this weather much to my utter amazement. I've always emphatically said that I do not, not, not like hot weather (meaning anything over 80!). But those temperatures don't bother me here at all. Maybe it's dry hot weather that makes me wilt?
Time for shabbos. What a lovely gift!
Temperature: 87
And the weird thing is... I like it (?!?!?). I always thought my ideal place was high up in the mountains by a tumbling stream. Never in a million years did I imagine loving a subtropical climate gearing up for summer. I've been trying to figure out why I like it so much, and really it must be that the air reminds me of some of the best memories I have before I had a husband and children to provide my best memories. Hiking in the Guatemalan rain forest and resting in the hot springs with a dear teacher friend (hi, MH!). Summer music workshops at Amherst. Summers in beautiful, beautiful southern Indiana where I went to college. Music teacher training several summers in Memphis. A solo trip I took through MA, VT, NH, and upstate NY one summer.
Of course, I also remember 100 degrees when the relative humidity is in the 90s. Utterly unpleasant. That will be here all too soon. But for now, I really like this weather much to my utter amazement. I've always emphatically said that I do not, not, not like hot weather (meaning anything over 80!). But those temperatures don't bother me here at all. Maybe it's dry hot weather that makes me wilt?
Time for shabbos. What a lovely gift!
The Menu
challah
braised chuck steak
baked potatoes with green onions and tofu sour cream
green salad with French or grandma's special recipe
spinach pesto linguini
roasted yams/carrots/onions/garlic/summer squash
mango coconut sorbet (new batch; the strawberry-kiwi sorbet was the best one yet!)
and for lunch...
sushi,
sushi,
and more sushi!
and soy beans and miso soup and salad with miso dressing...
Good shabbos!
braised chuck steak
baked potatoes with green onions and tofu sour cream
green salad with French or grandma's special recipe
spinach pesto linguini
roasted yams/carrots/onions/garlic/summer squash
mango coconut sorbet (new batch; the strawberry-kiwi sorbet was the best one yet!)
and for lunch...
sushi,
sushi,
and more sushi!
and soy beans and miso soup and salad with miso dressing...
Good shabbos!
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