Photo by Chunky Monkey Photography

Monday, October 8, 2012

Cool Fall Mornings

Besides the lovely chilly weather, fireplaces, and soft blankets... one of the best things about fall is a big mug of hot cocoa!  Just ask Cracker Jack.... 
CJ also got to do his first official day of school.... finally.  We have been reading books but I took so long gathering supplies we hadn't had an official lesson until today.  He really enjoyed it.  We are using Raising Rockstarts Preschool from 1+1+1=1.  It teaches how to write letters, phonics, a weekly bible verse with life application, sight words (maybe above our level for now), colors and a weekly song.  I copies the creator and made a board with pockets to put everything we'll be using.  We will change it out each week.  This week the color is yellow, the letter is L, the sight word is see, the song is This Little Light of Mine, and the bible verse is Matthew 5:16. 
His attention span isn't great right now.  I am not sure if it's a boy thing or an "I'm not use to having school time" thing or just his age (he's only 3).  Either way, this is more for fun and for getting use to a routine and if he happens to learn something too then great!  I see us repeating this again next year with a few additions.  This is my assessment for now... it's only day 1 though so who knows! :) 

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Garden - 1 Month After Planting

We took the day off school yesterday to visit The Texas State Fair. We were worried that it might not be good weather since we had SO MUCH RAIN the last couple of days but it turned out perfect.
 
We had a great time looking at the exhibits, trying crazy fair food (FRIED frito pie - scrumptious).  We also got to see (and have a free sample) of the world's largest frito pie in honor of Frito's 80th birthday.   
Broccoli

The kids were able to each get a free bottle of chocolate milk from the dairy exhibit and we all enjoyed some nachos in the GO TEXAN building. Yeah for free snacks! :) Oh, sorry, this was suppose to be about gardening... 
Brussels Sprouts
 
So the rain that we thought would ruin our trip to the fair worked MAGIC on our garden. I was a bit worried about it at first. It was a sad sight.   
 Carrots (can you see 'em?)
 
But this morning I checked on it and it is looking great! I am hoping that the kids excitement about watching it grow will turn in to excitement about eating more veggies when it's time to harvest. 
 Cabbage
 
They all like carrots already and will eat broccoli if it's put on their plate.  (They meaning the 3 oldest).  Jack likes peas.   
Cauliflower
 
I haven't found a way to get them to eat cauliflower yet but I did find some recipes on pinterest I'm going to try.  The faux mashed potatoes recipe and some pizza bites that use cauliflower in the crust.
 Peas
 
Henry enjoys radishes in his salad but I'm pretty sure there is no amount of ranch dressing that would convince Nelson to eat one.  Kash has suddenly decided the only vegetable he'll eat is a potato.  I have tricked him in to others buy drowning them in ketchup but I'm pretty sure that voids the healthy factor.  
 Radishes