Math, Social Studies, History & Bible in the kitchen!

the child grated a whole pound of mozzarella today!!!!

smilin' all the way......

while old Rose Marie enjoys a ramekin of sweet tea with sonic ice!

Today we have been in the kitchen a LARGE part of the day.....having a great time, too. We played my iPod on shuffle & heard some Elvis gospel, Beatles, Rosemary Clooney Christmas (yep. Christmas too!) and sang, danced and learned a few things........

1) we were cooking for Pa Pa and Ma Jo.....we wanted to help out (ever so slightly) with some lasagna, hanky panky sandwiches and cream cheese brownies. This was our "Bible", where we learn that God wants us to love and help each other. Ma Jo is always so wonderful about cooking meals for people, especially when they are down. When my sister Joy was on bed rest with the triplets early in her pregnancy, Ma Jo brought a meal to them EVERY week. I'll always be thankful for that gift. A comforting meal and throw away pans is a good thing when you are tired, both physically AND emotionally!

2) We were finishing up our NYC Social studies/History unit and the last activity was to create 2 recipes that are "native" to NYC. We decided on Coney Island sauce for hot dogs (which are Nathan's hot dogs from NY) and then for dessert we are going to try a recipe from NY dating back to the late 1800's/early 1900's called Chocolate Egg Cream. There are no eggs and no cream in this "sort of" milkshake. We shall see and give a report on how they both went after dinner tonight!
3) Of course, Math is ALL OVER cooking/baking......we were in the kitchen ALL DAY because we went through every single step, and I intentionally used sizes of measuring cups that were not called for so she could tell me how many cups would equal the measurement called for. For instance, one ingredient was for 3 cups. I used a 1/2 cup size & asked how many I needed to add to equal 3 cups. Within about 2 seconds....seriously....she said "SIX!". I think she got her math skills from her Poppa! ha ha! (certainly not from me!)
We started our school day a little early, took a break around the time we normally begin, finished up and then hit the kitchen......we are 2 tired girls, but 2 very happy girls.....God is good & we are thankful to have ingredients to cook with, a car to carry food to our family that we love, and the blessing of homeschooling that is possible because Daddy works so hard......

check out the penmanship.......

Gracie did this very quickly today, with a NON-erasable pen, even! The cursive is really coming along, wouldn't you say?! I'm impressed!

Our February so far.....

G and Miss Tiffy

(Miss Tiffy graduated with me from high school....we were both on the Castner Knott teen board for DLHS, and....well.....she is a professional model who has lived in Japan for about 15 years! Thru Facebook, we found each other again and she instantly connected with Gigi....we met her at the airport this month when she came home to take care of some things....she is a precious, beautiful woman who is so humble. She said that she and G "get each other" because they are both transplanted to different countries, being the major minority. I love Tiffy & of course, Gracie does too!)
Aragato, Miss Tiffy, for bringing me a kimono from Japan!

Another new thing in February: we are back in the gym! This time, G is taking rhythmic gymnastics, which is a combo of gymnastics and dance with hoops, ribbons, balls and ropes. It is beautiful and VERY HARD.....you not only control your own body, but you have to control the props too! G is going to be very good at this....right now she is just frustrated because she doesn't get it right the first time, every time. It is TIME to get over that.....she did very well on her 2nd lesson,no tears....until they had play time at the end in the pit.....a teenager jumped close and she did a canonball and smacked her knee into her little nose....up near the top, between the eyes! She was a trooper though and there is no swelling/bruising :)

Gracie and my Scentsy "favorites" that she stacked up!

I am now a Scentsy rep. If you have not heard of Scentsy, you need to try it out! These are the best sellers/favorites by sales (not necessarily my personal favorites)....there are over 80 different scents, and the wax is in a "bar" form with break apart "cubes". The cubes melt in beautiful warmers that are heated by a light bulb....no fire/danger, no soot. SAFE. You can mix cubes to make "Scentsy recipes"....like adding vanilla cubes to a cinnamon cube....etc. G is ready to play in the kitchen when I get more bars to play with......but I am not going to cut her loose in the "Scentsy kitchen".....it will be a project for BOTH of us! She is going to make herself a little Scentsy cookbook :)

G with Rose in her red kid's recliner that she got for Valentines Day & Chinese New Year

Rose loves G's chair....at least she gets on the back of it to "share" with the owner! ha ha! G has her little Nick "slime" laptop too....she has an email address and writes to her grandparents, cousins, aunts, me and Daddy. We are going to start in April with some online homeschool curriculum or "e-learning" to supplement our eclectic curriculum. She has worked on some sample lessons and LOVES it!

I have given up facebook for lent, so I am hoping to get in a better habit of blogging and when the 40 days are up, I am hoping to just get on facebook once or twice a week. I have neglected the blogs and I blame facebook! :)

We have an exciting month coming up.....New York City to celebrate my 40th! We are doing a whole homeschool unit in history/social studies on the big apple! Lots going on while we learn barefoot......and often in our pj's!