Fun in the Kitchen

So, my Mom got me this incredible cookbook for Christmas – Building the Family Cookbook by Suzanne Fowler.  Not only does it have some great recipes, but it’s a simple way to incorporate a Catholic culture into something we do every day – cook!  Each recipe celebrates a saint’s feast day and gives a short history of the saint’s life and achievements.  Alex loves to ask what we’re going to make each week, and he listens patiently as I explain why we celebrate the life of that particular saint.  I can see this cookbook becoming a staple in our home year after year.

On January 1st we celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and for the first time in my life I made a soufflé.  Despite my best attempts to sabotage my own cooking, it came out quite delicious (and fed us for four days).

On January 4th we celebrated the Feast Day of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton with Colonial Brown Bread.  I haven’t always been the biggest brown bread fan, but this one was slightly sweet, very rich and almost gone in no time.

On January 6th we celebrated the Epiphany of the Lord with a King’s Cake – another first for me.  Alex loved every messy step and although I almost succeeded in burning down the kitchen, we all enjoyed the final results and Daddy got the baby!

The Making of the King’s Cake

On January 17th we celebrated the Feast Day of St. Anthony of Egypt with a very savory Pork Roast, although I just slightly overcooked it.  I don’t cook pork often!

This past Friday we made Cheese Arrows to celebrate the Feast Day of St. Sebastian and it’s the first recipe that hasn’t turned out well.  Edible, but I’m certain nothing like they were supposed to taste.  We’ll hope we do better with that one next year!

We have some great recipes coming up this week and Alex and Daddy will be particularly excited to see St. John Bosco’s Pizza by the Yard…

H and I Week

We’re a little behind.  We keep getting distracted…by science, by Thomas the Train, by the beautiful weather outside (yes, that’s right - while the rest of the country is experiencing the joys of winter, it’s like spring here)…and by just about everything else.  So we are just finishing up H and I weeks.  Here are a few of the highlights:

Week H

As we continued along the alphabet path, we met Herb Twopence and learned a little about St. Helen.  As our Montessori exercise Alex learned how to wash dishes.  I thought it would only last a few minutes – I’m always surprised by how much children at this age want to help, even if it involves chores.  He loved washing dishes and continued to wash the same plates and cups for over 30 minutes.  It left the kitchen a bit wet and both of us soaked, but it was a great learning experience for him.

For science we learned about what food is for and what we should eat.  We also studied a little bit about light.

For math we played with pattern blocks again and used our 100s chart and color tiles to count by 2s.

For art we learned what art is about and we tried the foil squeezing activity from First Art. 

For geography we talked about ice and snow and Antarctica and the Arctic circle.  He had a lot of fun exploring the kinds of animals that live in the cold regions.  We also looked for Hawaii and other words that begin with H on the maps.

Alex made the H is for Holy Spirit Dove craft from Catholic Icing.   

Our reading included:

• Harry the Dirty Dog
• Harold and the Purple Crayon
• How Birds Got Bright Feathers from Stories Around the World
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (we missed this one on G week)
• Honest Abe from Children’s Book of Heroes
• Help, Help from Dick & Jane
• and many others!

Week I

Along the alphabet path this week we met the flower fairy Iris and learned about Saint Ignatius.

For language we spent some time learning signs for I words like ice cream and insects.  Of course we had a Do-a-Dot and he loves tracing letters in the sand so we reviewed the whole alphabet so far. 

For practical life we practiced bead stringing and button stringing.  We also read a silly story about using the word please – it must have stuck though because I noticed him using the word please more than usual!

For science we talked more about food and the path it takes through your body.  I get asked this question a lot, so he was really interested in reading about it.  Alex and daddy studied more about light – daddy showed him all the things he can do with a flashlight and how to bend light to make a rainbow.  He’s been asking me every day now if I can bend light.

For geography we discussed deserts and the creatures that live there.  We also looked for Idaho and other I words on the map.

Other reading this week included:

• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
• If You Give a Cat a Cupcake
• Hero of Indian Cliff from Children’s Book of Heroes
• The Ivory Wand from Stories Around the World
• I Knew You Could
• and many others!

…and more purses!

I really had a blast making these purses.  I used webbing for the first time, tried my hand at using hardware for the clips and d rings, and had my first experience with a magnetic clasp.

Purses…

Now that Christmas has come and gone I can finally post a few pictures of some of my purses that were purchased as gifts.  Cousin Cathy lent an artistic hand with her beautiful choices of fabric for some of these.

my very first zippered coin purse

I’ve added a new “small” size to my herbal hot/cold packs

As soon as I download my pictures from the camera, I’ll have a few more of my most recently completed purses and zippered pouches.  Stay tuned…