Planning for next year - Preschool (YIKES!)

I love planning. I get all excited and like to browse and look at stuff for ideas for HOURS! C is going to be 3 soon - where did the time go? He gets bored easily and wants to do work like A, so I figured I needed to do more with him this coming school season. I don't expect to do worksheets, or activity pages or anything, but I think we will do unit studies in conjuction with what A is studying or whatever takes his fancy.  Of course, I have been looking at all these ideas from all these great sites and it's easy to get carried away. That being said, I created my list of goals for C today and it looks something like this:

Know:

Colors

Shapes

Counting objects to 5

Be able to sort different objects by color, size, and/or shape

Be able to sort animals according to characteristics

Draw a circle, square, triangle

Be able to complete an ABC pattern

Sing songs

Be able to do:

Lacing work

Pasting

Cutting

Coloring

Crafting

Puzzle work

Building skills

Sharing

Patience

Would be nice:

Recognize A, C, D, M, S

To change:

Less TV, more books and toys

More one on one time

More hands on fun like painting and messy work

As you can see, there is nothing in the above list that involves "seat work" - which is how it should be. I have found a site called Confessions of a Homeschooler that has some great free printables for lacing, patterning, letters, and colors. She has puzzles that correspond with each letter that I will be using just as puzzles - we will talk about the animals on those puzzles and the beginning letter sounds, but I TOTALLY don't expect him to know those sounds. I do want to expose him to that concept though so that when we start PreKinder stuff he has heard the idea before and it isn't alien.

So far I have decided that we will make a cardboard car and gas pump, sensory floor tiles(round or square cardboard tiles covered in different stuff like sponges, Bath sponges, bubble wrap, etc), lacing cards, sensory balloons, craft stick shapes, giant felt shapes, a felt button worm made from felt scraps that can be ordered by color or shape, etc.  

Some of the items that I can't make, I will have to buy.  Those include wooden puzzles, sorting trays(wood silverware trays), craft items like paint, pom poms, etc, aquarium gravel, rawhide dog bones in all shapes and conditions for dinosaur bone hunts, stampers, paint rollers, and dot dot painters, etc.  IF you live up in the great white north and want me to send you money for when you go to Goodwill and can pick me up some of those things, I'd be super excited :) Send me a message, I'll send you money :) :)

Readathon 2012 - The Lion and the Mouse

A few days ago I stumbled across a great website called MeMeTales This site has a dual purpose. It allows aspiring writers to publish their own stories(for kids) and it also brings innovative books to children in an engaging platform.  MeMeTales has both free ebooks and ebooks you can purchase.  You can have the books read aloud to your child, printed off, or if your child is reading, they can read the book without the audio.

For the summer, MeMeTales is partnering with PBSKids, Harper Collins, Orca Books, Little Pickle Press, and others to bring you some great ebooks.  There are aps for your iPhone, Kindle Fire, iPad, and computer that allow you to download the books and set your little one up with hours of reading fun.  For the month of June, if you sign up with MemeTales you get 20 free ebooks that can either be read aloud or that can be read silently. After reading or listening to each book, your child earns sticker rewards that you can print out and glue onto their certificate.

Jungle animals singing don't wake the lion

If you want to participate, here is a link that takes you to the how to participate page.

Each week has different theme with activities to go along with theme.  Week 1 is animals. This makes me super excited as C loves all things animals and the books are simple enough that both A and C can do animal based activities together and reenact some of the books.

The book we listened to today was The Lion and the Mouse by Lavanya R.N.  We listened to the book  this morning and I LOVED it. It is the traditional tale of the mouse helping the lion, but the illustrations, the slightly Indian twist to the story line, and the audio made the book really come alive. C gasped in the scary parts, laughed when the lion roared and laughed, and cheered at the end when the lion got free of the net.  He also danced to the musical part. Really, listen to this book. It's fab.

"Squeek, squeek"

I figured that I wanted him to really remember this book - it has a great message after all. We grabbed his animal toys, his holey blanket, and reenacted the story line. Of course since he is just coming on 3 years old, it wasn't exactly like the book, but the mouse made squeaky noises, the lion roared(and snored), and he freed the lion.  After which, he made the mouse pounce and wrestle the lion - but hey - it was his reenactment!

Saving the lion from the net.

I can see us playing lion and mouse for many days in the future.

Thanks MeMeTales for great books and letting my children's imaginations grow because you started this service. we are hooked and will keep reading all Summer :)

Thursday Thanksfulness

It's the little things, right?  Last year, our neighbor's Mango tree was EXPLODING with mangos. This year, it looks like there won't be any :( On our way to town, we found:

Life is good when you can grab a free range Mango and rescue it from getting run over. It was literally laying in the middle of the road. So as any good Crucian would do, I sent A to cross the street and grab it up before a car could squash it.  It is perfect. It is one of the prettiest mangos I have seen in a LLLOONNGG time.

C has been jonesing for a Garbage truck since Christmas. Every night(no, really, EVERY night) before he goes to sleep he asks if HOHO(Santa) will bring him a garbage truck. I know Santa can work miracles, but I am not sure he knows where to find a garbage truck. I have looked because I thought that maybe we'd take over HOHO's job and get C one for his birthday, but haven't been able to find on on internet land.  Well, what to my wondering eyes should appear at the St. Croix Animal Shelter Flea Market today, than a big orange Garbage truck! So, thank you, thank you, thank you to whomever dropped that guy off and boy am I glad and thankful that I can stop looking now :)

Be thankful. It's the little stuff that counts.

The Sea Turtle Lapbook!

LOVE the paint job, A!

In April we went to watch the Leatherback turtles nest at Sandy Point. It was an amazing experience and if you want to read about read my earlier post.  In response to that experience, A and I started working on a lapbook about Sea Turtles. At first, I thought we might just make it about Leatherbacks, but then I decided that we might as well study all of the sea turtles out there. Not in depth mind you, but at least a brief overview of each type of sea turtle and their habitats, appearance, etc.  At some point, the lapbook got completely away from us and took on a life of its own.  I had to run away screaming and A lay hiding under the bed for about a month before we took it out again. To our relief, it had calmed down(oxygen deprivation maybe?) and we finished it. That experience went to show us how we could really get into a project and how it could take over. At one point I was up until 2a.m. looking up turtle anatomy….. Craziness!

A created all the pages on her own. She came up with the game page, and learned how to make holes and set eyelets.  She painted the turtle, cut, pasted, etc.  My favorite part is when we recreated a leatherback hatchling and made it weigh an average weight of a real hatchling.  We used Math, Reading, Geography, Social Studies, and Science in this project. We created Turtle poetry, measured a real turtle, read a science book on sea turtles, basically lived and breathed sea turtles for what seemed like AGES.  I think that a few of the pages might need some captions or some written explanation on them yet, but you know what? That’s OK, it’s her work of art and her work, so even I think it’s missing something I’m going to leave it the way it as. I can hope that she looks back in years to come and enjoys reading her very own Sea Turtle Lapbook!

Each scute has a vocab word under it with it's definition.

Horchata

How you might see it in Mexico,
 waiting to be served.

Horchata is drink made of rice from Mexico.  It is in my opinion the only to drink rice "milk" and not live to regret the taste. It has a vanillay, almondy, cinnamony goodness about it that coats your mouth and tongue and leaves you wanting more. It is the PERFECT drink for hot summer days and garden parties.

I used to beg my friends who went to Mexico to bring me back a bottle or two of the concentrated stuff, but with the new regulations in the airline industry that is just too difficult nowadays.  I have been searching and searching for a good recipe for ages. I tried a few times, but got frustrated and gave up.  until NOW!!! Thanks to Mely at Mexico in my Kitchen for posting a great Horchata recipe that has now become a staple in this household. I figured I'd post her recipe with my minor modifications here for you in case you wanted to try it.

Horchata

Day 1
2 cups of white long grain rice
4 cups of boiling hot water
ground cinnamon or 1 stick of whole cinnamon

Day 2
1/2 C white sugar
2 C whole milk
5 C water
1 large capful vanilla
1 small capful almond extract

Day 1 directions:

The day before you want to drink the Horchata, place the cups of rice(uncooked) in a large bowl, add the boiling water and cinnamon(if it's powdered add enough to cover the top of he surface of the water).  Wrap your bowl in plastic wrap and let it sit out on your counter for 24 hours.  REALLY. You NEED to do this 24 hours in advance for the best results.(if pressed for time, you can do 12 hours, but it's not as good).

The next day.......

Add your bowl of rice, cinnamon, and water to your blender and blend until you get a VERY watery paste.  Then blend again. Drain this mixture over a fine mesh sieve back into your original bowl.  Clean out your blender. Add about 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 small capful of almond extract, and 1.5 large capfuls of vanilla.  To this mix add about 2 ladlefuls of the drained rice "milk". Blend until the sugar is dissolved.  Add this back to our bowl of rice "milk".  stir to combine, then pour into a large pitcher. Add 2 cups whole milk and 5 cups of water.

At this point you have a choice, you can either put it in the fridge and wait for it to chill or you can grab the nearest glass and pour yourself a cup over ice, sit back and enjoy. Cleaning up the kitchen can wait until later.

Cinco de Mayo goodness

I know, Cinco de Mayo was four days ago.  I KNOW, this is a late post, but we were busy ok?  We don’t really celebrate Cinco de Mayo in this house, and we didn’t really celebrate it growing up.  We sort of snickered at the dumb Gringos who thought that Cinco de Mayo was the independence of Mexico and then we tried to educate them. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. Mean weren't we?

I have been feeling my Mexican roots lately and this has been reflected in my cooking and my blog reading. A has been getting extra Spanish classes and both A and C are eating even yummier food than before. In fact, C has taken to asking if things “pica” before biting in to them. This would include his three morning bowls of Cheerios! Crazy kid. Then again, milk with chiles might not be a bad way to start the day.....

Anyway, we were invited to a Cinco de Mayo party and I was bound and determined to bring something traditionally Mexican that was easy to make and super yummy.  Most, but not all Mexican food is labor intensive. It assumes that you have a muchacha or two working for you and that you can slave in the kitchen all day while someone else watches your kids. I WISH I had that……. Back to the food. Afer tossing around various ideas, I made up a batch of Chilaquiles. I LOVE Chilaquiles. My first memory of this dish was on a Aero Mexico flight from Miami to Cancun when I was studying abroad in Merida, Mexico.  They were amazing, they were hot, had a spicy red sauce, were sprinkled with cheese, and were airplane food!! Can you  imagine? GOOD airplane food???

Since I had decided to make these, I needed to go out and get the essentials. I had fresh local, organic tomatoes and green onions from Sejah Farms, a white onion, a bay leaf(also local), Oregano, salt pepper, and dried chipotle and chile de arbol peppers. I bought two rotisserie chickens, some crappy corn tortillas(they fry better), and the cheeses. I was set to begin cooking, but first I needed a drink - of Horchata (recipe to come) that is.

Here is the recipe I used:

Chilaquiles rojas

500g day-old tortillas, cut into triangles

1 cup vegetable oil, for frying

6 tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

3 stalks of green onion

1 medium white onion

4 dried chipotle chiles soaked in boiling hot water to plump

2 dried chile de Arbol chiles also soaked in boiling hot water to plump

2 - 3 tablespoon dried oregano

1 bay leaf

salt to taste

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 rotisserie chicken de meated

100g queso fresco plus 100 g Manchego cheese shredded

finely sliced onion rings, to serve

Frying the tortillas to make the chips.

1.        In a deep pan, heat the oil to around 180 degrees Celsius (or until an introduced tortilla strip fries rapidly). Add about a fifth of the cut tortillas and cook till crisp, repeat with the other 4 batches. Drain well.

2.        Place the tomatoes in a small sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Drain the water out, then puree the tomato, onion, green onion, garlic, chipotle, chile de arbol, bay and oregano together.

3.        Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a wide saucepan, and carefully add the pureed mixture. Add some salt, then fry for 5-8 minutes or until the color of the sauce starts to darken.

Finished sauce.

4.        Add the tortilla chips, chicken, and Manchego (you will need quite a large pan to stir the sauce through thoroughly) and mix gently, trying not to break up the chips too much.

5.        Add to 350 degree preheated oven and bake until the sauce is warm and cheese has melted.

6.        Sprinkle with cilantro queso fresco, and onion slices, serve.

It was super picante and it was great! I totally want to make a batch for breakfast this weekend, but we have a swim meet planned so it may have to be a mid week dinner dish, with less pica for the kids.

photo from delatierra.com

Viva Mexico! Ole!!

Triathlon madness!

View of the harbor as the athletes will see it on Sunday. 

 It's that time of year again.  The roads are getting paved, the bush is getting wacked from the sides of the road, and there are orange spray painted marking on the asphalt.  It's time for the St. Croix 70.3 Half Ironman!!!

Pre race talk.

This is such a great, fun event for everyone - sporty and not.  We get tons of people visiting the island from all over the world in the hopes of securing a spot in a full ironman, there are people at the restaurants, people running and cycling on the roads, and a festive quality to downtown.

When I was younger - high school aged and before, I would volunteer to help in the transition area. in those days, the transition area was held in the old fort parking lot that took up much of the waterfront. We had to report to "work" the day or two before the triathlon to sweep the parking lot, set up the bike racks, set up the barricades, and gawk at all the hot bodies. It was a teenager's dream come true. Actually, some of the older women were in heaven too.  I haven't been able to volunteer since I graduated from high school because I was in college, or once back and married -preferred to stay snuggled in bed with S, but now that A is old enough, and sleeping in is 6 am, I figured we needed to start giving back and doing our part.  That said, if you need water when leaving the transition area, we are your people :)

Pollito - all the triathletes know him
by name thanks to C!

Yesterday was part 2 of the warm up swim, and A and I swam it while C waited on shore with my Mom and his new found friend Pollito(a slowly dying baby chick that we found on the roadside).  THANKS Mom!

We hoped to not only make it around the 750m course in less than 30 minutes, but to also get to rub goggles with Lance Armstrong. Yes, you heard me - Lance Armstrong.  The man himself is here.  I remember seeing him win the "Beauty and the Beast" triathlon when I was in high school. Now he is back and we are wishing him well.  If he does win, and I hope he does, it will bring a boost to our little island next year as more competitors will come.  Right now we average about 300 athletes, but in the beginning we sometimes had upwards of 800! Can you imagine that?

What I saw most of the swim

Anyway, it was fun and it stopped raining long enough for us to want to jump into that cold harbor water.  Yeah, it's still cold for us. I know, I hear the tiny violins playing in the background.  Anyway, I haven't swum in the harbor for YEARS.  The last time I was there it was pretty barren, but yesterday we saw starfish, 2 juvenile French Angel fish, Sargent Majors, Blue Tang, Sea Urchins the size of my head, and many other fish.  It was cool.  We had to swim through seaweed though - and I HATE that.  A did well on the swim despite wanting to turn back at one point, and I did well despite running her over constantly! Once we got out, A said it fine and she'd do it again! Good girl!

Sadly, we didn't see Lance.  I heard he had done a private swim and was biking the island. Maybe we'll go hunt him down?

Hot body for my friend Anna,
who is missing the race this year.