a hazy day breakfast and activity

Over here in the greater Portland area, we have been experiencing some nasty smoke blowing up from California and down from BC.

It breaks my heart thinking of how bad it has been in the areas affected by the dreadful fires and all the people who have lost their homes.

Sorry, not such a cheery start to a post...

Anyway, we have not been taking the warnings about unhealthy air conditions too seriously, but after a park play date yesterday morning that left me with a sore throat and headache, I figured its time to quarantine us inside the house for a day.

Perhaps it was similar ailments (or perhaps just the two bottom molars that have been cutting through her gums for the past few weeks) which plagued Natalie last night, and woke us up for good around five this morning.

Lane finally got out of bed to shower and head to work at 5:30, and I rolled out when I was sure Nat had fallen back asleep for good around six.
Thankfully, this gave me time to myself to make breakfast, listen to the Bible, drink my (first) cup of coffee, and prepare a little activity for the kids.

And by "prepare" I just mean that I unfolded a big cardboard box, took out our bin of small toy cars, and set out some crayons, markers, and colored pencils. When the kids woke up we made a town, complete with roads, a coffee shop, BurgerVille, gas station, police office, houses, etc. (Judah contributed "dino statues" around the town)

The best part is that it starts out as an art project that takes imagination and creativity, and then turns into a big game of cars (usually involving "bad guy cars" and all the emergency vehicles).

Also, there was breakfast.
I usually start my day with a protein shake, and the kids have oatmeal or pancakes, or half shakes and toast. But this morning I had extra time, and I needed to use up the bread heels that had been accumulating in our fridge.

The great thing about French toast casserole is that it is super forgiving- you just throw in some ingredients, bake it, and it usually turns out great! It is also really filling. Like, really filling. Almost uncomfortably-full kind of filling (clearly, I ate too much of it)...
Here is the version I made this morning:

10 or 11 slices of bread (I used almost all whole wheat heels, plus a half hamburger bun thrown in for good measure)
1/4 cup butter + a couple more tablespoons for dotting the top
1 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
6 eggs
generous sprinkle cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup milk (maybe another 1/4 cup, depending on the heartiness of the bread you use)
2/3 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in a 9x13 casserole dish and stick it in the oven to melt. While it melts, cut bread into cubes. Take the dish out of the oven and swirl the butter to coat sides. Then place bread and remaining ingredients in the dish, mixing to coat everything well with wet ingredients.
Dot with remaining butter and bake until the egg is cooked through in the middle, but bread is not burning, about 30 to 40 minutes.
Enjoy!

Update: the haze has lifted! Now, I have to pack for camping this weekend!

PS seven years ago
Also, if you want an outdoor car activity.

fall happenings

Well, Halloween is over, so now is the time to blog about it! (And the time to listen to Christmas music, but only instrumental- I'm no cheater!)

I was so thankful to go on James' class field trip to the pumpkin patch and afterward he, Elle, and I carved pumpkins while Judah took a late nap. James even carved the eyes and nose all by himself!

We did have our pumpkins smashed this year, which was a bummer, but at least I scraped them off the road and threw them in our yard debris before they rotted in our front entrance!

This year I was so excited that the kids all wanted to do a Peter Pan theme: James would be Peter, Elle Tinkerbell, and Judah a lost boy. However, James decided that he had to be a ninja. Again. Only this year, he had to have nunchucks (numchucks?).

Elle made an adorable Tink, of course. And I don't know which was cuter, that Peter Pan costume on Judah or the way he said "I Petey Pan!"

We went trick-or-treating right after school in downtown Gresham (never doing that again, it was crazy crowded!), then a couple families came over for dinner and the seven adults and thirteen children age six and under all went around the 'hood trick-or-treating.

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Up next: retail therapy + disciplining my kids

homebodies

 

Can you spy James?

The kids and I have been so strangely inactive this week, and yet such busy bodies. I'll explain what I mean with some simple stats from the week:

Number of times left front door of house: 5

Number of those times we went more than one mile from our house: 2

Destinations more than one mile from our house: play date and library

Destinations within one mile radius where we were headed the other 3 times: park and woods trail

Number of (official) crafts done: 2

I won't divulge whose pumpkin is whose; but I will say that only one of us had the creative intuition to put a mustache and freckles on their pumpkin.

Number of baking projects that James helped with: 2

almonds, oats, flax, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, coconut oil, honey, spices..mm...

Number of home runs James has scored from basement baseball: 41

Number of obscenely large forts built: 3

Number of days we stayed in PJ's until 10 am: I'll never tell

Oh, and number of blog posts attempting to make up for not blogging since last Friday: 1

I caught a glimpse of myself in the office mirror and just had to take a picture. My stay-at-home uniform: nursing tank top, leggings, droopy sweater, messy braid...sadly, this picture doesn't show the tasteful wool socks that I am also rocking. 

This weekend we are continuing to stick around the house. We will be doing our usual farmer's market, Beaver football cheering, and general joyful-life-living... 

Have a wonderful weekend!

vowel letter art projects

For a while I was daily doing "school" with James. Around the time I got really sick he decided he would no longer participate in school. So we are on summer break. However, I want to share the vowel activities I came up with for him to do:

He used an apple slice as a stamp with paint for "A":

For "E" I used this template. I traced all the pieces and then had him fit them on and glue them. Then he colored his elephant. For "U" he colored the umbrella and glued on the pre-cut rain drops.

For "O" I drew a large oval and had James glue on googly eyes and then he cut and glue legs to make an octopus. For "I" he glued a pre-cut ice cream cone and scoops of ice cream. Then he glued real "fwinkles" all over the ice cream.

For "Y" he simply cut pieces of yarn and glued them on a piece of paper.

Who knows if he is really learning his letters from these activities, but he enjoys doing them and I love to display them in our house!

ordinary joys: the rainy and sick day edition

All last week I was super sick and it was super nasty out. But there is always joy to be found:

(James doing puzzles in the fort with his "friends"- Mickey, Big Tiggy, Little Tiggy, and Humphrey the camel)

1. elaborate forts- 'nuff said.

2. a good laugh- if you haven't discovered this website, you need to check it out. Always funny and (almost) always appropriate.

3. homemade flubber- so easy and so entertaining. James favorite thing to do is hide googly eyes in it and then try to find them. Don't ask me why.

4. cozy robes- I am generally a sweatshirt and warm-ups type of gal if I'm having a lazy day, but there is something so comforting about a big, plush robe. It definitely states: "I'm sick and not leaving the house under any circumstances today."

4. calorie replenishing foods- I couldn't eat anything for a few days while I was sick, but as soon as I started to feel better I was dreaming of cinnamon rolls. So I made some.

(extrodinary joys while sick- forgiving children who go with the flow, husbands who run errands and let you get into bed as soon as they are home, and mother-in-laws who drop everything, drive two hours, and take your toddler home for the weekend)

... And happily I am feeling better and it is beautiful out.

Our weekend will be busy with Farmers Market, family hikes, and a couple dinner parties...
Have a happy, sunny weekend!

the perfect morning to spend at an outdoor cafe

In case it is not especially obvious what is going on here, let me explain: we brought James' road map rug out onto the back deck this morning and built a cafe (complete with espresso machine, cash register, and walk-up window) for the "barista dinos" (what he calls them all the time) to serve lattes (with whip cream and "fwinkles") to the lego animals. After enjoying their beverages the dinos entertained the animals with some live music (please note the T-rex with the "ga-tuag").

James also made the zoo-keepers' car into a "monsta truck" so he could drive the elephant and fish to the concert.

I hope you (on the West coast) are all able to take full advantage of the wonderful weather this weekend!

PS coming up: Why the ER is not my favorite place to spend a Friday night...

little yoga

A few weeks ago James and I borrowed Little Yoga from the library. 

It is a really cute book, full of fun, colorful pictures that compare simple yoga poses to animal movements.

Perfecting the poses was not the goal, of course; the whole purpose is movement and fun. However, James caught on surprisingly quickly, and seemed to improve each time we went through the book.

I would love to enroll him in a real kid yoga class, but I assume they are crazy expensive.
Do you or anyone you know do yoga with kids? Do you know any kids who have taken a yoga class? I bet it would be a lot of fun and hilarious to watch.

(What, a mid-morning post?... I did not have to wait until nap time today due to the fact that my sweet little guy is currently on his way to Corvallis to have a "just James trip" to Grandma and Grandpas' house. Eleanor and I are not quite sure what we are going to do with all this quiet (certainly not catch up on cleaning!), but we are kicking off our girls time by making a grocery list and going on a leisurely shopping trip. So we can have more meals like this one.)

some rainy day kid crafts

Given that the current weather in the Northwest is unpredictable at best, and we are at the height of runny-nose season, I thought I would share a few little crafts I did with James this past week. You probably have the supplies in your own home, and can save these ideas for a rainy day when a cold has you quarantined. 1. Running toys with wheels through piles of paint and making tracks. This was great because he played for a while and created some cool art. 2. Sticker animals on popsicle sticks = instant puppets. James enjoyed using his scissor skills to cut around the stickers. I like that no glue was needed, but I did have to heavily monitor the cutting! (Side note: James named this one Bamboo the Baboon... yeah, say that three times fast) 3. crayon scraps into crayons. You just cut all your broken crayons (minus paper, of course) into little pieces then pile them up in a silicone tray (Ikea has fun colors and shapes for 99 cents! no matter that they are actually ice cube trays...) and bake at 230 degrees for 15 minutes. Any other rainy-day craft ideas? PS sorry the pictures and wording is in such disarray... I can't seem to fix it! PPS This time, a year ago: Tuscan White Bean Soup YUM!