WFMW - Handmade Holidays

My only New Years Resolution is to make more of the gifts I give from now on. I am not going so far as to say all but I want to do many more.

I did manage to make two different gifts for this holiday season. To set my daughter down this path, we made ornaments for all the relatives that decorate trees. I hope to make this a tradition, adding a new different kind of ornament each year so that the relatives have a memento of her growth. I made a pants outfit for the youngest cousin. The inspiration and directions came from Today's Housewife. It would have been much easier if I had made the pants but I used store bought and just added the ruffle. Next time the pants get made too. My daughter does not wear much pants so I am working on a similar idea for a dress.

The template for the applique came from Skip to My Lou. It is my new favorite template. I have down sized the lowercase letters to write words and everything.

So that is what works for me. Check out What works for others at We are that family

Menu Planning Monday - Organized

We do not have the ton of leftovers some are dealing with this week so instead we took stock of our freezer and will be cooking some neat things from it. I need to grocery shop this week but only for fresh fruit and veggies. All the meat is from the freezer.

Some activities are still on winter break so this is a quiet week of catching up and sorting.

Monday - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas
Tuesday - Stir Fry with Chicken and a sweet sauce.
Wednesday - Picnic dinner at the pool - Salmon burgers, carrots sticks, cantaloupe, cookies
Thursday - leftovers
Friday - Pot Roast, acorn squash, broccoli, challah, chocolate chip melted icecream cake.
Saturday - Tacos, salad

Menu Planning Monday - Snowed In

We got the once in a decade blizzard this weekend. We got close to 20 inches of snow in 24hours. That means lots of home time and lots of cooking. But no trips to the store. Add on top of that, the trip to the grandparents on Wednesday and it all comes together to mean a menu focused on the freezer.

Luckily we keep a well stocked freezer.

That being said here is our menu for this week.

Saturday - Beef Barley Soup - This was a new adventure for us. It is good but I need to make a much smaller batch the next time. It was great at the time but did not survive the long haul. The barley soaked up all the broth and turned to glue so the leftovers were much less appealing.
Sunday - Turkey Pot Pie
Monday - Frittata
Tuesday - Homemade Pasta Sauce and noodles - The leftover sauce will go in the freezer to make a ready meal for when we get back.

Snow Day

We are getting a blizzard today and truly snowed in. We even bailed on services last night because the snow was due to start before the drive home. It is the middle of the day and we are already up to 18 inches.

We have a fire going and are enjoying some serious family time. We all bundled up and went out for a bit this morning. I did a first pass of shoveling on the driveway while Froggy and Sebastian (the puppy) played in the snow. We tried to build a snowman but the snow would not stick together enough. The temperatures are supposed to stay below freezing so we will keep trying until we get at least one made. With this much snow there is no excuse.

Sebastian loved playing in the snow but did not like getting dried with the hair dryer afterwards. He does not seem get covered when he goes out to do his business but playing caked it on there but good.

Today's snow day menu consisted of comfort foods galore!! French toast for breakfast, turkey noodle soup for lunch and Turkey Pot Pies for dinner

WFMW - Unschooling

When we first investigated homeschooling, I looked at a variety of teaching styles and curricula. I found several I liked and even one I planned to use. Luckily I did not purchase too much since much of what we do has taken on an extremely unschooly (and yes it is now a word - I say so) approach. It is what works for us.

Today's school consisted of our standard breakfast fare - the weekly parsha and sidrah as well as some pages from her workbook. A workbook I hear you cry that is not unschoolly. It is when she demanded to get it - I was trying to find her some Kumon books for cutting practice - and she picks the pages we do.

But then later we wrote letters. I was working on some email and she demanded to write a letter too. I have asked and prompted and suggested before with absolutely no results. We wrote several letters and we learned all about question marks. She dictated and I typed exactly what she said. And had to explain some strange spellings when the word on the screen did not look like what she thought it should

The first - She wanted so much to write to this family but really did not know what to say
hello Mrs. G**** and too Mister G****** hi m***** and e**** the song we were singing goes "i love you wing dum dum" It is called "Turkey Love" Sandra Boyton wrote it. She is my favorite writer. I love you too the gibson family we love being with you. love S*** and her mommy her daddy is working

She really got into the groove here

Aunt Petal and E*** What kind of food do you have? Its in the middle of Hanukkah. Love S*** And Aunt M*****. Happy Hanukkah. Too Aunt Petal and E*** Do you celebrate Hanukkah? We have wanted to go on another fieldtrip to see you and Evan's bed is cool. It has a ladder and a slide and you gotta becareful when you jump on his bed. Goodbye Aunt Petal and E***

Menu Planning Monday - Chag Samach

This week's menu will feature leftovers from our holiday party. We made a huge turkey for the event. It was not the best I have done but it was well received.

Sunday - dinner out after the shul Hanukkah party
Monday - Babysitter tonight. It will be a simple early dinner that the sitter can take over if er run late. Pasta, homemade sauce, and salad
Tuesday- Meeting tonight for me - Turkey Noodle Soup and biscuits
Wednesday- The first quiet night at home this week. We will do a simple meal of latkes, veggie sticks and leftover turkey.
Thursday - dinner out
Friday - Shabbat and the last night of Hanukkah- Challah, brisket, latkes, broccoli, and menorah cupcake dessert.
Saturday - homemade pizza

All Hanukkah All The Time

That was the theme today. We went from Hanukkah event to Hanukkah event.

Froggy wore her special Hanukkah dress. It was a gift from a wonderful friend at shul. Her mom made for her daughter who is now too big for it.
First this morning was Froggy's Hanukkah religious school class party during school time. They had sufganiot as snack as well as gelt and had a special Hanukkah edition of "Ask The Rabbi" time.

After lunch, it was off to the community Hanukkah party which was a joint effort from shul and the Jewish Day school. It was so much fun. They did an amazing job. The had crafts,games and good food. There was a tremendous turn out and it appeared all the ages had a good time. I got a chance to talk with folks I do not get to often enough.

Froggy was so enamored of the crafts that she barely even said a word to her friends. Her favorite was decorating with stickers. My favorite was the Hanukiot. It was such a simple open end-ed fire safe idea that I am amazed I had not seen it done before. Each packet contained a tile and 10 nuts- 8 for each nightly candle and 2 to make the shamash taller. The arrangement as well as the decorations were completely open. We saw lots of interesting designs. At home one could decorate with paint or other materials. We decorated with stickers.

I made this one
And Froggy made this one with a bit of help from the older girls running the station

Finally it was time to for dinner then home and more Hanukkah. We lit our brand new Hanukiot and then played dreidle. All Hanukkah All the Time All Fun

Chag Sameach.

Turkey Noodle Soup

Turkey Noodle Soup is one of my favorite uses for leftover turkey. I always have homemade broth in the freezer. I make the broth any time I roast a chicken or turkey.

Making the broth is super easy thanks to the crock pot. I throw the bones in the crock pot with any veggies getting old in the fridge but always celery, onions and carrots. I let it do its thing for at least eight hours. I strain it out, let it cool and then pack it up in two cup portions.

On soup night, saute a nice mix of onions carrots and parsnips. To me, parsnips are the key to yummy soup. I add the broth and bring it boil. I cook the noodles right in the broth. Shortly before the noodles are done, I add the turkey and voila soup is on!

Menu Planning Monday - Holiday Prep

Hanukkah starts this week and with it comes our annual party and lots of fried foods. I am going to make donuts for the first time ever this year. I will run a test batch earlier in the week just in case.

Monday - Homemade sauce, pasta, salad
Tuesday - Tofu Stirfry and rice
Wednesday - Swim Night Picnic - Frittata,rolls,fruit and cookies
Thursday - Leftover buffet
Friday - Challah,Brown Sugar Salmon, rice,green beans, brownies
Saturday- Party!! - Veggie tray, Roast Turkey, squash and spinach, latkes, and homemade donuts for dessert.

WFMW - Starfall and bribery

I am not a big proponent of screen time for little people. I think there are so many better ways that they can be better spending their time. That being said I love Starfall. It is the only reading program that Froggy has been interested in doing.

The catchy little songs let me remind her of what she has learned anytime she is trying to sound out a word. The fun graphics and animated tales keep her wanting to read. The calendar game is also where she finally got the days of the week down and ever so helpful in counting down special events.

Froggy knows how to read now. And practice is the most important part. But her perfectionist nature was keeping her from it. So we resorted to bribery. She earned a star for each "book" she read to us. At 10 stars she got the reward of being allowed to pick any book from the bookstore and take it home forever. I tried to get her to read me one of her BOB books because I knew there was no chance she would get stuck and I thought it would build her confidence. Nope she was having none of it.

It is all about Starfall. When I said she could read a Starfall story and it would count, we reached ten in very little time. Peg is her favorite because she gets to change the colors. But since each story only counted once, we ended up reading way beyond where I thought she was capable. Having earned her prize, she now goes back and reads the stories over and over again. Her attitude to reading to Mom and Dad has turned around completely.

So Starfall and (judicious) Bribery are what work for me. See what works for others at We Are That Family