Fall nature table

We switched over out nature table today in preparation for the Equinox later this week. Alex picked out the flowers at the farm market yesterday. Maya picked out the gourds earlier this week at the grocery store.

We are working on a couple little handmade projects to add to it and of course as there are more colored leaves we will add some more of those too.

Maya's mermaids

Maya was waiting with me in a waiting room early last week and she saw a picture of these in a Family Fun magazine. Here are the instructions and template for the fins.

We already had everything except the clothes pins with the rounded tops so I picked some up the other day.

The top picture are the ones we did together and the bottom ones she did all by herself. (I hot glued on the "hair" that's it)

Playing outside

A bunch of neighbor kids. One cute dog. Some fun insects. And beautiful fall weather.

This has been on our mind this week

We usually read this book a lot in the spring, early summer but we've been talking about it a lot lately.

In the book the main character is so excited to be planting his first garden, only to find that he is "sharing" his garden with some very hungry little rabbits. He builds a complicated series of obstacles to keep the bunnies out and of course they outsmart him every time. It's one of those fun books for kids that has a section that repeats every few pages.

Well, we've been talking about it because we have a certain little black dog that has become a sort of escape artist. He figured out how to get into the fenced in compost area and continues to figure out how to get in after several modifications......much like some clever little rabbits I mentioned above.

He also has worked as a team with the neighbor dog to dig under the fence between our two back yards so they can play together.

We're thinking we might need to check the book back out again from the library to study the tactics used by both the gardener and the bunnies!

Alex is reading

Alex was telling me last weekend that they started reading this book at school - The Talking T Rex. It's part of a series called A to Z Mysteries and he was really excited about it. He said he wants to ask for the rest of them for Christmas because he liked them so much. I guess I know what I need to search the library database for next!

The best muffins ever

Photo by : Taste of Home

That's what Maya calls these muffins. The best muffins ever. I got the recipe from the book "Cooking for Isaiah" by Silvana Nordone but it is available on Taste of Home's website here.

Ingredients

• 1-3/4 cups gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 
  TOPPING:
• 1/4 cup gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup shortening
• Confectioners' sugar, optional

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, pie spice and salt. In another bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin, oil and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Coat muffin cups with cooking spray or use paper liners; fill three-fourths full with batter.
• For topping, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar and pie spice; cut in shortening until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
• Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired. Yield: 1 dozen.

I made them exactly as the recipe states except we didn't dust them with any powdered sugar. I also didn't have pre-made pumpkin pie spice so I guessed at amounts of cinnamon, all spice, ginger and nutmeg. I found that after filling 12 muffin cups I still had a decent amount of batter left so I made about 8 mini muffins in addition to the 12 regular size ones.

Next one done

I picked this one up "cold" (no recommendations, never heard an interview with the author or read the back or anything) off the new release shelf at the library.

I finished it last night.

The verdict:

mmehh.

I can't say that I strongly disliked it. But I really can't say that I liked it either.

I think she has potential as a writer. I think she makes *some* valid observations and words them well. I qualified the *some* because too many times her observations were too heavily colored by her own preconceptions and her own issues. (i.e. - she makes choices about everything from parenting philosophies, nutrition, clothes, toys based on what she wants other people to think about her or based on the groups she want to fit in to so she manages to assume that everyone who makes those parenting choices are doing the same thing certainly not god forbid basing their choices on their own instincts or making an educated decision based on facts) I think she'd be better off writing on a subject other than her own life.

There was a time in the middle of the book where a lot of skimming occurred .....I had been vacillating between feeling very sorry for her and being profoundly annoyed by her and the annoyed won out for several chapters.

She won me back over a little bit at the end, meaning I started actually reading every paragraph.

The connection between the yoga poses and her life works better at the beginning and kind of falls apart as the book goes on.

Just might be the last one...

the last beach day that is. Yesterday was hot, sunny and summery. Maya and I ran errands while Ben took care of some things and after lunch we packed up for the beach. The state park is so empty now that the tourists are all gone. The water is so clear without all the extra boats churning it up. Lots more minnows (and ducks fishing for them) without all the kids to chase them away.

We played and swam and laid in the sun until it was time to go pick Alex up from school.

Today it is much cooler, definitely feels like fall. We will certainly be back at the beach to play again but this may have been our last time to swim and lounge in the sun.

Just finished -

I just finished this today. It had caught my eye in Book World in Minocqua this summer and I jotted down the title to get it from the library when I got home.

The author starts investigating the US and World Memory Championships and is intrigued when several of the winners contend that anyone can learn the tools to remember like the champions do. So he ends up taking up the training for himself and as he describes that journey he takes a look and neuroscience, how the memory really works, the history of mnemonics and memory training, the "mental athletes" that undertake this sort of training now and how the education system uses (or doesn't) use memory.

It is pretty interesting and he does a good job of tempering some of the more hardcore neuroscience and history portions with humor and personal stories.

On a side note, the author - Joshua Foer - is the younger brother of Jonathan Safran Foer who wrote "Everything is Illuminated" and "Eating Animals" among others. Their humor is similar I think but their writing style is different.

Those funny school requests...

Alex has to bring a framed picture of his family to school. We realized we did not have a picture with all of us in it except for one from last Christmas.

So we just went and had the neighbor snap one quick for us.

Here it is.

First day of school

Last Tuesday Alex started 2nd grade and Maya started preschool. Alex is in his third year in the same classroom/same teachers but now he is an "elder", the oldest students in the room. Both of them had a good week. Both were very tired when they got home. Maya seems to like school and like her teachers and there was no crying at school (and only a little at home due to tiredness the second morning).

Fall picture books

Wild Child by Lynn Plourde.

This is another of our often checked out books from the library. So often that it has made it's way onto our wish list.

It's beautiful - illustrations and wording - and earthy and the kids love the ending where the wild child of autumn finally falls asleep only to have her sibling winter wake up and start frolicking.

I am just finding as I search online now that there is actually a series of books about the "earth family" by this author that I need to search our other library branches for!

Soup weather!

With the drop in temperature this weekend we were all thinking about soup! The kids and I braved the farm market in the down pour Saturday morning and came away with plenty of tomatoes and corn (among other things!)

(disclaimer- the above photo is not mine. It came from google images and is labeled as ok for free use)

I decided to try 2 new soup recipes from the book Cooking for Isaiah. I started with the recipes in the book and modified each one a little bit.

All the recipes in this book are gluten free and dairy free.

Yesterday we tried the creamy corn chowder from page 92.

2 Tbs olive oil

1 small onion

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 potato, peeled and chopped

4 ears corn with kernels removed

1 15 oz can cannellini beans (great northern beans), drained and rinsed then mashed

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper plus more for serving

fresh chives

I used less onions than recommended and chopped it very fine. Sauteed the onion and celery in olive oil until soft. Add the potato and corn kernels (original recipe says 3/4 of the corn and save some for serving on top. I added it all), mashed beans and broth. Boil then reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender. Season with salt and cayenne pepper. I used more than the 1/4 tsp of cayenne. Serve topped with chives.

Ben and I both loved it. I am curious to see how it holds up in the freezer. I think the potatoes might disintegrate but we'll see.

Next up for today was the tomato bisque from page 87.

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 28oz can diced tomatoes with juice (or the equivalent of fresh diced)

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1/2 cup cooked white rice

1/2 cup rice milk

1 1/2 tsp honey

salt and pepper

Sauteed onions and carrots until soft. Recipe says to reserve 1/4 cup tomato for serving. I added all the diced tomato because I had extra fresh tomatoes to chop for serving. Add tomatoes and broth and boil. Then stir in cooked rice and simmer for 30 min.

Blend soup until smooth then return to heat and add milk and honey then season to taste. I used cayenne pepper instead of black pepper and used quite a bit. The recommendation is to start with 1/2 tsp of salt - I added more. I think it would depend a lot on the tomatoes you use.

I chopped up a fresh heirloom tomato and sprinkled that on top of my bowl before I ate it.

I have a feeling I will be the only one eating this around here which is fine with me! It should freeze well and will be great for grabbing for work day lunches.

Unfortunately I am now craving a grilled cheese sandwich.

"My ACTUAL birthday!"

We didn't have anything fancy planned for Maya's "actual" birthday (Sunday) since she had already had her tea party. We told her she could choose the family activity for the day. She said she wanted to go hiking and go to a park. Neither child though seemed like they wanted to be in the car for very long. Grace McDonald park is close to our house and offers some short hiking trails plus the playground all in one place so we headed there.

For some reason the kids love playing pretend baseball on the baseball diamond there.

They also love the "bucking duck". We have the Berenstain Bears book "Get the Gimmes" and it features a ride the cubs love called the "bucking duck" along with the "bucking frog". Seriously. There is one paragraph in particular that we are convinced is only in there to see how many parents will get tongue twisted and accidentally drop an "F-bomb".

For the record this park not only has a bucking duck but also a bucking car and a bucking horse. I had a bucking car once......

Anyway - back to Maya's birthday!

We also went for a little hike and collected some acorn caps for a fall project we will be working on.

We happened to be at the park right when they were giving free Pickleball lessons. Alex was pretty intrigued and I was curious too. It's mentioned all the time in the township newsletter. Apparently it's huge around here among seniors. Who knew. So Alex and I went and had a lesson. It's pretty fun, a strange combination of badminton, tennis and ping pong. Alex did very well. The woman teaching said he was the youngest child she had ever taught, she usually teaches junior high kids or adults.

I don't know that we'll be running out and buying all of us pickleball gear or joining the local leagues...but we might go over to the park on another Sunday afternoon when they have the lessons.

On the way home we told Maya she could pick out a small cake or cupcakes at the grocery store. I wasn't up for baking again and have been trying to get the regular flour out of our house so this seemed like a good solution.

Happy Birthday Maya! We can't believe you are 4!

Birthday money

Alex and Maya both had birthday money burning a hole in their pockets by the end of last week. We had to go get some school required supplies at Target on Saturday (yeah...I know. It would have been nice to have Maya's supply list before Thursday night of a holiday weekend!) So we braved Target and allowed each of them to bring along some of their money.

This is what Maya chose - a dress up dress and "high heeled" shoes!

I was pretty happy with that choice, most of the toys that are geared toward girls are really disappointing and junky. I know she will get a lot of use out of it. And she brought the rest of her money back home to put in her piggy bank.

Maya's fancy tea party

Maya's birthday request was to have a fancy tea party. She chose 4 friends to come over. I went to Goodwill and found some real china tea cups and saucers. Each girl took theirs home as a party favor.

The menu included cucumber sandwiches (I cut the bread using a heart shaped cookie cutter and just put a couple thin cucumber slices inside. There was hummus or dill mayo on the side for those who wanted it) complete with frilly toothpicks. We also had chocolate covered strawberries and little star and sea shell shaped chocolate candies. And of course tea - blueberry herbal tea.

For her cake we had made double decker brownies (square brownie on the bottom, frosting, then a slightly smaller heart shaped brownie on top).

We had our tea then all the kids went outside and played...and played and played!

It seemed like Maya really enjoyed it. It was her first time ever having a party with friends.