Last Day

We are going to miss these faces while we are on Vacation.

Today was the last day of daycare until August 12th!

See you soon kiddos!

Today Outside

Mommy Ninja

wearing :: Slouchy Beret and Mira's Cowl

The next series of pictures is what happens when you challenge a two year old, a three year old, and a four year old to squeeze into a mostly buried cozy coupe.

Week-Ending

::Compiling:: knowledge on pinterest on DIY projects for making t-shirts for Stomper for his second birthday (I can't believe it!)
::Wondering:: if anyone has an exacto knife and cutting board they aren't using that I can borrow
::Wishing:: the NY and AZ cousins lived in Maine

::Welcoming:: my sister back from her Vacation (finally!)

::Wondering:: where the gardening time went
::Enjoying:: the fruits of our labor

::Finishing:: a girlie knit for YOP
::Thinking:: I should revisit my Evelyn pattern and improve it
::Settling:: meat rabbits into their new home
::Dreaming:: of slow cooked, fall off the bone, yummy, delicious, rabbit meat.

::Finishing:: our Challenge at daycare

::Making:: a train city while the grass is still wet in the morning.

::Noticing:: a slight change of weather.
::Planning:: on canning some pickles this week-end
::Thanking:: an Auntie for taking Stomper over-night so we can focus on canning
::Eating:: pears even though they are just a bit hard

::Wondering:: what you have been up to or what you are planning....

Gumball Challenge

Sadly, we will not be able to make it to Wilton Library's awesome summer reading program. So I made up my own. I saw a glimpse of one on someone elses blog, probably through Ginny's Yarn Along maybe a week or two ago? I thought it was an amazing idea.

What I did was draw a giant gumball machine. I then painted it, laid contact paper over the ball and filled it with over 300 round stickers. On the bottom I wrote the prize: Empty the Gumball Machine and win a brownie sundae!. Together the kiddos will empty the gumball by completing one (or more) of seven challenges.When they complete a challenge then can remove a sticker. When the machine is empty we will choose a day that most of the kids will be here and have a great big ice cream eating bash! Here are our list of challenges.

1. Read for 10mins at home or 30mins at daycare (at daycare there is a mandatory read or lay/sit quietly time for 30mins, I didn't want it to be too easy to empty the machine)
2. Finish a chapter book (age appropriate) 
3. Tell me Five Fascinating Facts (about anything: apples to ninjas to star trek and zebras. If they read about it and it wasn't something obvious ie: sharks swim in water, sharks eat fish, ect it counts.)
4. Cook me Something New (from another country, region, or just something they've never tried)
5. Help someone else to Read (we have a lot of littles in the daycare and sometimes we can't stop to read to them. Also, if they are reading to a little it there is no minimum time requirement, two seconds count! 
6. Write a story or comic strip (I told the boys no bathroom talk or nudity in their pictures. I also said that they could retell a familiar story: Harry Potter, Sonic, ect)
7. Read to learn (any size book, any reading level, any non-fiction)

Those were my challenges, but I'm sure you can think of others! As a side note the librarian was here (she runs a program where she brings her story time to day-cares along with 15 books that stay for two weeks!) and she said it was great. I told the boys today that if the machine was emptied I'd fill it again and let them empty it again.

Today I was given a comic strip about Sonic after rest time and the other boy read all day. I'll be letting him rip a bunch of stickers off in the morning.

Oh, the other thing I did was make a little mark under some of the stickers for a special prize. If one of the marks are exposed then everyone will get a Popsicle!

Happy Summer and Happy Reading!

Comfort Food: Tuna Pea Wiggle

Frosty, snowy days call for comfort food. I have many childhood favorites: tuna sandwich and tomato soup, grilled cheese and tomato soup, spaghetti and meat balls with a ton of parmigiana cheese, and tuna pea wiggle. The first time my Mom made it for daycare and my husband was there he said: "Tuna What?" The best and easiest way to explain it is that it's the sauce you put on tuna noddle casserole, only better.

Tuna Pea Wiggle
(serves 4 adults)
Ingredients:
3 Tbs butter
3 Tbs flour
2 1/4 Cup Milk
3-4 Cans of tuna
1 lb cooked frozen peas
2 sleeves of saltine crackers

1. Make a rue: melt butter over medium heat remove from heat to add flour and mix until creamy. Add milk all at once.
2. Stir milk, flour, and butter until thick and bubbly. Cook one minute more. Remove from heat
3. Add tuna and cooked pease

Serve over crackers (we like them crumbled). I would estimate that we use 10-12 crackers per serving.


When we feed this to the daycare kids we omit the peas and serve them on the side. They also like their crackers whole and they eat the rest of the wiggle like gravy dip.

Ketchup Cookies

The day before the snow storm my parents, my siblings, my husband, my son, and I were sitting around the table eating pizza, hot dogs, and other leftovers when Jason picked up the ketchup bottle and studied the back for some time. Curious, I picked up the ketchup bottle and read these words "Tic Tac Toe Cookies". I thought to myself, "How strange to have a recipe on the back of the bottle. Usually when a company puts a recipe on their package it's to use their product." I read the ingredients of the the cookies and there, right before 1 egg and just after brown sugar were the words 1/4 Cup Heinz Tomato Ketchup. "Oh," I said, "we are so making these tomorrow with the daycare kids."

That is just what we did during Thursday's snow storm. After the kiddos came in from the snowy cold we gathered at the island and whipped up a batch.

The cookies received two sideways thumbs, but one of the kiddos did eat two, so they were at least yummy enough for a second helping. I have to agree with them, the cookies don't taste awful, but they aren't that great either. There is peanut-butter in them so that is what you mostly taste, but there is this faint taste of something--else.

Ketchup Cookies (from the back of Heinz)

Preheat oven to 375

Mix together and then set aside:
1 1/2 Cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream with electric mixer:
3/4 Cup Peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1/2 Cup softened butter or marg
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup brown sugar packed

Add In:
1/4 Cup Ketchup
1 Egg

Mix in the flour mixture

Drop by tablespoon on to baking sheets.
With floured fork make a # over the top of each cookie.
Bake for 8-10 mins or until tops are slightly browned.

Startle your friends when you say: "Like them? I put ketchup in them"