Tuesday, March 30, 2010

St.Patricks day

I figured I should probably post this before march is over. For st. Patty's day Lyla constructed a beautiful rainbow made of fruit loops. We talked about the different colors of the rainbow and we even read the bible story of the flood in her message bible. But of course what she most enjoyed about this activity was snacking on the fruit loops (something I normally don't have in the house.)
I took this picture on a beautiful spring day when we took a walk in the neighborhood. We have been having really great spring weather here in Florida which I am so grateful for, I love this time of year.



Saturday, March 13, 2010

mango chutney

About a week ago I spent part of my weekend on what has become my annual mango chutney making/canning day. Aaron and I are huge Indian curry lovers and we especially love our curry with naan bread, yogurt and chutney - all of which make a pretty economical meal minus the chutney - which usually sells for 5 - 8 bucks a pop at most stores. Considering how much chutney we go through a year I decided to start making and canning my own a few years back during mango season. The best price we can get our mangos for here in our part of florida is 2 for $1, so last week when I saw the sale at the grocery store I figured it was about that time and went to work. This is the recipe I used if you are also a curry connoisseur and would like to make your own chutney. Be warned it is a long process but so worth it in the end - and if you can it, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor all year long.
crystalized ginger is the best. Some recipes call for regular ginger but I prefer crystalized, you can find it at most asian markets.
Also another trick to awesome chutney is using golden raisins!

Friday, March 5, 2010

shamrocks and such

So I have been in a nesting mood and unable to start putting the baby's space together due to our schedule being crazy until April. So I have taken up crocheting again at night to relieve stress. It has been so refreshing, I generally prefer knitting but certain projects require crocheting and these are two such projects I have been working on.

The first is a shamrock garland to hang under my mantel which I think came out really cute. Here is the tutorial if you want to try it out yourself.
And here is a sneak peek of the baby blanket I am working on for baby Sage. It is a granny square blanket and I am really loving how it is coming together. I am about halfway done with my granny squares, then I have to put it together - we'll see if I get it done before she arrives.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Oral Hygiene Month

Among other important holidays in February was also the less recognized oral hygiene month. Lyla was busy with a week of activities learning about how and why we need to brush our teeth. It was very fun and also very helpful because now she seems to have a better appreciation for brushing her teeth. Here are a few of the activities we did that where fun easy and required little to no supplies.

Math & Snack Time:
We made these fun replicas of a mouth full of pearly white teeth using cut up apples, peanut butter and mini marshmallows. Lyla had to count out three marshmallows for each mouth and then once we had made all four sets of teeth she had to count how many teeth there were all together. great counting activity and using addition. Plus she really enjoyed eating them.
Discussion Time:
I told a story about how Tinkerbell had a sick tooth that was hurting her and what she had to do to make it feel better again. We spent time brushing Tinkerbells teeth to make them feel better.
Reading:
Some of the books we read during this week to learn more about our teeth and how we can take care of them were;
1. The Tooth Book, Edward Miller
2. How Many Teeth?, Paul Showers
3. Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth, Lugy Bate
4. The Bears Toothache, David McPhail (this was Lyla's favorite)
5. Rosie's Baby Tooth, Maryann Macdonald
6. Those Icky Sticky Smelly Cavity-Causing but...Invisible Germs, Judith Anne Rice (this is the book she is reading in the picture below.)
Science & Snack Time:
We conducted an experiment seeing what certain foods did to our teeth. We first ate an oreo cookie then looked in a mirror and I asked Lyla a series of questions about what her teeth looked/felt like. Then we ate some apple pieces and observed what happened to our teeth after eating the apple. She had a lot of fun looking at her teeth and what the effects were in the mirror.
Art:
We pretended the egg carton was our teeth and the paint was the tooth paste and Lyla need to brush the egg cartons teeth and see how "clean" she could get them. She attempted to brush her own teeth about 3 times during this project and I had to keep reminding her that the paint was yucky and that we were only pretending. So if you do try this craft with your little one you need to keep a close eye on them the whole time.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Olympics Part II

So I didn't get a chance to post these before our trip to Savannah but I wanted to share the rest of Lyla's Olympic school activities we did. I recorded the figure skating and Lyla and I watched some of the highlights together the next day. On another mom's blog she suggested having some "play skate time" with your child in your socks and prompt them to pretend to be figure skating. Well, Lyla needed no prompting after watching about 2 minutes she hopped off the couch and proceeded to copy the skaters routine who was on the ice - it was amazing!
I think we have a future Olympian on our hands.

Another activity we did for school was making our own olympic torch. All we needed was foil, paper, markers and a water bottle with the bottom cut off - easy peasy. Lyla loved making it but has enjoyed playing with it even more, she still every day at some point runs around the house waving it in the air. It is crazy how she has always preferred playing with trash as oppose to her actual toys we spend money on. Go figure!