I adjusted a recipe I found in this cookbook, to make these simple & simply delicious cookies for my girlfriends a couple weeks ago. They were a hit!
1 box chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
semi-sweet chocolate chips - 1 cup more or less
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Mix up the first three ingredients, and then stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop the dough in small palls onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes.
Enjoy.
The girls informed me they were through with making necklaces from wooden beads and shoelaces. They wanted to make a REAL necklace. After all, they are 5 and three quarters. So, I pulled out the glass beads, nylon coated wire, clasps, crimp beads and needle-nosed pliers to show them how it's done.
It was a perfect opportunity to talk about patterning, and they both settled on the blue, pink, blue, pink design. They hung in there, even though it took patience and a bit of time. When they finished they asked, "When can we start hammering metal, like Aunt Lisa?"
Ummm...wow...they are ambitious!
Nothing says "fall" like chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes and a dusty crowded pumpkin patch complete with pony rides, a hay maze, bounce house, train ride and Auntie Ellen. We're loving October, even if the temperature has barely dipped below 85.
The girls have been digging through their dress-up box, trying to decide what to wear on the 31st. The combinations have included high-heeled shoes, tutus, and swords. Who knows? Some pirates might have enjoyed ballet in their free time.
Happy October, friends!
From plain ole white to cheerful cherry red. Amazing what a bit of spray paint, an electric sander and brown shoe polish can do!
As we were working on our math today, one of the girls asked, "Do we look smarter, now that the table is red?"
My response, "Oh, definitely. You've never looked so smart!"
Look at the extreme concentration. One's even got the Michael Jordan tongue going. Yeah, we're doing some intense learning here.
And did you notice how short their hair is?
We had a little math party with our homeschooling friends, and this is one of the super fun games we played.
I used foam sheets (less slippery) and a sharpie to write out the 10s. Each of the ten tiles contained a number - 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100.
We put the tiles in a circle and the kids walked around the circle while we sang a song about counting by 10. When I shouted, "Stop," the child standing on the last number we sang won that round. Check out itunes to find fun songs about counting by 10. We used the one by Twin Sister Productions called "Count by Ten." Fitting, huh?
With fewer children, you could shout, "Stop," and then have the kids run to the last number sung.
They wanted to play again and again, so they got lots of wonderful practice counting by 10!
The girls have been fascinated by the idea of mixing colors to form new colors. So, we strayed from our schedule (I need to do that more often) and did this project with the color wheel.
First, I showed them the primary colors-red, yellow, and blue. We talked about how all the other colors are made from these three primary colors.
Then I gave them a dollop of tempera paint in each of the primary colors . These divided flower dishes I got a while back for $1.00 each were perfect for separating the colors, but any plate would work.
I showed them an image of the color wheel on the computer. I just Googled "color wheel" and we pointed out the primary colors and the colors in between.
Then we got to mixing. They each had a bowl of water and paper towel to clean their brush in between dips to keep the primary colors true.
When their pallet was ready I drew each of them a flower, and they painted one color onto each of the petals. Lovely.
We've started homeschooling. Last week was bliss, today {Monday morning} was a bit more of a challenge. But we're persevering.
This week we are memorizing Robert Louis Stevenson's poem, "Time to Rise,"
A birdie with a yellow bill
Hopped upon the window sill,
Cocked his shining eye and said:
"Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepyhead?"
To get us started, we drew this lovable birdie out of circles and triangles. Here's how we did it:
1. I had the girls practice drawing circles and triangles on a piece of scratch paper.
2. Using a pencil, I asked them to lightly draw a large circle in the middle of their watercolor paper.
3. Then, still with a pencil, they drew a smaller circle for the head and triangles for the bill and wings. We used straight lines for the legs. They did some erasing and rewriting until they got the hang of the different shapes.
4. They traced their whole drawing with a black Sharpie pen.
5. Lastly, they used watercolors to paint their picture.
And the birdies turned out so imperfectly sweet.
What is the best thing to do after playing in piles of sticky leaves?
Jump into a fountain, fully clothed.
And that takes care of bath time.
The leaves are falling off the tree in great big bucketfuls. Hooray for chilly wet weather, plumpy pumpkins, cinnamon cocoa, and all the other blessings we're awaiting.
This sweet little blog has taken a back burner lately because we've been working on a BIG project, which we are almost ready to unveil. And it's so very exciting! You're going to love it.
Thanks for hanging in there with us.
The girls and their cousin grabbed armloads of stuff and set up their "house" underneath the table - blankets, stuffed animals, a tea set, and whatever else looked right. There was a mom, dad, and baby. Oh, and they needed fishy crackers to make it complete.
Sometimes it's the simplest things that are the sweetest.
We're working on sounding out words with three letters and a short vowel in the middle. We made up this game to go along with our learning in Phonics Pathways. It mixes things up a bit and makes us laugh.
And their reading is coming along. Pretty soon Matt and I won't be able to s-p-e-l-l out parts of our conversations to hide top secret information from the girls.
Flipflops and Applesauce Three Letter Word Game
Posts
All Comments
