Birthdays

Who are these girls and why do they look so grown up?!?!?!

Not only were they grown up, but they were also *goofy*

Ella is turning 11 next week. This year, as a party, she decided to go to a movie and to lunch in the mall with her two BFFs.

It was a blast.

I had to laugh because when we were going over the schedule, Ella was concerned that there seemed to be some "lag" time, and what would we do in the mall. I said we could ride the carousel there. Her reply? "Mom. We're. Eleven."

Note the pictures of three very happy girls on the carousel.

Last year, Ella did a visual presentation for 4-H on Duct Tape (The Duck That Doesn't Quack - Duct Tape). She won at the State Competition, so the pressure has been on. Well, self-imposed pressure as always *grin*.

This year, she did an entire presentation on Artist Trading Cards. It was beautiful. She had sponge-painted all her "boards" (the posters that the kids use as an outline for the presentation). She made one HUGE Artist Trading Card so that everyone could see what it was. Then she found a great way to mount all the atcs so that they popped off the display.

But, then, in February, she decided to do a visual presentation on the eye.

Deep breathing exercises were used.

And then she set off to work again.

She ended up making a beautiful cross-section of the eye from large pieces of that foam paper (why didn't they have THAT when I was a kid?).

She worked really hard, and set up a whole new project. We are going to the county visual presentation this weekend, and if she does well then she'll go on to the state competition.

We'll keep our fingers crossed.

This is one of her "visuals" for the VP. It shows an image of the inside of an eye and some fruits and veggies that contribute to eye health. as she says (every time she practices), not only are they good for your eye, but they provide nutrients for your body to keep your eye healthy."

This is her title page (ohh....it feels like you could be right there listening to her, doesn't it?)

Oh, yeah, baby, feeling like a winner. With a carrot.

Library Lovin'

Oh, I love our library. There was an awesome display here about the perils of high fructose corn syrup. After it came down, the Shellvers made an Ode to Jon Scieszka. It was so cute, because all these "cool" middle schoolers and high schoolers were like, "Jon who?!" but then when we started pulling the books off the shelves they got so enthusiastic about the books that they remembered from when they were small (oh so long ago *grin*).

Of course, the rise in enthusiasm may have stemmed from the chocolate and marshmallows and frosting that I was feeding them.

I am not above a little bribery.

Shake Things Up

Okay, the Christmas decorations are down, the day is grey and the video games are getting old (I guess that's what happens when you have a LEGO Star Wars marathon).

So, it is time to start shaking things up. We have had some fun around here making things and creating science experiments, and we are really s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g our comfort zone by going vegetarian.

When we are transitioning away from holidays, it seems we have to put a little more effort into being engaged. Here are some things we've done to shake off the cobwebs of Christmas and get more into the fun of winter (an oxymoron if *I* ever heard one, but my kiddos like winter and who am I to say anything.....)

Some things we have done to get the fun rolling again are:

*museums (especially small-ish ones, like plastics or associated with a college. I think we'll hit the MIT museum next time we're up there.)

*a new crafting tool (next time this happens, I have my eye on a wood burning tool, I may get it sooner, but right now we have enough craft material lying all around the house for me to want to buy something new. Both Ella and I are a little in love with the Crafty Chica)

*bowling, roller skating, or a video arcade (last time at the arcade,my dd got a Newton's cradle http://www.officeplayground.com/newtonscradle3.html with her tickets won on the games, and there have been some unbelievable discussions that branched off from that toy!)

*a new music CD or video or computer game...or season three of the Gilmore Girls

*a road trip (even just to the next town over)

*the supermarket to buy strange fruits and veggies and figure out how to cook them (we have a coconut sitting on our counter right now waiting for a smashing)

*a day/week of foods from a different place, or eating on the living room floor instead of the table, or breakfast in bed

*checking out books from a different library (somehow I come out with completely different kinds of books from the library on the other side of town...we've been all over looking for our Gilmore Girls DVDs)

Marzipanimals

Declan and Gramma creating.
Declan's special creation in his favorite colors.
Totally edible (if you can stand to eat marzipan)
Marzipanimals from under the sea.

Okay, so every year, Ella's 4-H does this even called a Visual Presentation. Apparently, one of 4-H's big things is Public Speaking. So, the 4-H groups all practice, and then they have county-wide evening events, complete with judges. The judges decide who was the most well spoken, articulate, creative, etc.

Last year, Ella did The Duck That Doesn't Quack, DUCT TAPE! as her presentation. She won in the state competition and the county one. This has put the pressure on this year. She has had a number of ideas, the latest being marzipan animals. She would call it, Marzipanimals.

My Mother-In-Law, and artist with the Art Guild of Cape Cod has been making marzipan for Ella for Christmas every year for a long time now. She came over and helped the kids make all kinds of "marzipanimals".

Oh, but now the VP (visual presentation) is going to be on soap making.

More Pre-Thanksgiving Creations

One of the things we love about Cape Cod are the cranberry bogs. We have a bunch near us. Jenny has taken some great pictures of them, so I won't even try to display some here when you can just link to hers.
There are so many delicious things you can do with cranberries, and we like to get some berries and mix them with corn meal from the Grist Mill in Sandwich and make muffins. But today we did something different, and turned the cranberries into this.
The recipe actually calls for almond extract, but given that I had walnuts and no almonds, I put some vanilla extract in instead and it was great.

I have to find someone to give these to before I eat them all....maybe a visit over to the neighbors is in order. Share the love, and all. Or maybe not.

We Made Butter!

Declan and Ella shook, rattled and rolled their way to butter! It was really fun, especially since Ella decided that we HAD to do it to music!

Here is the finished product. Yummy. I think it was a little bit more like creme freche, which I want to make now.
Hmmmm....Mr. Delicate Palate is wondering if, and I quote, "It will be to {his} taste"
Oh, baby, yep, it is!

Now, I am wondering, too, if you can make butter from soy milk....if not, why not?

New Beginnings

I love fall. It seems to be a time for new stuff to come up and other things to be put away. I like the holidays (Halloween and Thanksgiving) and the weather (mmmm...cozy sweaters).

We are trying this fall, in the spirit of the season, a new piece to our routine. We have been having big yummy breakfasts. Well, Ella calls them weird breakfasts, but *I* think they are delicious.

We loved when we were at the conference and we would all eat and plan our day together. As Ella usually sleeps in and Declan is a bear until he eats, breakfasts together had all but disappeared from our family.

Last week we had breakfast burritos that were not a huge hit. I am going to try them again, though, because I got some farm fresh eggs yesterday and that should make them more appealing. We had pancakes which are always welcomed in the morning, and a baked french toast dish with apple-brown sugar-caramel sauce. I know! It sounds great. I have to admit, tho, it was totally stinky. We had a lovely oatmeal day, with vanilla soy milk and crunchy granola to go on top.

The topping on the coffee cake, so to speak, was the crepe day. We had crepes with all kinds of topping imaginable. We had strawberries, and raspberries, and apples and caramel and organic chocolate syrup and maple syrup and butter and yogurt and even a little left over vanilla ice cream.

Declan had his crepes plain.

Of course.

Cooking

Ella really loves to cook. She is getting good at baked goods and trying her hand at other concoctions. Yummy. Maybe she'll make some Christmas presents this year. Delish.