School time fun

We made 'Ee' s with Peas, and did various other activities for school time today. The letters and numbers I do focus on some, but the other activities are a hodgepodge from various sources, all online, and none original with me. Of course, since she has a newly discovered love for cutting with scissors and glue, we do that a LOT.

I was stressing out about stuff, but have recently just relaxed, I make sure there is some structure, but mostly FUN! FUN! FUN! I mean, the girl is not yet 3! So for 'E' which she already knows pretty much, we traced it some, glued on the peas, tomorrow we will decorate boiled Eggs, we should go ride an Elephant, but I have never seen one around here! I let her play with the peas for a while, this is always fun, crazy me used to let her do this on the kitchen floor with some containers and utensils, but I have now built in better parameters and she did great playing with them on a big tray on her table.

Next we practice our verse for the week, then we use her wooden 'number train' to build ramps and have a competition between train cars, to see which one rolls the farthest, all the while reviewing numbers. The number four is her trouble spot right now. (Number recognition, not counting. we practiced ABCs for so long that I left the numbers way behind....so working on that some now through play)

And we of course read books, Little Red Riding hood is her absolute favorite right now. And we have three versions of it, one of which is quite scary, so I edit out those parts!
She loves Three billy goats gruff too....
When she has 'Chinese' time on opposite days, we have the fairy tales in Chinese so Abby can read them to her, but these are the real scary versions...her Chinese time is completely Sophia-guided, but they are always talking as they play, and that is good enough for her to learn the language for now. Sometimes they build with legos, sometimes they play 'market,' sometimes they sing and dance, they color, and read. She loves that time with her jiejie (big sis).

I have not yet figured out how we will work in some type of school time while in the States, I know we will break from it a lot, which is A-okay, but need to think through it some more. The biggest deal will be Chinese. She picks it up quick, but will lose it just as fast, so we need to incorporate some time of Chinese-only speaking hour or something...not sure yet...

you know she is a good eater when....

...She gobbles down Tremella, Lily paste, and Lotus seed Heinz baby food.
What in the world is this you ask? Darn good question.

Before our trip to Thailand I had David go around to every baby store and find some baby food (there is very little in our town, so he hit every one and came back with 4 jars of carrots, 3 jars of the crazy stuff mentioned above, and 2 jars of Apple and Carrots, that was the extent of the variety. (I was so glad they provided jars of food on the plane). I did not even take the jars of T, L and L.

And these days Bella can eat some table food, but not all. So, while I was sick, I busted out the jar of food (our homemade supply of baby food getting low, and just trying to go to more table food). She ate it fast, so the next day I gave her more.

Only after giving it to her 2x did I decide to google it. Here is what me, the supermom, fed her darling daughter:

Wikipedia:
Tremella mesenterica (common names include the yellow brain, the golden jelly fungus, the yellow trembler, and witches' butter^[1]) is a common jelly fungus in the Tremellaceae family of the Agaricomycotina. It is most frequently found on dead but attached and on recently fallen branches, especially of angiosperms, as a parasite of wood decay fungi in the genus Peniophora.^[2] The gelatinous, orange-yellow fruit body of the fungus, which can grow up to 7.5 cm (3.0 in) diameter, has a convoluted or lobed surface that is greasy or slimy when damp. It grows in crevices in bark, appearing during rainy weather.

Is it edible? Apparently so, since Heinz of Asia thinks so, but lets see what Wikipedia says:

"Although some have claimed the fungus to be inedible or merely "non-poisonous", most other sources agree that it is edible but flavorless. The gelatinous to rubbery consistency lends texture to soups. In China, the fungus is used by vegetarians to prepare "an immunomodulating cooling soup with lotus seed, lily bulbs, jujube, etc."

There you have it my friends, what Bella is enjoying these days.

Ten random things from the past week

1. I got my hair straightened
2. Because you cannot wash your hair for 4 days after this process, or tie it back or anything, I have not run in over a week.
3. This was good because I was resting a nagging pain/soreness in my toe
4. Mother's day came very early for me, 1:20 a.m. with a stomach bug for me, and a 2 year old calling every two hours.
5. Sophia has a million hilarious and insightful things she says and I just can't remember them, and am these days too weary and busy to capture them...what a loss, I will try harder.
6. We leave for the US in five weeks, and have too much to do.
7. My weekend project of decluttering our only closets turned out well (post with pics later)
8. I still ate a little of my 'Mother's day Breakfast' David made, and really enjoyed Sophia's excitement over the gift she made me (post later).
9. I am trying to sort out my brain on preschool fun for Sofa, we have been consistently doing 'school time' it is just not always as organized as my brain would like.
10. I feel constantly behind in language study, study of the good Word, teaching of Sophia and Bella, and really just need to let that feeling go....

Sophia quote of the week: after dinner David was finishing up some work, So I was with the girls in their room, I still was not feeling well, subsisting on crackers, bread and gatorade for 2 days. I got Sophia going using her scissors, and Bella entertained with a basket of fake food and Sophia said: 'mama, you go on and lay down on the couch, I will stay in here, I will close the door so Bella doesn't go out, you go and lay down on the couch.'

Bella quote of the week: 'eeee.....(smile, laugh),,nam, nam, eee...(smile laugh)'

Banana Boat

I have actually started to organize 'school time' some with Sophia, 3x/week sometimes more. I get most of my stuff from the free on line curriculum from Hubbardscupboard. Sophia is a ways past knowing the letter 'b' but we made 'banana boats' anyway because they went along with our story and theme for the day. It was good review.
The water is whipped cream with a little blue food coloring, not as dark as I would have liked. The raisins could be people, and the three other things are these interesting 'animal crackers' I found. Obviously they are not in the shape of an animal but they have a picture of animals on them. And then of course you see the gold fish splashing in the water...Sophia loved this banana boat.

princess Sophia

Sophia picked out this dress to wear, a gift/hand-me-down from a friend. A true princess dress. I was surprised she picked it, because I knew she did not like the way it felt on her, So I let her wear it.

It lasted about ten minutes. In time for me to say, 'let me get a picture at least' and then the frown started...(she wanted out of it right away)


"sophia, you chose this dress, I will let you change in a minute, but smile for the camera!"


finally one creeps out!

Family picnic

We incorporated Sunday family picnics awhile ago, this last one was particularly fun, and I had no camera to document it! We went to the big square where there are usually fun things for kids to do. We found some huge 'bouncy' places (blow up castles, etc) that you pay less than a dollar to enter and stay as long as you like. They let me go in with Sophia for free. She had a blast being able to fall down without hurting herself, and climb, climb, climb. They even had a small 'climbing wall' with stirrups for the ladder steps, it was good sized for Sophia, but she did great. And of course in China, we stumbled upon a local children's dance competition, with sweet milk as a main prize, not kidding. Next we found some clean grass in the shade, spread our blanket, got out some bouncy balls to play with, and ate our PB and J with carrots. We also happened upon a favorite local snack, french fries with hot pepper and fried mint on top, it is quite addicting, Sophia even ate her fair share.

Buckwheat Tabouli, Pita bread, and Hummus

My Awesome Aunt Beth sent us an incredible care package on our journey into Vegan hood. Vegan sloppy joe mix, couscous, lentils, Buckwheat, Hummus mix, etc. Such good stuff. And I have been using the recipes on the back of the packages. Quite easy (creative, I know).

I decided to make the Buckwheat Tabouli, and Hummus, which of course needed Pita bread to go with it. The Pita would have to come from scratch. Of course I chose to do all of this on a day our helper was sick, and with good knowledge that our bread machine was broken.

I took both girls to the market, I spent a total of 10 yuan ($1.47) on all the veg I needed , and then went downstairs to use our neighbor's bread machine while they were out of town (I knew I would not have time to knead dough and wait, etc.).

As I cleaned all the veg (it would be eaten raw in Tabouli, so it needed really good cleaning), Sophia played with play dough, Bella slept, and then Sophia joined me in 'washing' the mint (I had quite a bit extra). This kept her busy while I chopped all the clean veggies.




The Pita bread was another issue. I couldn't remember if I added salt, and I also used half whole wheat flour, I had no idea what this would do. It was all okay except I was having trouble getting our oven hot enough (it needs to be hot so that it will puff up, then you know it will make a pocket). By the second batch I noticed our oven door was not closing all the way, oh no. And then I watched as the screw came out (a-gain) and left me having to prop the door closed with a really heavy pot. But it worked and the last few turned out fine. They all tasted great you just couldn't 'open' a few of them.

Abby showed up unexpectedly in the afternoon, after David (aka: the most amazing husband ever) did a HUGE amount of dishes.

Abby, Sophia, and David LOVED this whole meal, me too of course.

Here it is:
(this is from 'Eden Organic' brand)


Buckwheat Tabouli

2 cups cooked buckwheat, cooled and fluffed
1 cucumber, chopped
2 small tomatoes, chopped
2/3 cup green onions, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped
2 cups fresh parsley, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup Olive oil
2 tsp sea salt

Combine all ingredients. Chill at least 1 hour. Serve on romaine leaves, in pita bread.



(Whole Wheat) Pita bread
(there are so many recipes out there but I got this from my friend K and adjusted it)

1 1/8 cups warm water (110degrees F/45 degrees C)
cups all-purpose flour (I used half whole wheat)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Place all ingredients in bread pan of your bread machine, select Dough

setting and start. When dough has risen long enough, machine will

beep.

2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough

into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll

each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch

circle. Set aside on a lightly floured counter top. cover with a towel. Let

pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.

3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Place 2 or 3 pitas on a

wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5

minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and

immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with

a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a softened, either cut in half

or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic

bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2

months.