Thursday, July 30, 2009

12 Hours of Fun (While Learning)!

Since I'm taking a break from tablescaping and school is coming again soon, I had the kids wake up @ 6:45AM and we treated this day as if they are gonna be in school. It was a day of fun, learning and more fun!

First, a good breakfast of cereal and buttermilk pancakes with milk, then the Morning Exercise (Wii Fit) Each of them did three routines and even did the Step aerobics together! Gotta wake up those brains!
We did our Morning Chores and some extra ones to also wake up our bodies and have a clean space! That's a bit of Social Studies, isn't it? Loved that!

Then some Strategy and Thinking Game. Rummikub is a great game of number sequence and matching. I-Dude won!
Of course, Independent and Group Reading commenced as well. I read them Chapter 12 of "The Children of the Lamp" by PB Kerr. They just love it and was a little sad that we only read one chapter.

The 5:30AM t-storm cleansed the air enough to reveal this beautiful vista. Nature watching, wait... that's Science time! *ha ha* The kiddos loved seeing the leftover rain on the leaves and the sun peeking through our trees!
I threw in a bit of Zoology education- watching what makes cats relax and happy. It turned out, only a well fed tummy, warm window sill and a great view! Thanks for being our subject, Cece!
Then, some Chemistry- baking some "Honey Butter French Bread". J-Pony watched precisely measured flour, honey, butter, eggs, water, yeast and salt get mixed up, and kneaded into this, rise for an hour...
Molded into these loaves, rise for another 30 minutes...
Then 20 minutes in 425 deg F and the result looked like this. Crunchy on the outside,
Oh so soft on the inside! It looks dense but it's so light. (Let's see how the crowd liked it...)

"I think we have a winner, Mom!" I loved it, too enough to call L-Infinity and "brag". *hee hee*
(I even texted Mr. Man and he, too, loved the "delish" pictures. He actually called to tell me how much he liked the pictures. Then requested for a sourdough. I guess I have another recipe to try...) :-)

Then we went to the store as the kiddos dictated the dinner: Chicken Fettucine Alfredo chosen by J-Pony. They learned Economics as well. With a $2 off next shopping trip coupon, a $10 budget and a list, we were able to focus our purchases, pay attention to the price per ounce, and able to buy all that we needed for only $7.00!
And Chunky Dark Chocolate Brownies! I halved it since I love almonds! I had to make sure that I-Dude had the plain end as he is allergic to ALL nuts! Doesn't it look yummy?
Part of the French bread, we turned into Garlic Bread! Oh man, it was so good!
Here's Michelle with most of the dinner on the table. (I was still cooking the veggies.)
When she put away the brownies, she found this big hunk full of the chocolate chunks I put in. It was pure heaven in her mouth... (LOL She asked me if she had a pulse after the first bite.)
Then some Physical Education and Field Trip- Night Swimming! Our complex has two pool areas. One near our mailbox and this one behind the office at the front of the complex. We haven't been to this one in a long time so it was fun to have it all to ourselves.
Look at all the beautiful plants surrounding this one... The other one was plain.
Look at the fence, full of trailing mandevillas and the pool is curved rather than the typical rectangle kind at the other end. It framed the "swimmers" beautifully, don't you think? ;-)
We swam until we were so tired, silly faces started to come out! LOL
And some last minute "underwater" tricks.
Ok, some more silly faces...

Thursday or any day, can be and is a wonderful learning experience.

How was your day?

3 comments:

Melissa said...

You are such a good mom!! :)

Chandy said...

Ha ha, MnM... I just try and see what can distract them the most. LOL

kado! said...

I wish I could smell thru the computer...I just KNOW your house smelled so good while you were baking that bread....YUMMY!!!!!