recipes out of kids books

I love trying recipes out of kids books.. although the recipes themselves aren't usually tasty; it's fun to read books to the kids and then had them put into action what we read.   Here is a book that is about making a birthday cake and then in the end there is a recipe for plain white cake.  In the book, they put cherries on top but Wendell opted for chocolate chips.  Funny, tonight when we read the book again, he asked that in the book we read that they put chocolate chips on top (not cherries).  Anyways, I probably won't make the cake again unless the kids insist but it was still fun to do. 

I can't believe my kids eat this!

almost done.. and loving it

 

gone in seconds.. totally loved it.

it

What is it?

• tuna
• mayo
• eggs
• spinach (chopped up)
• shredded cheese
• diced tomato
• salt/pepper

All mixed up and then spread in a mulit-grain tortilla wrap


Last time, I got some onion in and they didn't notice, next time we're going to try some pickle relish.  Ha...ha.. I love getting my kids to eat healthy food.

I would have never guessed my kids would eat this but they had this when they went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Hunt a couple of months ago .. the kids gobbled it then.  So I've tried it here a few times and every time it's a hit.

Phil and I have really enjoyed wraps lately (a great summer food).  He has been making homemade guacamole (greek yogurt mixed with avocado, salt/onion/garlic powder).  He adds a variety of things with this from tuna to leftover salmon or chicken or sliced avocado. 

bike riding and 'tottee'



Harlie likes to ride with the handle bars backwards... so silly.

I set up a ramp for fun

and he loves it!

Harlie likes to drink 'totte' (coffee) with me in the mornings.

student of the week

Wendell was student of the week, the last week of February.  I'm a bit late on this but here are some pictures from his 'week'.  He was the special student all week but on Friday he had visitors.  Grandma and Grandpa McCulley visited for most of the day and Grandma Charla (from Florida) sent a special letter to Wendell.  Harlie and I visited during snack time in the afternoon.

Wendell made this poster.  He did most of the work all by himself; he did the coloring, the cutting, the stickers, and the design work/layout.  He was quite proud of his work, and so were we!

my little harlie

For some reason, I've had a lot of affection for this little girl lately.  Even though she has her moments (which I still find amusing), she's still very sweet and cute.  Just looking her at times give me warm sweet fuzzies.  I think part of it is she just looks older lately.  And she's talking more.  And she's becoming a kind, sweet, loving girl.

here she is in my hat, and wearing a back pack.  bags have become one of her favorite 'toys'.

having a late night tea party, she loves to serve us 'tottee' (coffee) while we sit around at night time before bed

'wait' - something she says a lot with her hand up

instead of reading, this giant 1000 piece puzzle has kept me busy this past month.  i bought it at goodwill for $1 and it took me over a month to finish.  sure glad it's done though, it wore me out.  looks like it wore harlie out too : )   



Miss T.

Harlie spent 30-40 minutes in her room throwing a tantrum tonight. It went on so long we ate supper without her.... it was actually pretty comical and also very similar to a scene in Lord of the Rings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLvIFRNbqOs. Her battle was 'I hate timeouts' vs. quiet/calmness/control (which goes back and forth).  If you actually listen/watch it all you might want to skip minute 5-6 - it's just silence.  And you might like to know this is about 10 minutes into the tantrum before I started taping, meaning the worst of it was already over : )  http://youtu.be/0eLJXj8Kl_Q It goes back and forth until she decides she's done. Tonight was definitely her longest amount tantrum yet.  We actually kind of had to end it, not let it runs it's full coarse, because she was taking so long.  I got some of it on audio/video but it'd be better if we had a video monitor so show us what she's doing.  Oh well.. the audio will be a good memory some day.  

On a side note, this can be a very difficult stage (I call her Miss T. for her tantrums) and she's also very much 'I do it' (taking something out of your hands with that look on her face like, how dare you touch her zipper or shoe), then in the same breath say 'help pease' (tapping her foot until I do it : )  ... which gets very annoying.   

But it's also very funny.  Such stubbornness.. it's almost fun to watch until I try to take her shopping or to do something fun.

Another example of stubbornness (mine : ) is that she INSISTS that she can climb in the car seat herself but she often chooses not to follow the rule that she is supposed to get in and sit her bottom down (it's winter, which means its usually cold here in northern Iowa and I have to buckle her in which I can't do until she sits down).  She likes to take her sweet time by playing with toys that are laying on the floor first.  So because she can not get in the car without getting distracted, then I took the distractions out..  meaning, no more toys in my car.  (They're all in the trunk, but don't tell her : )

This weekend we did learn a new trick.  We've been reading a book that talks about going to the potty and when you gotta go, you gotta go.  So this weekend we went over the spiel of when it's time to leave (the library, church, the park) then she needed to leave without becoming Miss T.  Well she coined the phrase, when you gotta go, you gotta go.  So it's been a fun way for us to leave places together, peacefully, instead of me carrying her out upside down kicking and screaming (not easy at 8 months pregnant).   

Anyways, I'm sure the grandma's will love the 'video' but for the rest of us parents of 2 year old. hang in there.. it'll get better.

** special thanks to Sarah for inspiring me to write this post, another fellow mom with a terrific 2 year old : )