Saturday, October 13, 2012

Rock Candy! Rain and Bugs

With the kids still recouping from colds, we had an easy going week. Our daughter still was full blown not feeling well, coughing, sneezing and hadn't been sleeping well either so needless to say we lounged quite a bit- read books, watched documentaries and played board games. We also had a crazy rain storm and encountered a scorpion as well!

 Game Time!
Rain and sickness is great for games- but we honestly play a lot of board games and card games together- if not one every day, then every other day. We stay away from TV as much as possible- a wonderful way to connect is to play games together- have real conversation together, spend quality time together- TV does none of those things. This week we have enjoyed Clue, Monopoly, Scrabble, UNO and this wooden one we purchased from our Alpaca Farm trip:


Baking
Starting off our week baking more cupcakes, our son opted for Lemon and our daughter for Chocolate. Our egg substitution is really working well in baked goods- 1 egg equals 1 tsp of Apple Cider Vinegar and 1/4 cup Vanilla Soy Milk - but we did notice when it calls for '3' eggs, we use '2' conversion eggs- it makes the cake fluffier! I sat and supervised but our 7 year old made them entirely on his own- reading the directions, doing the measurements and mixing...and then ate a few too!
 I've also been baking and exploring vegan baking with substitutions...this week I made home made corn bread and soft pretzels. 
 Jordan wound the pretzels into their shape! He did an awesome job!

Vegan Meals: 
We had an Eggplant/Mushroom Rice dish that I had previously posted on here. This time I opted to dice the eggplant more finely which appeased the children as they did not enjoy the big chunks last time as well.  In the evening, we've been using candles more often and turning off all the lights in the house- eating dinner by candlelight then playing board games in the evening by candle as well. It is very relaxing.



Everyday in everything we do...we learn.
A few highlights from our week..while sister was laying on the couch and reading most of her mornings trying to recoup, my son and I explored his interest in rocks. We took out several rock and gem books he has, watched a few videos, played a geology game and watched a how to video on how to make rock candy...then made the candy together- its still growing!
Some resources we used:
Kids Geology Games
Mineral Crystals
Nat Geo - How Diamonds are Formed
How to Make Rock Candy
Updated candy pics to come :


According to the video, it takes a full 7 days, each day changing the jars out to grow the crystals 'rock candy'. The pics are day 1.

Rain, Rain...go away!? It practically flooded...great timing to explore weather- we had fun watching the Magic School Bus all about weather as well as checking out the weather radar and learning about the weather maps. Jordie and his Dad put outside a rain collector as well to see just how much it rained! 
Some resources we used:
How does Rain form?
Magic School Bus: Kick Up a Storm
US Weather Radar


 We ended the week with our weekly Library trip- picking out fun books, educational books- everything books...anything that perked out interests! Here is a peek into what we will be exploring this week...
Our 7 year old's picks:


Our 11 year old's picks:
And she still has previous books checked out from last week as well- Warriors Series, Ballet History and Make your own Bath and Body products.

And a few new books for Mom:
I'm still currently reading a few off the grid and sustainable living books as well as a vegan cookbook.
BUGS
Lastly, to end my week off with a scary fright...late last night after the children were in bed asleep and I was quietly reading...the dogs started bouncing around on the tile floor. As I looked over and thought oh there's a grasshopper on the floor- I saw the tail of the animal whip around and sting one of our pups. He wailed, I yelled out, realizing that it was a scorpion. Luckily he is alright, a few hours of not being able to move around, breathing labored and foaming around his mouth- he was doing okay. I trapped the nasty thing and when hubbie got home from his shift he disposed of it! Yikes, talk about getting your heart going.

Looking forward to a quiet weekend of catching up on work, household chores, baking bread goodness and spending time with my family.

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