“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
-- John Muir


1. Hank the Cowdog
Have you heard these books on cd yet? They have us all laughing in
hysterics. The author, a real cowboy, just has the funniest voice alone not to mention the crazy stories he tells. We have to get our daily dose of Hank around here. We check them out at the library.

2. Grapefruit.
I never cared for grapefruit before, too sour for me, but this winter the
KIDS GOT ME TO TRY it and we have all been gobbling them up. Very
refreshing.

3. Pantyhose Polo.

Ok, for the record, Daddy didn't like this game but the rest of us were rolling on the floor laughing at our last family night. We made up many variations. Check it out at familyfun.com

4. The Readers Choice 200 BOOK CLUB FAVORITES.
I stumbled on this book at the library. It is a 1 page review of 200 books, (not all fiction) I have now read more then 50 of them and have enjoyed almost everyone. These are REALLY GOOD BOOKS, the kind you read while cooking the eggs, waiting for the bus, brushing your teeth-the kind that keep you up late, very late. Delicious.

5. Brussels Sprout Salad with Apples and Pecans by Rachael Ray

A friend brought this to Thanksgiving and I have made it 4 times since then. I am not a huge Brussels sprout fan and I don't usually use bacon in my cooking but this recipes breaks all the rules. I only use 1 apple and no cheese but otherwise I use her recipe. It doesn't wilt so its good for a couple meals. Hubby and I love this one.

What are you loving right now?

Sunday is our family day all together,the whole day, a rare thing. We have gotten into a pattern, something like this...

Morning Paper
Big Brunch
Piano playing
Dancing
Wrestling
Art
Prairie Home Companion/Vinyl Cafe
Nature Walk
Church
Slow Cooker Dinner
Chess & Games
Bonfire
PBS Nature Show
To Bed

I am thankful for this slow paced day together, I laugh and laugh with NPR, the kids enjoy time with daddy and eating good food together. We dont go shopping or play with friends. Sometimes we go visit extened family. Mostly we just find refuge from the week and relax together.

Alright, I've got to document these for future ideas. I am the room mother again this year and one of the big jobs is the Halloween party. I came to the room dressed as a fortune teller. We had four stations for the kids to move thru.

The first station was the organ feel. Here is my list of organs:
Brain- cooked cauliflower head
Tongue- dried apricot
Eyeballs-peeled grapes
Veins-cooked spaghetti
Skin- damp tortia shell
Heart- jello jiggler ball
Bones - long skinny carrot
Teeth - dried cannellini beans

The next station was egg creatures. I blew out eggs and dyed some of them, then let the kids create aliens, monsters, witches, mummys or any creature they could. The kids had no problem coming up with ideas for this.

The next game was a mummy wrap and marshmallow toss. They loved this classic game.



The last station I called story dice. Each child got 2 wooden blocks I had painted. Then they chose different stickers for each side. Then they could roll their dice and make up a story about the pictures they rolled. This was my favorite one.

Then we had some spooky refreshments. I had carved a mini watermelon to look like a brain (familyfun.com), vegi booty, cupcakes, cookies and my swamp punch. I cooked tapioca with some green food coloring to look just like frog eggs, then mixed with limeaid and soda water with a gummy fish swimming in it. The kids were really nervous about it.

We took a picture of each child with a festive backdrop and last of all I had made some gift bags out of polka-dot fabric I just happen to have around and put some strange things inside, like a lifelike gummy earthworm, maggot mints and squishy pumpkin. The party was a great success.

Last year was fun too. I did a Harry Potter theme and divided the class into the four houses (slitherine, gryfindor...) Then they attended 4 different "classes." One class was quididitch class and they played a broom relay game. Another class was spells and they played charades. Another class was dark arts where they made pipe cleaner spiders. My favorite was potions class. I had a bunch of class jars with funny things inside and labels. I made them smell each one.
(nutmeg nut)OWL PELLETS for invisibility
(rosemary) EXTRACT OF GRASSHOPPERS improves jumping ability
(Parmesan cheese) MOUSE BREATH increases night vision
(charred wood) CHARRED BATS FEET for excellent hearing
(moss/lichen) GILLYWEED for temporary gills
(dried date) SHRIVELFIG to promote shrinking
Then we made slime for each of them to take home. I never got those pictures back, but we had lots of fun with that one too.

Working in the garden



Developing our circus act



art projects

Taking walks

Burying Treasures


Enjoying nature

We started out the day with instructions from a magazine to make a small marshmallow catapult. It worked so well and I quickly figured out the engineering of it all that I wanted to make a bigger one. We found two trees close together, a few strong poles, an exercise band (bungee cord would work too) and a sand shovel. My lashing skills from girls camp finally came in handy and the catapult was launching pine cones in minutes.



Find instructions to make your own here-
href="http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/marshmallow-catapult-874571/">

Adults and kids loved loved loved these new recipes, so I wanted to share. The soup I made up to use up leftover rice.

Coconut Chicken Rice Soup
1 onion, chopped
Oil for sautéing
½ tsp tumeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 can coconut milk
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced celery
2-3 chicken breasts cut up
4-6 cups chicken broth
2-3 cups cooked rice
Chopped fresh parsley

Saute onion until soft. Add remaining ingrediants except rice and parsley. Boil, then simmer 20 min or so until chicken is cooked well. Add rice and parsley. Serve.

Almond Butter Cookies
1/2 cup natural almond butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped almonds (or more)
Preheat the oven to 350*F. In a large bowl, combine natural almond butter, maple syrup, oil, egg and vanilla extract until well blended. In a separate bowl, mix together whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, along with chopped almonds, and stir until just combined. Let sit for five minutes. Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls, flatten to about 1/3 of an inch and place onto cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Makes 18 cookies.