Dear Spring...

I Miss Spring...

Simple Savory Butternut Apple Soup

Soon to be soup in my belly!

Simple Savory Butternut Apple Soup

Serves 4

Takes about 30min

Ingredients:

1 Large Red Onion

1” Piece Fresh Ginger

1T Olive Oil

1 Medium Butternut Squash

3 Medium Apples

5c* Vegetable or Chicken Broth

1/2c Almond Butter

Chop onion & mince ginger. Sauté with olive oil until the onions begin to get translucent. Peal and dice squash and apples. Add broth, apples and squash to the onion mixture. Simmer until the squash can be easily squashed with a fork. Add almond butter, then puree the mixture with an immersion blender.

Serve with crusty bread. Use apple slices as a fancy garnish if presentation is your thing.


*This recipe yields a very thick soup that can be thinned to taste by adding up to 3c additional broth, milk or cream.

Simple Science - Planting Seeds

What to do on a blustery February day when you are stuck inside? 

Plant seeds of course!

Prepare the dirt

Poke drainage holes in egg carton planters

Fill with dirt then gently plant seeds

Put them on a sunny windowsill  

(make sure the soil stays moist)

Watch them grow!!!

Simple Science - Ice

What do you do with a 12"+ block of solid ice? 

Science of course! 

In case you had trouble following that, the Figlet decided the block of ice needed to go, but how... First she tried hitting it with a hammer. Then she tried something with a brick (though she's not sure what). When neither of these were working quickly enough, she enlisted my help putting it at the top of a ladder and rolling it off. To round out the effort I brought her some table salt and food coloring that were liberally applied. The results were pretty cool!

(If you were wondering what that rumbling sound was on the video, we live by an elevated train.) 

Letter Learning

The Figlet recently decided that her big sister's 

homework looked like fun. 

I'm not sure why, but who am I to argue? 

Time to find some homework for her to do!

Of course I can't just print things... It is in my Art Mama nature to 

MAKE THINGS, 

so in addition to seeking out worksheets, I made a letter game.

Using a 1" hole punch I made 26 disks out of card stock paper. I then wrote all the letters on them, capital on one side and lowercase on the other. I used the negatives (aka paper full of holes) to trace out 26 spaces on a piece of paper. We have a printer that makes copies so I made a few then penned in different objectives such as missing letters, make them all upper/lower case, etc. The result is a game that seems like it can grow with her for a while. 

Now I just need to figure out how to help her 

keep believing that homework is fun!

Feed the Monster Game - Little Kid Project

Feed the Monster Game

Age: 18 Months - 8 Years or older (younger ones need more supervision)

Time: 15 min (+ lots more time playing with them!)

Theme: Monsters, Games

Books: Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems, Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberly

Materials:

12 x 18 Construction Paper

Crayons

Tape (We used packing tape but any tape will do)

Monster food (wadded paper, Ping-Pong balls, large bottle caps, etc)

Adults and big kids get to use Scissors (or pinking sheers)

Prep: At the bottom middle of the 12” side of the paper cut an arch for the monster’s ‘mouth’. You can decide on the size depending on the ‘food’ to be used. Ours were about 3” x 4”. 

Activity: Each child gets a 12 x 18 sheet with a precut mouth and crayons. Design your monster! How many eyes will it have? Does it have crazy fur? How about some lips around that mouth? When you are happy with the way your monster looks, (an adult can help) roll the monster into a cylinder, taping the edge together. Set your monster up and try to feed it by sliding food into its mouth (or dropping it into its head).

Notes/Tips: Bigger kids can do the cutting themselves – even making ‘hair’ at the top edge. Make more than one monster and use them for sorting or counting activities (ex: this monster only likes green food).

Letter To A Home Town - The Science of Thanksgiving

Twisted Paper Bag Thank You Tree

 

 

The Science of Thanksgiving

 

Ahhh Thanksgiving: that glorious celebration of hedonism in honor of our foremothers and forefathers. What a wonderful way to pay homage! 

That could be sarcasm, but for once it is not. (Though it is easy to poke fun at a holiday marked by excessive consumption followed by napping.) The way I see it the hedonic quality of the day has the potential to be a positive thing. I know it doesn’t sound that way, but hear me out. There is some science to what I am saying.

Hedonism is, by definition, the belief that pleasure and happiness are the most important goals in life. This doesn’t sound so bad by itself, but hedonism is often associated with self-centered excessive behaviors in the quest for happiness. That is the downfall part. Happiness is a matter of perspective and some people are bound to overdo it.

In psychology there is a theory related to this called hedonic adaptation. In laymen’s terms it goes something like this. Everyone has a baseline of happiness. We hit that baseline by doing what we always do. If we experience significant positive or negative things it will impact our level of happiness, but only so long as those things do not become the norm. If they do become the norm (doing what we always do), we acclimate and that new normal becomes what is needed to achieve base happiness. It is a bit like jumping into a pool. Even if it seemed cold at first, you get used to the water.

This of course begs the question, if we always return to a stasis then how do we achieve greater happiness? One sure way is to actively plan out positive experiences that break normal patterns. This is where Thanksgiving fits in.

Not only is Thanksgiving an invitation to break from our normal routine, there is an increasing body of research pointing to gratitude as a vehicle for happiness. It is being found that people who consistently practice gratitude have lower blood pressure, higher immune systems, feel less isolated and experience more optimism, joy and happiness. That’s right – when on a hedonistic quest for pleasure and happiness it will serve your purpose to show appreciation for what you have and those who helped you out along the way!

I encourage everyone, when you get together with family and friends this week (and in your everyday), raise the bar. Make sure the people in your life that matter hear that from you. Tell a story of how someone right there at the table made a positive influence on you. Make a poster of things you are thankful for and invite everyone to add to it. Let grace last the whole meal instead of hold up dinner. Most of all, let your quest for happiness be laced with gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

               I hope that this letter has found you and yours in good spirits and good health. Until I write again…