Homeschooling, Lesson #12

Today's homeschooling lesson:  survival.  Without chocolate chip cookies, one cannot survive.  The citizens readily grasped this concept.  MLD helped out by taking some video for us.

After a fantastic display of teamwork and sharing, the citizens were ready to put the cookies into the oven.

There were lots of questions at this point, and most of them were variations on a theme:  can we eat them NOW?

The answer was no, the cookies aren't ready yet.  They have to bake and cool.  But you can try some of the dough!  This option wasn't appealing to either kid.

You, our faithful reader, must be wondering: are they ready yet?  Did the kids like them?  Well, wait!  They have to bake and cool.  Check tomorrow's post.

Talking 004

Overheard at dinner last night:

Ashley:  Dah-lah, I want to watch Dan-yell Tie-guh in your room.  Karla, I want to watch Daniel Tiger in your room.

Karla:  Ashley, my tv is broken.  I don't have Daniel Tiger on my tv.  (Not exactly true.)

Adam:  Dah-dee, will YOU fix Dah-lah's tv?  Daddy, will YOU fix Karla's tv?

Ashley:  Yay!  Dah-dee fix Dah-lah's tv!

Mmm Mmm Good!

Do you recall the popular Campbell's soup marketing campaign? The kid would always declare the soup to be "mmm mmm good".  I spent the better part of two days making an authentic japanese ramen soup and in the process, used just about every pot and mixing bowl in the kitchen.  No joke.  Never again.  But, as Adam notes at the end of this clip, it was good!

I See....

... lots of things.  Our little explorer is uncovering all sorts of exciting things!

Playing Games

Watching Ashley play with a classic game brought back memories for me.  Adam, on the other hand, seems more interested in how toys work and finding new uses for them:

Who is Watching Who?

As you might have noticed, Adam usually asks to watch the videos immediately after they are recorded.  This time I decided to film them watching.  It's just as fun as taking the live action shots.

Ring Around the Rosy

Who knew that the yogibo would make this game even more fun?!?!

Shoes

Check out Ashley's new trick:

Talking 003

There are lots of things the kids say with great frequency.  They're listed below in no particular order:

Ashley
"I yike dis"  I like this
"Dis is sooo fluffy!"
"Dis is my FAY-vor-it" This is my favorite
"Nanna is fluffy and cute" Nanna is her duck toy

Adam
"I am goin' to make a BIG mess!"  no explanation needed
"I am full of miss-chiff" mischief
"The wusty twusty twactor goes vroom-vroom" The rusty, trusty tractor goes vroom vroom
"Show me da vee-do"  Show me the video

Both
"No mommy no daddy go to wut"  No mommy no daddy go to work.  Tell that to da boss!

Little Rabbit Foo Foo

Today's post is a shout out to Aunt Mindy who used to sing this song with me when I was roughly the same age as the A-team:

Hit it, Adam!

Little Rabbit Foo Foo hoppin' through the forest, 

Scooping up the field mice and 

Boppin' 'em on the head.

Along came the Good Fairy, and she said,

"Little Rabbit Foo Foo, I don't like your attitude

Scoopin' up the field mice and

Boppin' 'em on the head.

I'll give you 3 more chances, 

And then I'll turn you into a goon!"

So the next day,

Little Rabbit Foo Foo hoppin' through the forest, 

Scooping up the field mice and 

Boppin' 'em on the head.

(you see where this is going -- two chances, then one chance...)

Along came the Good Fairy, and she said,

"Little Rabbit Foo Foo, I don't like your attitude

Scoopin' up the field mice and

Boppin' 'em on the head.

I gave you 3 chances, 

And now I'm going to turn you into a goon!"

And that's the moral of the story kids, 

"Hare today, goon tomorrow"

Culinary Exploration

Tonight we tried something new:  tacos.  MLM thought that if the kids participated in making their own meals that they would be more likely to eat said meal.  I was only half right.  Can you guess who dove in to the meal and who ate nothing but white rice?

Progress!

Despite being twins, Adam and Ashley are following different developmental trajectories.  Adam is mastering bubbles.  Ashley is adept at undressing.

Miracle

A small miracle happened today.  Our morning got off to a rough start, so the kids and I took a spin in the van to tuck in a quick nap.  Wasn't too quick;  it was long enough to affect their afternoon nap.  Sigh.  We didn't even attempt to get them out of their pajamas today, just to give you a hint of what went on here this morning.

In the afternoon we tried something completely different:  we set up small tents in the living room and asked the kids to stay in their tents to rest.  Didn't have to sleep.  Just rest.  

Can you believe they did?  And they were quiet enough to allow MLD and I to sleep next to them for one hour?  If that's not the definition of a miracle, then I don't know what is.

Post-parental-nap, they happily bounded back to the kitchen to snack on some apples:

Popcorn Song

Sing along with us:

You put the oil in the pot and you let it get hot
You put some popcorn in and you start to grin
Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle POP!
Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle POP!
(repeat endlessly or until your arms get tired, whichever comes first)

Talking 002

We were riding in the car the other day because I was hoping Adam and Ashley would take a nap.  No such luck.  Overheard in the back seat:

Adam:  We're going SHA-pin (shopping).
Ashley:  We're goin' to da soo-keh-mak-et (to the supermarket) and we're going to buy go-fish (goldfish), tock-et tips (chocolate chips) and pet-zuls (pretzels)!
Adam:  I like tock-et tips!

The Pupusa Sisters

On Sunday night, Karla and her sister Susi  made pupusas for the family.

They were fantastic!  One critic agreed:

Who knew beans and cheese could taste so good?

The other critic opted for garlicky artichokes instead.  Go figure.

Who me?  Did I eat that entire pile of artichoke leaves?

Today Susi is boarding a plane, heading out to meet her new host family.  We really enjoyed having Susi stay with us for a few weeks.  We're going to miss you Susi!  Buena suerte!

Backwards Night

We were having one of those nights where no one wanted to put on their pajamas and brush their teeth.  So we declared it to be "Backwards Night!".  Ashley would wear Adam's pjs and vice versa.   To mark the occasion, the kids struck a special pose:

And then they really hammed it up:

Snow in the Park

Notice a theme?  The last three posts have been snow filled!  That's life in New England.  When Baba and Dede came to visit we ventured out to the local park for some fun.  The kiddos were all bundled up and enjoyed the trip.

Say "snow"!

I love see-zee-uhl (cereal) bars.

Sledding!

Snowshoeing wasn't the fantastic success we had hoped for;  we'll try it again after the next storm.  The following day was a teensy bit less windy, so we tried sledding:

  
Success!

Snowshoes

In an attempt to make the frigid great outdoors more appealing to the citizens, we attempted to snow shoe last week after the first great storm of 2014.  First a photo of the prepping:

3....2....1.... action!