Muffin Tin Monday- Bread and Jam for Frances

I'm starting Muffin Tin Monday this week- the grand and lofty goal is to do it every week, though I might not always play along with the correct theme. I think it's such a cool idea, and a novel way to hook kids into eating something they might not otherwise. (Ariel's eating tomato soup! Holy Cow!)

This week I wanted to use a children's book as our theme, so we read Bread and Jam For Frances this morning and made a big list of all the foods they talked about in the book. We found:

• eggs
• bread and jam
• veal cutlet
• baked potatoes
• orange juice
• toast
• cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches
• pickle
• milk
• grapes
• tangerine
• spaghetti and meatballs
• tomato soup
• celery
  
• carrots
• black olives
• plums
• cherries
• vanilla pudding

Quite a good list to work from. The idea is not to have to do anything crazy- just stuff you already have.

With six kids around the table, I took three muffin tins and filled six cups each. It works out well to have the oldest and youngest share, then the next, then the two middle kids. They can help each other, and it also happens to be a picky eater and a good eater in each team.

Duchess and O'Malley shared a tin,

Snow White and Sebastian shared another,

and Marie and Ariel shared another.

We ate tomato soup, black grapes, tangerines, bread and jam, green beans, and cheddar cheese since I didn't have any eggs and we needed some protein.

Everyone had a great time and actually ate something. Next week is supposed to be a Halloween theme, and I may do something original if I can think of it. If not, I'll go through the muffin tin archives and borrow a good idea. :)

We all need a reason to look forward to Monday!

And They Called Her Aurora...

after the dawn, because she filled their lives with sunshine.....

I love Sleeping Beauty. And I love that quote, and there is no Disney name more suited to this squishy bundle of fabulous girl than Aurora. She started Monday and oh my goodness I have been loving the snuggles. It's been awhile since we had one so tiny around here. Delicious.

Attitude Adjustment

This morning with the big kids has been .... I hate to use the word "abysmal", but that's what springs to mind. There has been snarling, crying, snot, rolling around on the floor yelling, toy grabbing, and a few other lovely things. I remember days like this when I was teaching middle school and I am SO grateful to be where I am. Then, all I could do was assign them more work that they would likely refuse to do, all the while giving me dirty looks, and tomorrow when they walked in they would still be holding a grudge.

It's really wonderful to be able to say, "Honey, I need a hug. Would you come and hug me?" Because they all do, and most of the time it cuts off whatever yucky behavior is getting started. Then I say something like "You look like you feel grumpy. What can I do to make you feel happier?" For Sebastian, it was a Kleenex. Although he's still really annoyed that today is not his birthday, and he will cry if anybody mentions it, he's coming out of the funk. :)

Then I decided October 1 is plenty early enough for Christmas music. I pulled out my Target Sounds of the Season and a big handful of jingle bells, and we're grooving to Sleigh Ride as sung by the Spice Girls.

And just like that, my day is a little better already. In half an hour they won't remember, and tomorrow is still a whole day away. No grudges, no dirty looks. Way more snot, but that's a small price to pay.

Snow White One-Liners That Make Me Smile

My dad came in the other day and Snow White ran up to him yelling about her new tattoo and how he should look at it. He said, "Cool! Is it of your mother?"

I laughed and laughed and she looked extremely perplexed. NO! It's Diego!


This huge dragonfly sat on my porch wall for over an hour. I should have put something else in the picture to show the scale- it was almost as big as my hand. Everyone kept staring at it and talking about it and after awhile Snow came to talk to me, all worried. I love the way she sometimes talks in questions, and then other times she takes things that ought to be questions and phrases them as statements. It makes her really fun to listen to.

"That bug? That one on the wall? He is taking a nap? Or else he is dead!"

I opened the door to check and he flew off. She was pleased to know he wasn't dead and yet simultaneously highly annoyed at me for scaring him away.

Swirly Crayons

Last week we made swirly crayons. All the girls are really into basic art supplies right now- we're way behind on our "curriculum" because what they want to do is cut, glue, and color. Want to do a Mother Goose Time craft? NO! Can we have some white paper? Usually I don't stress out about that- it works their fine motor skills and creativity and they're having a good time and so we sit around the table and cut and color. Of course, you can't send home a project that ends up looking like this:

Process, not product.... Process, not product..... :)

They were working hard on this task, yet again, and I decided to sort through our enormous bucket of colors and pull out all the broken ones. They never want to peel the paper and don't like to use the broken ones and since they keep asking me to open new boxes, our crayon situation was getting a little out of control. I googled the basic recipe for melting and remaking crayons, and then I started peeling paper and putting broken pieces in my muffin tin.

And oh my, the girls were intrigued. They got busy helping and we sat at the table for a whole HOUR while we all talked and peeled paper. It was really fun. Makes me think I should get a bunch of corn on the cob or purple hull peas or something. Make 'em earn their keep!


We baked them at 350 until they melted, and then put them straight into the freezer for about 45 minutes, and then they popped right out of the tin. Everyone had a great time making rainbows and swirly drawings.

I keep meaning to send each of them home with a muffin top crayon and I keep forgetting. They turned out really well!

And then that afternoon O'Malley flushed a ball down the toilet so we got to watch the plumber unbolt the toilet from the floor and carry it into the yard. Such a very interesting day. Art class? Free. Plumber? Not so much...

Pigtails

Earlier this week I was in the mood to fix hair. I brushed Snow White's and put it up in pigtails while the other girls were resting. When they saw her, they immediately demanded that I do theirs as well. I'm not the best at it, but hey, at least I got a lot of practice in one day!

Ariel, Snow White, Duchess, and Tinkerbell- rocking the pigtails!

This Does Not Bode Well

Snow White: I smell poop.
Duchess: That's not poop. It's our lunch.
Snow White. NO! What is she cooking? It's poop! Not lunch!
Duchess: (coming over to see in the pan) It's not poop, right Mom? It's lunch?
Me: Yes. I'm making quesadillas. You're smelling tortillas and butter. NOT poop.
Duchess: Well, it smells like poop if you BURN it.
Me: Shut up. I did not burn lunch.
Duchess: You shouldn't tell me to shut up.
Me: You're right. But I'm not burning lunch. And you like quesadillas.