Weekly Lessons and Dessert

Here are activities I am going to do with my booger bear this week.

1. Preposition Game- I printed off pictures of animals. I am going to have him color and cut them out and then we are going to play a game. I am going to tell him where to put the animals. I am going to use the words: in, on, under, over, above, below, behind, in front of, and beside

2. Small, Medium, Large- I am going to draw 3 circles, labeling small, medium, large. We are then going to sort and glue different things into the categories like stickers, pompoms, paper shapes, and anything else we can find.

3. Life Cycle of Plant- I bought a guaranteed to grow plant kit at Hobby Lobby. We are also sprouting avocado seeds (I have no idea if it is going to work but we are trying). He loves checking on the plants, watching the little green sprouts poking up. I thought it would be good to learn about the life cycle of a plant. I used this teachers lesson for the life cycle of a plant:http://mrskilburnkiddos.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/parts-of-a-plant-and-plant-life-cycle/

This link is how to sprout avocado seeds:

http://www.avocado.org/grow-your-own-tree/

4. Coins- He just got a penny bank and loves dumping his coins and then putting them back through the slot. He knows the penny and nickel so I thought we would go more in depth. I printed off large pictures of the front and back of a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. We are going to just play with the coins and sort them. I also printed poems about coins from this website I am going to teach him:

http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/138.html

5. We are still doing the color activity from last week. We are also going to get books from the library about community helpers and probably pretend he is the different community helpers. He loves pretending he is a mailman and delivers me "letters" (aka square pieces of foam) around the house, running back to the "post office" (underneath the dinner table) to get more letters.

That's our week!

I also thought I would share another favorite dessert! I wasn't lying about family rule #5...the requirement of dessert at every meal. So this week's dessert is called: Caramel-Frosted Bars. It comes from a very old cookbook from Better Homes and Garden given to me by the great Aunt S.

But first I wanted to share one of my favorite things. When I bake, I crank up some music and Chad usually shuffles into the kitchen to see what I am up to...then follows Georgia. And naturally the dancing begins!!! This is one of the many reasons I love baking. Plus, Georgia is a great dance partner :)

Caramel-Frosted Bars:

Cream 6 T of softened butter and 3/4 C granulated sugar.

Beat in 1 egg, 2 T milk, and 3/4 t. vanilla.

Stir 1 1/4 C flour and 1/2 t. baking soda and 1/2 t. salt; add to creamed mixture, mix well

(You can add 1/4 C nuts at this point but I don't like nuts, so no nuts for us)

Spread in a 9X9X2 inch greased baking pan. Bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes.(I put it in a 9X13 so they last longer and I only bake for about 15 minutes)

In a saucepan combine 1/3 C packed brown sugar, 2 T water (I use milk so its richer- oh yeah!), 2 T of butter. Bring to a boil, stir constantly. Remove from heat, stir in 1 t. vanilla. Gradually stir in 1 cup sifted powdered sugar. Stir in 2 T of nuts (which I do not). Immediately spread over warm cookies! Enjoy!

I pray you have a wonderful week where you constantly see the nature of our amazing God!

-Blessings-

The Love of Saturday

I love Saturdays! Sleeping late, getting to sip your coffee, and the feeling of an endless day ahead that you can fill with whatever pleases you! There is just nothing better. This Saturday has been especially perfect because I woke up with the smell of cinnamon rolls filling the house. I love my husband!

This Saturday I am making a family favorite: Hamburger Soup. It is really yummy and easy to make. (So easy I can remember it in my head.)

First brown a pound of hamburger meat and an chopped onion. Salt and pepper.

Then pour a large container of V-8 vegetable juice into a pot and bring to a boil. Add a can of corn (sometimes I add two), several diced potatoes and carrots, and the browned hamburger and onion. Splash some Worcestershire Sauce into it. Then boil until potatoes and carrots are soft. Serve with corn bread and it is delicious! This recipe reminds me of my brother because its the thing Mom always cooked for him when he came home. Mine is never as good as my mother's, maybe because its missing that special touch of motherly love.

Clean Georgia!

This Saturday is also doggie bath day at the Pac house. After months of trial and error and what seems like buckets of pee from Georgia we have finally discovered a system for a smooth bathing process for Georgia. For some reason Georgia can always sense a bath is coming when I prepare it. I find her in the back of her cage, like a stone statue not willing to move a muscle. But when Chad prepares the bath she is perfectly fine and even jumps right in the tub, tail wagging. (He says its because he puts music on the shower radio for her.) So Georgia got a bath today and has now been running around the house like a wild banshee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjFaenf1T-Y

Last, I would like to share one of my new favorite songs. It is "Home" by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. (Sorry you have to clink on the link and then play it.) This song just makes me happy:) Moving to Galveston has been a challenging adjustment but it is finally starting to feel like home. I love this song because it reminds me that no matter where I am, as long as I am with Chad...its home. (Cheesy I know...but true.)

Enjoy your Saturday!

What I've been up to lately...

Here is what I've been up to lately..

1. Eating lots of Sunbutter!!! Chad is allergic to peanut butter...and I LOVE peanut butter. It's been a tough sacrifice. (I have had dreams I'm eating Reeses candy and spoonfuls of creamy peanut goodness.) I have just found Sunbutter. Its made from sunflower seeds and completely peanut free but taste just like peanut butter! Dream. Come. True.

The picture is my favorite combo:

gobs of Sunbutter + extra gobs of Nutella=

heaven and my usual breakfast:)

2. Recycling

This pic shows 2 weeks worth of recycling! I decided to after watching the documentary No Impact Man on Netflix. I am amazed at how many things are recyclable. I should have known but I never really thought about it. It does take a little extra work since you have to wash out the containers and then drop it off at the recycling center but I'm helping the earth! I want to start a compost pile soon (I know it sounds gross!) but we will have to see if that happens.

3. Crocheting

I am crocheting my brother-in-law a afghan for his graduation present. I really like the stitch because its easy and fast! He is super tall so I am making it extra long. I have been watching lots of TV while I crochet. Recent TV show addiction: Downton Abbey!

1st season is an instant watch on Netflix. Needless to say I have already watched all of them and can't wait for more.

Here is the pattern for afghan:

http://www.citiusa.com/ripple.html

4. Making my own laundry detergent

My aunt and best friend have made their own and loved it. I thought I would try. I really like it. I used scented soap so it has a smell. The clothes still smell and look clean and we are saving money. I'm happy!

I used this site on how to make it:

http://www.diynatural.com/simple-easy-fast-effective-jabs-homemade-laundry-detergent/

That's what I've been up to lately.

May you have a happy Thursday!

Once a teacher, always a teacher

As many of you know I am a nanny to a wonderful and very smart 2 year old boy. (Who is now potty-trained...yeah!!) I love my job and am so thankful to be a nanny! It is definitely where I am suppose to be. But I am a teacher so my sweet booger bear gets the full treatment of lessons, letters, and learning! I thought I would share our weekly activities for any moms out there who need some activities and to help me get my creative juices flowing.
This week of activities came from my Mom (thanks Mom!)
We are working on colors. We have already done a poem and activity for each color, along with color bottles which were a hit. This week we are working on the color word. You type the color word twice, putting each letter in a box. Then the child colors and cuts the letters apart of one copy of the color word. As a game, the child has to glue the color word back together using the uncut color word as a guide. It has worked out great! I plan to put all the words on a ring so he can easily look at all the colors.
We are also working on 5 senses. Mom gave me a poem and book. You can easily google a poem and the book is easy. Each page is about one of the five senses. For example, "My eyes see _______." "My ears hear _______." I write what he says and then he draws a picture. He has really enjoyed this, especially learning about his ears because he can make lots of noise.
Also (thanks to Mom's idea, don't we all love our mothers?) we go outside and each day he gets to pick something up from outside and put it in a zip lock baggie. I write the amount of things we picked up and a sentence. We started out with him getting to pick up 1 thing, today we did 2 things, tomorrow 3 things and so on.
For the alphabet, we have started to play this game. The child gets to pick out 8 rocks from outside and then paint them. The child then draws letters out of a bag and if they identify the letters/sound correctly then get to put a rock on the game board. There are only 8 spots on the board which is about the perfect amount for young children's attention span. Here is the website I got it from and it has a template for the game board:
http://madebyjoel.com/2010/05/modern-alphabet-game.html
My mother-in-law found this website and it has some really neat craft ideas!
Those are the activities for this week!
May the learning begin...

Cookies and Baseball

I thought I would start out my first blog post with Chad's new favorite cookie recipe because cookies just make the world a better place. We are a dessert family. In fact its a Pacanowski family rule:
Rule #5: Eat dessert after every meal...including breakfast
I found this recipe in the cookbook my Aunt made of all of our family recipes. Side note: I love that cookbook! Every meal is guaranteed to be good! Can't beat that in a cookbook.
So this is from my Meme. I left out several things because I didn't have them but they still turned out great. In fact, the picture of cookies will probably be gone by tomorrow!
Chocolate Chippers
1 stick butter
3/4 C brown sugar
1 egg
2 T vanilla
3/4 C chopped dates (I left those out)
1 C flour
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 C coconut (left out)
1/2 C corn flakes or granola (I used Honey Bunches of Oats cereal and added a cup instead of half a cup! :) )
3/4 C nuts (left out)
1 3/4 C chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla, beat well. Stir in dates; let soften 5 minutes and beat on high for 3 min. Add remaining ingredients. Drop by tablespoon on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Drop cookie sheet on counter to make cookies chewy when you remove them from the oven. Enjoy!

There you go! Make them and your day will be better!

This past weekend Chad got to meet Nolan Ryan as part of his x-mas present. He loved it! He held his signed baseball in his hand the whole drive home- cute and funny! His office is slowly but surely being transformed into....a MAN CAVE! He is very pleased!

May you have a blessed and very happy Monday!