Month: December 2020

Visiting Aunt Cil

Dear Sis,

It’s been over a year since our last trip to see Aunt Cil’s family. William has been requesting it specifically and winter break supplied some time away from preschool.

William has no qualms about announcing to the world that cousin Stephen is his favorite!

Charlotte got very comfortable with Aunt Cil and gave her lots of cuddles:)

Both the kids enjoyed playing with cousin Heather!

Cousin Charity crocheted Charlotte a new blanket.

We didn’t get pictures, but we (Aunt Cil, Heather, Aunt Angel, Charity, and I) all crashed Meghan’s exercise class. It was intense! She tried to kill us… lol.

Our visit was short, but sweet. William is already asking when we can go again:)

Love,

b

Gingerbread Village

Dear Sis,

It seemed quiet after all our book club friends left. I put Charlotte down for a nap and William and I built a gingerbread village.

I assembled the houses and applied icing wherever he needed it, but William placed all the candy until about halfway through the third house. I couldn’t believe how dedicated and engaged he was by this activity. We worked on it for over two hours!

Afterward, we used all our crafts to decorate the mantel. William has his own tree this year. He was interested in decorating, but it turns out mom didn’t really want to share:) The D.I.Y snow globes and winter landscape paintings were book club crafts and we painted the wooden snowmen over the weekend.

Happy Holidays!

Love,

b

Winter Book Club

Dear Sis,

Today we had a very full house and a lot of fun!

Book

Jenny’s Winter Walk: a kids yoga winter book by Giselle Shardlow

This story follows a mom and daughter on a winter walk. Each page also features a yoga pose. I wasn’t sure how a yoga book would go over, but everyone really enjoyed it!

Craft: Winter Landscape

Materials

  • 8×10 inch canvas
  • light blue acrylic paint
  • sponge brush
  • stick
  • hot glue
  • white acrylic paint
  • cotton swab
  • glitter

Assembly

  1. Paint the entire canvas blue using a sponge brush. Dry fully.
  2. Hot glue stick in place.
  3. With white paint, paint a snow-covered ground at the base of the stick to make it look like a tree.
  4. Dab on more white to create snow flakes.
  5. Dust with glitter. 

These winter scenes turned out great! We had kids between 4 and 9, who were all able to make one with pleasing results.

Craft: Snow Globe

Materials

  • plastic mason jar
  • miniature evergreen figurine
  • hot glue
  • distilled water
  • glycerine
  • glitter

Assembly Instructions

  1. Glue evergreen figurine to inside of jar lid with hot glue.
  2. Fill jar with distilled water, leaving only a small space at the top.
  3. Add a few drops of glycerin. The glycerine helps keep the glitter from sticking to the jar when it settles. Too much makes the glitter clump together, so be careful.
  4. Add an 1/8 t glitter. Too much glitter tends to stick to the bottom when it settles.
  5. Close jar tightly and give it a shake.

The glycerine:glitter ratio will vary based on the size of your jar. I practiced before book club to get the balance just right.

Game: Roll a Snowman

Free Download: Roll a Snowman Preschool Math Game

Posted on Teachers Pay Teachers by Natural Knowledge

Snack: Bagel Snowman

Ingredients

  • half a plain bagel
  • half a plain mini bagel
  • whipped cream cheese
  • pretzel sticks
  • chocolate yogurt covered raisins
  • fruit roll-up

Song

Party Freeze Dance by The Kiboomers

Instead of “freezing” by staying still, we “froze” by wrapping our arms around ourselves and saying “burr.”

Love,

b

P.S. We also did a book exchange. Each family gently used wrapped books and we swapped at the end.

Eighth Night of Hanukkah 2020

Dear Sis,

Today was William’s final day of preschool before holiday break. He got to wear pajamas to school so he was pretty happy:) While he was a school, Charlotte and I ran errands. The most notable: Jungle Jim’s International Market to get some challah and rugelach for our Hanukkah dinner with Carter and family.

The kids did some yoga stories while I got the brisket in the oven and worked on other meal prep for our big dinner. I set formal place settings for the adults, but used festive disposable settings for all the kids. William insisted that I needed to fold the kids napkins like the grown up napkins:)

Menu

Warmed Challah

Latkes with Sour Cream and Applesauce

Mashed Potatoes and Borsht

Carrots and Brisket

Tapioca and Berries

Cinnamon Rugelach

The dinner was a big success. The kids played together all the way until bedtime! We lit the menorah just before Carter and family left. The boys weren’t feeling photogenic:)

I made a funny face to help them cheer up and they just copies me… lol.

Books of the Night

Is it Hanukkah Yet? by Chris Barash

This book is a great count down to the holiday book. If I would have known, we would have read it sooner. 

The Hanukkah Magic of Nate Gadol by Arthur A. Levine

I struggled with this one. This fairytale tries to bring magic to the Hanukkah season, like a Jewish St. Nicholas story. I feel like it detracts from the reason for the season, by crediting a fictitious character for the Hanukkah miracle! Not a good fit for our family at all.

Happy Hanukkah!

Love,

b

 

Seventh Night of Hanukkah 2020

Dear Sis,

Today Mama Jen and I had our final baking day and we did a gift exchange with our little people.

After nap, Charlotte opened her new tea set from Jon and Susan, our synagogue friends, from when we were teens. It was one of several very thoughtful gifts they sent the kids:)

Our baking day continued into the evening. We baked 16 mini loaves of pumpkin bread and 10 of banana nut bread as holiday gifts for teachers, neighbors, and family. I didn’t realize until tonight that I never added Great Grandma’s Banana Nut Bread recipe to the blog before. I don’t make it as often as I used to because Josh is nut-free:)

Banana Nut Bread

Just like Great Grandma used to make!
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 3 bananas pureed
  • 1 c granulated sugar
  • 1/2 c canola oil
  • 3 eggs beaten
  • 1 t baking soda dissolved in milk
  • 3 T whole milk
  • 1 t vanilla extract
  • 1 t salt
  • 1 1/2 c unbleached flour
  • 1 c walnuts (opt) crushed

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour baking pans unless using single use pans.
  • Beat together pureed fruit, sugar, oil, eggs, soda dissolved in milk, and vanilla.
  • Stir in salt and flour. Fold in nuts. Pour into prepared pans, filling only about halfway.
  • Bake 35-45 minutes. Baking times vary depending on the size of the pans used.

Book of the Night

Shelf the Hanukkah Elf by Greg Wolfe

William knows Santa is pretend, but he enjoys the story. This book works to add Hanukkah to the Santa story. William enjoyed it. As a mom, I wasn’t impressed. I can see how adults who engage in the more imaginative side of the season would enjoy it better:)

Happy Hanukkah!

Love,

b

Sixth Night of Hanukkah 2020

Dear Sis,

Fifth Night of Hanukkah

Yesterday was a hard day. I tried to take on too much holiday baking, Charlotte was fussy, and William and I just couldn’t find our groove! He wanted it his way and I was busy:) I didn’t get a single picture. 

Book of the Night

Beautiful Yetta’s Hanukkah Kitten by Daniel Pinkwater

This book is conversational in nature, with dialogue in English, with Hebrew beneath, Spanish, and a touch of Yiddish. The story was cute, but William and I struggled a bit. To be honest, we were a bit overwhelmed by all the languages! It wasn’t a great fit for our family, but I could see how it could be enjoyable to others.

Sixth Night of Hanukkah

Charlotte got fussy early this evening, so I gave the kids a bath. They both love bath time so much, it can take a sour evening and turn it around!

After our bath we, redecorated William’s bedroom. He doesn’t sleep in a railed bed anymore, so the toddler bedding we made for him is too narrow and keeps falling off. 

I tried to make him a space duvet cover for his birthday, but the dimensions were a touch off and it wasn’t fitting the duvet well. Also, I used flannel on the underside, which made William too hot. I like to be thrifty when I can, but after all the work I put in so far, I wanted a more pleasing result and was more willing to part with a bit of money to make it happen. We found this space duvet cover in Pottery Barn’s kids line.

We also added glow and the dark stars on the wall space beside his bed.

We took down the railroad crossing signs I made for William’s second birthday and hung his space mobile he colored about six months ago and the guitar painting Uncle Jim made for us. Our reading corner is very cozy and the kids enjoy some of the wall art being at their level.

Near the door we hung some framed pictures from the plane ride Josh gave William and Carter over the summer. We also hung the foam crafts from William’s fourth birthday party to keep with the space theme. 

William loves the changed we made. Although they are simple, they really brought the room to his current taste:)

Book of the Night

Hanukkah by Trudi Strain Trueit

This none fiction book covered the history, traditions, and provided great songs and activities to help kiddos enjoy the Hanukkah season.

Happy Hanukkah!

Love,

b

Forth Night of Hannukah 2020

Dear Sis,

William got a good old fashioned metal top I found a Menards. It took him the better part of the day to master it, but he thinks it is great! Much easier than our dreidel:)

Charlotte got a Montessori horizontal dowel, but we quickly discovered she isn’t quite ready for it yet.

Linda, the mother of my best friend, Cindy, dating all the way back to middle school, sent William some holiday stickers. He made this skating scene and decided to mail it to Gran:)

William and I started making cookies during nap time and it took the ENTIRE rest of the day to complete! Plus them had to dry over night. Royal icing is tricky, and I still haven’t practiced enough, so they aren’t perfect… lol.

For anyone else who dreads a messy menorah, I recommend beeswax candles, they are a bit more pricy, but they do drip much less. Also, I finally learned to put one of my silicone baking mats underneath. The wax just flakes off over the trash easily!

Book of the Night

All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah By Emily Jenkins

Based on the All-of-a-Kind Family book series by Sydney Taylor

This book is set at the turn of the century, so a bit of history is mixed into a very relatable family story. William really related to the youngest daughter, who is also four. 

Happy Hanukkah!

Love,

b

Third Night of Hannukah 2020

Dear Sis,

William started our gift opening nice and early again today:)

William got a new train to go with the tracks that our reenacting friend, Joy, sent him over the summer. I found the train at Target.

Charlotte got a self correcting carrot garden puzzle. William enjoys it too! 

Book of the Night

The Eight Knights of Hanukkah by Leslie Kimmelman

This was a very cute fairytale, tailored special just for Hanukkah! William really enjoyed it, and suggested it as a gift for Hanukkah next year:)

Happy Hanukkah!

Love,

b