Dear Sis,
An egg hunt has become an annual event with William’s best friend Carter’s family. This year, we prepared a special brunch and did some crafts first.
Hard Boiled Eggs
Strawberry Bunny Yogurt Parfaits
Bunny Cinnamon Rolls
Turkey Sausage Links
Sliced Strawberries & Bunny Cookies
A large tub of strawberry yogurt makes six parfaits.
Love,
b
Dear Sis,
We are having our Passover seder tonight! We tried something new this year. Matzah Toffee! It’s delicious and will definitely be an annual addition to our celebration.
Happy Passover!
Love,
b
Dear Sis,
We started our celebration yesterday. William took fruit filled pastries to school to share with his classmates and Carter’s family came over to have a festive dinner with us.
I made five-bean soup, toss salad, warmed a loaf of challah I bought from a local international foods market, and roasted a chicken. Mama Jenn brought mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, corn, and green beans. William made a simple and delicious Chocolate Cream Cheese Pie for dessert.
William got a new, larger rolling pin for Purim.
He also got a piggy bank and some change to put in it!
Charlotte, who is pig crazed, got a stuffed pig and a book:
Our festive weekend happened to line up with William’s weekend with the class pet. A stuffed hedgehog, Quilly, was part of all our holiday happenings.
Love,
b
Dear Sis,
Today we had a very full house and a lot of fun!
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!
These winter scenes turned out great! We had kids between 4 and 9, who were all able to make one with pleasing results.
The glycerine:glitter ratio will vary based on the size of your jar. I practiced before book club to get the balance just right.
Free Download: Roll a Snowman Preschool Math Game
Posted on Teachers Pay Teachers by Natural Knowledge
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.
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:)
Warmed Challah
Latkes with Sour Cream and Applesauce
Mashed Potatoes and Borsht
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.
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
Dear Sis,
Today we enjoyed a Thanksgiving themed book club. One of our childhood favorites, Cranberry Thanksgiving, has become a household holiday reading sensation, that now we’ve shared with our friends.
Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin
We found a craft kit at Michaels that contained 6 boy and 6 girl scarecrows. Foam sticker crafts are an affordable kid friendly craft, I oven resort to for parties and book club meetings.
Free Thanksgiving Bingo by Homegrown Learners
We recreated the meal from the book. It included: Turkey, Corn Pudding, Peas, Turnips, (which none in our group had tried before, but many discovered they enjoyed), Cranberry Jelly, Pumpkin Pie, and of course Grandmother’s famous Cranberry Bread. The recipe is in the back of the book. I substituted dry cranberries for fresh, so that it would be more child friendly.
This is the original 1857 lyrics, written by James Lord Pierpont. Although Thanksgiving was not nationalized as a holiday until 1863, it was widely celebrated, and this song was written as part of the festivity of the season.
The moms sang the verses, the kids chimed in for the chorus and manned the bells. We found hand bell straps at Menards for $1.00 each.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
b
Dear Sis,
The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey
Pumpkin Painting & Decorating
Melissa and Doug Monster Bowling
Apple Cider
Cheese, Sausage, Veggie Tray with Ranch Dip in a Pumpkin
Cheeto Bag of Bones
Sugar Cookie Decorating!
We played the Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett while Monster Bowling.
Happy Halloween!
Love,
b
Dear Sis,
We added a lot of holiday family activities this year, since we were all stuck at home:) I used some of Totschooling’s Free Tot & Pre-K Easter Printables and reused many of the ideas from the Preschool Passover Lesson Plan I made last year. I also ordered a children’s Haggadah, so I could share more of the Seder experience with William.
My Very Own Haggadah: A Seder Service for Young Children
by Judyth Groner and Madeline Wilker
I actually did both Seders this year, on the proper nights!
(The leg roast was a bit gamey for our taste. Back to chops next year!)
Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Parsnips & Carrots
Our family puts their own spin on the seder plate. We use boiled colored eggs instead of a roasted one and we use applesauce instead of charoset, for the kids:)
William enjoyed searching for the afikoman! He calls it matzo hide-and-seek:) The prize this year was a Passover themed Trouble game!
We did our egg hunt the day before Easter, so it could be its own highlight, aside from a basket of goodies from mom and dad:)
Love,
b