Moustache day

It's Moustache day at school.  The boy made a moustache to wear to school today.  I forgot to take a photo of it and I don't think it'll survive the day at school.  :(  Oh well.  For lunch, he's just having left-over pasta with zucchini, ham, meatballs, peppers and peas packed into his LunchBot Thermos.  I added in the snap peas to make a moustache...  The boy sampled the icing eyes and didn't like them and he didn't want the food pick eyes, so I had to switch out the eyes with cheese.  I'll probably stick with the food pick eyes next time because I noticed that the cheese eyeballs ended up sticking to the lid when I closed the container.

Carved carrot fishes

Here's the boy's fish themed lunch today.  Lunch includes: a mini ham & cheese sandwich, raisins and grapes, pork jerky, celery and carrot sticks and dip.  He got some popcorn for his recess snack.  On retrospect, I regret not including actual fish in the meal. I'll have to plan it better next time (if there is a next time). :)  On a whim, I wanted to try to carve mini carrots into fishes last night... I made two fishes and went with that theme for today's lunch.  I was going to make more fishes, but it was getting late and I was pretty slow at it.  

First I tried to make a fish completely with one piece.  I didn't really know how to start, so I carved the head and tried to picture where I wanted the fins and gills.  Then I shaped the tail.  After refining it, I added eyes, scales and some vein details in the tail fin.

On the second fish, I kept the shape simple and added slits where I attached the dorsal and pelvic/anal fins.  After I carved in the gills and eyes.  I know they're missing more fins and other details, but it has enough features that they look like fish. :)

Good-bye Summer, Hello Fall

To celebrate the start of autumn, I made a leaf themed lunch for the boy today.  He's having left-over sushi rice with smoked salmon and masago sprinkled on top, ham and cheese leaf sandwiches, celery sticks and a mini strawberry jam tart.  I cheated using pre-made tart shells and soaked some strawberries in with sugar the night before.  All the leaf shapes were cut and pressed using leaf-shaped pie crust cutters I picked up from Michael's.

Sushi lunch day

We're having sushi for lunch today.  I had a timer set for the rice cooker to finish the sushi rice for 7am this morning.  I mixed in a bit of sushi rice vinegar seasoning, and sprinkled in some salmon rice seasoning.  We buy frozen sliced smoked salmon from Costco and thaw it in the fridge overnight.

Our rice rolls include: smoked salmon, cucumber, fake crab meat, masago and mayo.  I just spread out the rice onto some Saran-wrap over our sushi rolling mat, add on the toppings in the middle, roll into a long log, add on pieces of seaweed, re-roll the seaweed on, then cut the log into pieces with scissors.

Their lunches were packed in cute Kokeshi (Kotobuki) bento box sets.  The girl has the Hanako Girl Bento Box  and the boy has a Ninja Boy Bento Box.

I pack it with an ice pack and include a bit of soy sauce for dipping.  The boy also got a bag of grapes for his recess snack.  The girl ate her lunch after preschool then came home and is currently napping. Now I'm enjoying my lunch (also sushi rolls).  After we go pick up the boy from school and drop him off to an outdoor after school activity.

Why I hate biodegradable bags.

Biodegradable bags

When they degrade, you get millions of bits of static clingy plastic.  They stick to everything, and are impossible to pick up without crumpling it into more bits.  I hate it!  Especially when I unknowingly used a couple to store some cards and envelopes into my drawers... now it's everywhere.  Stuck on the side of my bed, all over the carpet, in the drawers, stuck on my papers and cards and envelopes.  It's almost impossible to clean it all.  It can't be good for you to have these bits stuck to your skin or for you to breathe it in.  And how can I get it off my skin?  I have to wash these bits down the drain... and it'll end up in our water system.  The last time I had this problem, I tried vacuuming the bits, but then they ended up stuck in my vacuum.

End of rant.

I was trying to hunt down the boy's school photos from last year to see what he wore (since school photos are tomorrow and I've pulled out a few possible outfits for him to wear - but didn't want him to wear the same thing as last year).  Anyhow, I can't find the photo but I ended up finding the bits of plastic.  It's getting late and I should go to bed.  I just needed to vent first.

If anyone has any tips on how to clean up this mess, please let me know.

Lego Elephants

Wow!  I didn't realize that it's been almost a year since I last built something for fun.  Since the boy is sick at home.  It was a Lego day.  I decided to make an elephant and ended up making 2.

The distinctive feature in elephant 1 is it's realistic trunk.  The arm pieces used in the trunk allow it to swivel up and down nicely.   I couldn't find all the parts I wanted so I had to substitute some pieces in.  Note: the asymmetrical tusks, leg colours and shapes.  I wanted to build it one piece taller, but couldn't find enough grey cylindrical pieces - though I'm sure we have some somewhere...  It's a bit difficult to find pieces since most of them are now dumped into an Ikea bench.

For the second elephant, I started off with a piece I wanted to use for legs.  I inverted that part, then built up from there.  Because the piece is inverted, the studs are on the bottom of the legs.  I improvised attaching pieces on top to connect the legs with the body and head.

Here's a link to my Lego moc page: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/419398

Pac-Man Bento Lunch

I asked the boy what he wanted for lunch this week and he requested Pac-Man.  He's never played it before and I didn't even know that he was aware of the game, but apparently the boy who sits next to him in class likes Pac-Man and so now he likes it too.

For lunch, he's having: a mini Babybel cheese, sandwich, ham, red pepper, cucumber, Corn pops, and ranch dip.  His lunch is packed in a yumbox today since there's nothing that needs to be kept warm.  His recess snack today is a small bag of grapes.

Cardboard car or wagon

If your house is anything like mine... you might have piles of boxes lying around.  One activity we did today was we made a mini cardboard wagon/car.

You need a circular object to trace circles onto scrap pieces of cardboard.  The Amazon.com/Amazon.ca shipping boxes aren't too thick and are easier to cut.  I just traced circles onto the box flaps and used the rest of the box as the wagon.  I cut off the flaps and cut out the circles.  I got my 6 yr old to cut out some of the circles too.  My circles had a 9.5cm diameter, but you can make them any size you want.

The kids decorated the circles (which will become the tires for the car/wagon) and marked the center of each circle.  I poked a hole through the center for them.  After, we line up where we want the tires on the car to go and I use a pencil to poke through the hole on the tire circles to mark the spot on the box.  I poke holes at the marked spots with scissors.

Finally we attach the tires.

I picked up a box of round head paper fasteners from Staples.  These are fun to make clocks, robot arm/leg attachments or if you need to make other moving parts on some sort of creation!  Anyhow, you should have a box of these in your craft drawer!

You just push the fastener through the tire hole and the box hole, then open up the prongs.  I tape down the prongs onto the box.  Then we're done.

I was happy that the wheels do roll across the floor and carpet, but you need to be gentle playing with it.  My 2 yr old kept trying to get into the car and was disappointed when the tires folded over.  I tried to convince her that it was just for toys.  My 6 yr old was more careful with his car.  He didn't mark the center of his tires perfectly so his car is more wobbly.  I guess it just adds character. 

Into the garden - bento lunch

Today I decided to go with a garden theme.   The boy's lunch includes: fried rice, scrambled eggs, snap/sugar peas, ham, grapes, a cup of milk, and a small dipping container with ketchup.  I used the lunch bot thermal container so hopefully the food with keep warm.  I decorated it with a cute bunny food pick, flower and leaf food picks, a flower silicone cup and a couple of baran (food divider) silicone leaves.

I prepared 2-3 cups of rice the night before (because day-old rice is easier to fry and less mushy).  I also diced the following: 2 stalks of celery, a handful of snap peas (maybe 7-10?), 3 slices of ham, 1-2 chinese sausage,  2 green onion.  I fry the celery and snap peas for a few minutes over medium heat.  I add in the chinese sausage and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.  Then I toss in a handful of frozen peas.  I stir in ham and green onions and fry for another minute.  Next I scramble a couple of eggs and mix it with the rice.  Finally, I add in the rice to the frying pan and mix well.  I cover it and let it heat through (maybe another 5 minutes or so), stirring occasionally.  This is one of those dishes that you can just toss in whatever you have on hand - chicken, bbq pork, beef, shrimp, lettuce, carrots, other vegetables, fish egg roe, etc.

In case anyone is curious lunch and bento supplies.  I picked up the Lunch Bot Thermal container from Steveston Village Maternity.  The bunny food pick, flower food picks and leaf baran are from Daiso.  The Wilton flower cup is from Amazon.  The Colibri snack bag.  We're trying out the myColdCup for the milk today to see if it keeps cool.  The Monbento temple sauce cup and leaf pics are from Bento & co.  I use the Rume bag for cutlery from Fenigo.  The Laptop Lunches cutlery I picked up from a local group buy.  And his rubbermaid container for water was from Superstore.

Minecraft creeper bento lunch

First full day back at school.  This is my attempt at a Minecraft-inspired lunch for the boy (grade 1).  Sandwich creepers, yogurt with frozen strawberries, ham and cucumber skewers, and some ranch dip for the cucumbers.  I cut up some nori for the creeper faces.  His recess snack was a bag of grapes and a couple of home-made strawberry fruit roll ups.  I'm unlikely to do this daily, but just thought I'd try to do something special for today.

I packed the lunch in our panino yumbox.  I used long heart food picks for the ham and cucumber skewers.  Pig and pink dot food picks for the ham and green dot food picks for the cucumbers.  The creepers are on my lettuce-shaped silicone cups.  Eye ball food picks in the yogurt monster.  And I added in some minecraft collectible figures for decoration.

I bought my bento and accessories for this lunch from Daiso, Fenigo, and Bento & co.

Homemade Strawberry Fruit Roll Ups

It's been over 5 years since I last attempted to make strawberry fruit roll ups.  In my last go, I had a hand blender and used parchment paper to line a baking sheet.  This time, I've got upgraded kitchen gadgets and a kitchen helper (the boy).

3 cups of strawberries - washed and roughly chopped
3-4 tbsp sugar

I preheated the oven to my lowest temperature (170F).  We pureed the strawberries and sugar in the blender.  Next we poured the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat.  I evened out/spread out the mixture over the baking sheet.  Then I placed it into the oven.  Now we wait... 6-8 hours.

They turned out pretty good - just a bit crispy around the edges.  Four rolls were eaten before I got a chance to take a picture.  I loved how easy it was to peel off the silicone mat!  Now I want to get a second mat so that we can make two batches at a time.

I want to experiment with some different fruits to see what my fruit-picky kid will eat.

Strawberry Banana Skewers drizzled with chocolate

 

My son's picky about fruits... He eats grapes, oranges and the occasional apple.  The only way to get him to have other fruits is blending it in a smoothy... and even then, he'll only drink certain fruit combinations (strawberry, grapes, bananas and blueberries)

I had high hopes for a chocolate drizzled strawberry banana skewer, but it was rejected. :(

It was simple to make and pretty to look at.

- bamboo skewers

- strawberries (one strawberry for each skewer)

- 1-2 bananas

- chocolate chips

I washed some large strawberries and sliced them into 4-6 pieces.  Left the peel on the bananas and sliced them.  I peeled the banana slices as I made each skewer (alternating between strawberry slices and banana slices).

After all the fruit was arranged on the skewers, I put a handful of chocolate chips into a bowl and microwaved at 10-second intervals (stirring in between) until the chocolate started melting.  Once the chocolate melted, I drizzled the chocolate with a spoon over the skewers and let them set.  You can put them on wax/parchment paper, but I just turned over one of our take-out drink holder cartons, poked holes in it and stuck the skewers in the holes so that they could set without touching anything.

I just dipped extra strawberries in the extra chocolate left over and placed them on parchment paper.

After about 8-10 minutes, they were set and ready to eat.

Day 1

It seems I mostly update when DH goes out of town.  This trip he took the boy with him.  They took a taxi to the airport at 4:30am.  The girl went back to sleep at around 5am or so.  I couldn't fall back asleep until closer to 6:30am.  I got up at 8am and heard the girl saying "No Daddy" repeatedly.

I told her I was hungry and she went downstairs first.  Then she came back up saying "Uh oh".  She broke a bead bracelet so I replaced the elastic with embroidery floss and restrung it.  Then she broke a plastic bracelet.  I tried to glue it back together but it didn't work so we tossed it out.  We had toast for breakfast.  Then I let her watch Tingp and Wonderpets while I did the dishes.

11:30am - she's napping now.  I'm debating moving the bookshelves.  I guess I have to figure out something for lunch also.  On my to do list for today: prepping the compost and recycling.  My wishlist includes taking the girl out on a bus ride but it would've been preferable to go out in the morning, booking an appointment to get the car repaired (was hoping to get a couple of quotes before deciding where to go).  I might just nap with the girl instead of getting anything done. :p

I got the recycling ready and the girl woke up and helped me put boxes into the blue bin.  I couldn't find the twine to tie the boxes together... so I hope they won't reject it when they pick up the recycling tomorrow.

For lunch, we raided the fridge for leftovers.  Did the dishes, watered the plants, then went grocery shopping.  Came home and I wanted to nap but the girl didn't want to nap... So we made rice, marinated the pork chops, prepped the mushrooms and broccoli.

While I made dinner, Audrey played on the balcony and let in a fly.  After dinner, I tidied up and we went out to the playground.  We came home, soaked in the tub and got ready for bed.  I didn't end up getting any rearrangements done. :(

A house of germs

I'm tired of being sick.  We've been sick the entire month of May with no signs of improved health.  The boy has been coughing since the end of April.  Then he got the girl sick, she got better but he's still coughing and got another cold.  Then I got sick.  I started getting better, but I never quite got over the first cold and now I'm sick again.  DH is also showing signs of having whatever we have.  I'm worried that the girl will get sick again and I'm also concerned with the boy's prolonged coughing.

We're out of kleenex.

It sucks.

Just had to get it out there.

Time to fight back and get out of this seemingly endless cycle of illness.  We have a strict hand washing policy implemented as part of our infection control management.

4 Doctor visits, 2 antibiotics, 2 inhalers for the boy... I'm hopeful the last prescription will help the boy.

Paper Mâché with kids

Here's a messy activity I did with my 6 year old and 2 year old.  We made paper mache cups.  We still need to paint them and maybe add a coat of glue or something to protect it a little.

What we used:
- 2 cups flour
- 3 cups water
- 2 tsp salt
- 5 disposable plastic cups
- strips of newsprint

We mixed together the flour, water and salt in a big mixing bowl.  Then I poured the mixture into smaller mixing bowls for each kid.  We dipped the strips of newsprint into the bowl, and tried to gently remove the excess before layering the strip onto our plastic cup.  We continued layering on more strips dipped with the paste until we covered the cups several times in different directions.  Then we let our cups dry for 1-2 days before I removed the plastic cup.  I just cut strips of the cup and carefully separated the paper mache from the cup surface.

It's probably easier doing paper ache with a balloon because you can just pop it and remove the balloon, but I didn't happen to have any balloons on hand that afternoon.  You can trim the top edge of the cup or leave it jagged.  We might paint or layer coloured tissue paper with glue/paste to decorate the cups another day.

I have a big water/sand tub table that we worked in and had a mat under that to catch drips that inevitably made their way out of the tub.  It helps to try to smooth out the strips of paper against the cup before layering more strips on top.  You get a stronger cup if there are less air pockets while you're layering the strips.  If you want stronger cups, you can use white glue instead of flour... but with little kids, I prefer sticking with the basics.


Update: Here are the cups we made after painting them and adding a layer of glue on top.

Making Rock Candy

Rock Candy Results:

Rock Candy Day 4 Update:

 

Day 4

After waiting for more than a week... here's the rock candy we made.

I forgot to update yesterday, but the crystallization process is a slow one. So you didn't miss too much.

Rock Candy Day 2 Update:

 

Day 2

I'm not entirely sure that there are any more crystals on the skewers today... but here's the picture (after about 31 hours).

Rock Candy Day 1:

 

Day 1

This attempt looks more promising.  The liquid is transparent and there are sugar crystals forming on the skewers.

Now we wait.

Making Rock Candy

Attempt #1

Our attempt #1 was a dismal failure because I went overboard on the sugar and the entire glass solidified into a chunk of sugar... I had to rinse it out with hot water and scrap the sugar out with a spoon.  I decided to give this experiment another try.

This time I modified the steps slightly and stuck to a 1 cup water: 3 cup sugar ratio.  I'm hopeful we'll get some rock candy in about a week.  I've read that it can take anywhere from 2-7 days.

What we used:

4 bamboo skewers
1 kettle
2 mixing bowls
4 long narrow glasses (I used shot glasses I picked up at value village)
4 hairpins (but if you have clothespin that would probably work better)
Koolaid (optional for colour and flavour)

What we did:

I dipped the bamboo skewers in water then coated them with sugar and set them aside.
I heated water in a kettle and measured out 1 cup of boiled water.
Then I added it to a mixing bowl.
I premeasured out 3 cups of sugar.
My kids took turns adding 1/4 cup of sugar into the water and stirring in the sugar until we used up the sugar.
We added a squirt of liquid Koolaid into 3 of the glasses and left one plain.
I carefully poured the sugar water into each glass.  You can use a funnel if your mixing bowl doesn't have a spout.
Next, I placed a skewer into each glass, raised it slightly so that it didn't touch the bottom of the glass and clipped the skewer (so that the clip rested on top of the glass and held the skewer in place).
Finally, I put the glasses somewhere where it won't get disturbed.

Spaghetti Hot Dog

Not the most healthy lunch idea... but it was quick and fun.  We had spaghetti hot dogs today.  They look a bit like centipedes.  I took out a handful of spaghetti.  We snapped the spaghetti in half and the kids helped poke the spaghetti through the hot dogs.  Then we boiled them in water for about 10-12 minutes.

Leaky Stonz Boots

A rain day calls for some serious puddle splashing.  I suited my daughter up into her Oakiwear rainsuit and put on her Stonz booties then we headed out.  So far our rainsuit has held up wonderfully.  It's her Stonz booties I'm disappointed about.  When we came home, the bottoms of her boots were completely drenched inside and the bottoms of her socks were soaked.  They didn't leak in from the top because the top was tucked into her rainsuit and were dry... The water seems to have seeped in from the bottom.

I peeled off her socks and promptly ordered her something else that I hope is actually waterproof.