From My Kitchen

Pizza braids.  I had something like this in my mind to make, so I Googled for recipes.  I read through several recipes and blog posts and then combined them all and came up with these.  They were yummy!

Spiced apple parsnip muffins.  I watched a Good Eats episode recently where Alton Brown made parsnip muffins.  I thought they looked interesting, so I looked up his recipe. I didn't end up using his recipe because it included nuts (I was making some for Audrey) and because the ingredients were measured by weight, which is a pain.  So once again I turned to Google.  I modified this recipe, omitting the raisins and nuts.  They turned out yummy, and Sierra loves them.

Teaching Time

We took a week off for winter break recently, but we've been back at work full force since then.

Here's a creation Caleb made with the pattern blocks.

Our theme last week was strawberries.  Here are the girls chopping up strawberries to make muffins.

Caleb writing a book report

And calling Molly for some help on his piano theory

Making a "model" (I use that word loosely) of one of Columbus's ships

Alexa playing a phonics game

Sierra Can See!

About six months ago, I took Sierra to the eye doctor at the recommendation of her neurosurgeon.  He wanted to make sure that the extra fluid in her brain was not causing pressure and damaging the backs of her eyes.  The health of her eyes looked good, but the eye doctor said that she was very farsighted.  I was supposed to bring her back in six months and also pay attention to make sure her eyes weren't crossing.  So, I took her to the eye doctor (actually a different one because our insurance has changed) a couple of weeks ago.  The health of her eyes is still good.  But the doctor said it was time for glasses.  Her eyes are very farsighted and also very different prescriptions from each other.  He said that if she didn't get glasses, the bad eye might quit trying to focus and become lazy.  He also said that at her age her prescription will likely change every several months, so she goes back in June for a follow up.

It is very obvious that she can see so much better with her glasses.  She keeps picking up things, looking at things, and crawling towards small objects.  She's done pretty well with keeping the glasses on as well.  I've been surprised at how easy the transition has been.  And isn't she cute?

Buddies

We babysat for Audrey one day last week, and it was so cute watching her and Sierra interact.

Smile

What are these?

Let's see.

I can hide behind them.

I'll take that one, thanks.

Want one?

Okay, I'll just throw it then.

I'm leaving.

What else can we get into?

My Four Small Valentines

We (which really means me, but I signed Dave's name, too) got the kids each a book and some candy for Valentine's Day.  I think they liked them!

Then we had a heart shaped pizza and some popcorn and other goodies.

And we ate dinner while watching a movie.

Valentine's Day Party

We hosted our annual Valentine's Day Party last week.  Even the white board was ready for Valentine's Day.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so we made homemade Valentines this year.  Caleb's were super heroes, and Alexa's were bubbles.

Jordanna's flowers, and Sierra's picture cards.

A cute Valentine!

Passing out cards.

Later on we had lunch, but I was too busy feeding a bunch of small people to take pictures.  I made ham sandwiches cut into heart shapes and cookies with Valentine's sprinkles.

Sierra Cuteness