Scotland & Ireland Fall 2016

NASA Rocks!!

NASA-2I’ve got the gallery up, Kit’s setting up the video today of the entire trip (with slideshow, video clips, etc.) On our blog are more details about our day at NASA and pictures stories galore. The kids keep coming up to me and saying, “That was so awesome, Mom. I can’t believe we did that.”

In one day we managed to cram in so much science that wasn’t just theoretical but hands on and I know this has truly been life altering for our kids. Our three year old is walking around saying she’s an astronaut and the seven year old says, “Then you better bounce more because you’ll have less gravity!” Truly – this was a once in a lifetime experience they will never, ever forget. (Me, neither. Lots of happy tears this day.)

Space!

The kids decided to fundraise for their hoped for wish list trips and we ended up on the front page of the paper! It’s been wonderful to see the response and the kids entirely sold out of truffles they sold for Valentine’s Day (even the ugly ones that didn’t pass quality control.)

We’ve also been contacted by people with great suggestions and tips and offers to help make the wish list come true. (Here is the wish list.) The kids hoped to see NASA someday and we were contacted by someone who works there! We’re waiting for approval and clearance and coordinating and such but this may mean we get to go see the space center soon (before I go back on call for my next little doula baby arrival.)

In the meantime the kids are reading all our books about space and watching videos about planets and it’s been a fantastic unit study.

While there we’ll spend a little bit of time on the coast, hopefully ride a ferry, eat some shrimp, and check out the Children’s Museum of Houston if we have time. Oh, and on our way coming or go we plan to hit a chocolate factory, another item on our wish list. 🙂

This is the kids’ favorite book about space thus far, and it’s great for a wide variety of ages from our 3 year old up through our 12 year old. I really like it – Earth and Space

Garden from KDB

We received a garden kit from Keep Denton Beautiful which is also who sponsors the tree giveaway and hosted our homeschool field trip!

The plants came from Dennis’ Farm Store which is already our favorite spot for getting seedlings for our fruits, veggies & herbs.

Today we planted! We decided on cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, and some sugar snap peas in another container.

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Our oldest had a late night and long day and was rather worn out by the time we planted.

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Cooking, Nutrition & Getting Kids to Eat Healthy

We’ve been asked several times recently how we get our kids to eat salads. It was not easy! But it’s now been a couple years and our kids will consistently (all six!) eat salads, ask for salads, & make their own salad creations. They get quite elaborate!

We went meat-free five years ago (and I went vegan, as I was nursing a dairy & egg allergic baby.) We knew that it would be crucial for our kids to have a diverse diet if we were going vegetarian. It took some menu shifting and some adjustment on all our parts but I went from frustrated meal time battles to being THRILLED at how fantastic our kids are with eating a variety of foods. If we could do it (there use to be tears at least weekly at our dinner table) then I know you can, too!

First, get your kids involved in the kitchen. Even our two year old helps put away dishes. Though you will need to supervise closely – our helpful little ones also put the groceries away, including the lettuce in the cupboard. And lower your standards – they won’t mop as well as you, and doing dishes will involve way too much soap, bubbles, splashing, and potential floor flooding. But they are enthusiastic at a young age to help so maximize on that excitement before they get older and decide chores are no fun!

Second, get your kids involved in shopping and meal planning! Let them pick the menu one day (anything goes, but it must have at least three food groups.) Have them write up the shopping list for that meal, take them along to look at prices and brands and talk about marketing and shopping the perimeter of the store. There are so many lessons for life in cooking and menu planning and shopping: nutrition, healthy foods vs. “sometimes” foods, budgeting, etc.

Third, get your kids involved in cooking. Buy some kid sized utensils, bowls, even knives. While you may hover anxiously and bite your tongue a lot, little ones CAN cook and be taught safety skills. Also get kid sized clean up – aprons, broom & dustpan, etc.

All of those things combined increases the chances that when those healthy and beautiful foods make it to your dining table your children are going to be excited to try what THEY helped plan, shop for, and create. (Gardening is a whole other fun level of involvement for another post!)

Our deal was when introducing salads we did it almost EVERY night. We picked kid friendly and colorful foods, spread them all out (after the kids helped wash and prep them) and told the kids go at it! By allowing them to explore the foods with no pressure they were able to try (and sometimes reject) the foods. But after awhile they sometimes tried again – and again, and again. And previously rejected foods became favorites! Our most “selective” (we try to not use labels like “picky”) eater just this morning asked if we could go buy some asparagus for dinner! Our six year old asks for artichokes and olives, our two year old asks for her favorite lettuce, our eight year old routinely asks after dinner if he can have another salad! Believe me, I would NEVER have imagined this was possible! It feels HUGE!

Some kid friendly menu ideas:

– baby spinach (they dip it in salad dressing)
– butter leaf lettuce
– romaine (they make salad “boats”)
– sweet peppers: red, yellow, orange, green
– carrots: waffle, grated, baby, etc
– cucumbers (our kids love them salted, peppered, with parmesan cheese)
– tomatoes: cherry, grape, or roma are great for kids
– sunflower seeds (ours prefer honey roasted, of course!)
– croutons
– craisins or raisins
– chopped boiled egg
– chunks of cheese
– sugar snap peas
– slivered almonds
– candied pecans
– diced apples
– salad dressings: honey mustard, ranch, balsamic vinaigrette, and cesar are our kids’ favorites

I hope that helps get you excited about trying salads and getting your kids involved in the kitchen!

Science That Sticks

We found a fun science book when visiting my parents, and it includes a few simple tools for experiments. I didn’t know how much the kids were actually absorbing, but J (the four year old) just gave me a summary of one lesson:

“When there is lots of light our pimples are small, but when it’s dark our pimples are BIG!”

It took me a second to realize he was telling me about our pupils. 🙂

Birds & the Bees

(Why is the sex talk referred to as the birds & bees? Anyone know?)

I’m in the kitchen cleaning as the kids eat an afternoon snack and this is the conversation I’m overhearing:

9 year old to 4 year old, “Then we got on this giant slide and road down into mom’s belly! I mean her uterus.”

6 year old interjecting, “But dad’s sperm is really important, too! It’s important because it brings us to life and it connects with the egg.”

I did clarify there is no slide involved as far as I’m aware, but I can’t really dispute the existence of a slide. Maybe that is how little spirits come join their bodies. 🙂 Good reminder to review our sex talk with those who have gotten it and answer questions from those who haven’t gotten the full talk.