Savory Squirrel Bakes

Today is a fun day for reading blogs... you know in the cracks when we're not celebrating a birthday!

I contributed several of my posts to both the Charlotte Mason Carnival of Blogs and the Carnival of Homeschooling, both are up today.  Grab a cuppa something and have a read ;)

Today for Cullen's birthday, Javen's contribution was a special lunch!  See what he made for his brother?!

Savory Squirrel Bakes

For the last couple years the boys have been REALLY into reading the Redwall series.  While this series may be classified as 'twaddle' by CM purists, it certainly isn't dumbed down.  The animal characters all have unique accents and tendencies, for example the rabbits throughout the series are always a favorite, because according to Javen, 'they're hilarious and they've got English accents'.  Uncle Stevie and Aunt Bethany (more fotos here) bought Javen The Redwall Cookbook when they came to visit and he's been begging ever since to cook something from it.  Today was the day.  How much more special of a birthday present could you conceive of on your 11th birthday than a special meal cooked by your 12 year old brother?!  Well, I thought it was pretty special indeed.

It was also kind of an educational experience as well.  Here's how:

• First, he had to make a shopping list (he copied down all the ingredients),
• he helped me translate it to Spanish to take to the market,
• then he had to translate the whole recipe in order to tell Marmee (our house helper) how she could help (peel, grate, etc.) in Spanish,
• he had to follow the recipe... measure, use the timer, etc.
• and he got cooking experience!  

Now, the meal was a little plain and wouldn't have been enough if I hadn't thrown a couple of chicken breasts on the grill... but hey, for a first meal, he did GREAT!!  :)  And I was SO proud of him as the idea was entirely his own... ahhhh.  So perfect.

PS. Be honest, how many from the title actually thought we'd cooked squirrels?! hahahahahah!

How we met Mozart and Carroll

H a P p y  B i R t h D A y ! !

Today is Mozart's birthday (1756-1791). I just happen to have learned somewhat recently to truly appreciate classical kinds of music... (thank you Charlotte Mason and Ambleside Online for teaching us a love for great music!  I'm just sorry that I haven't always listened to this music since early in childhood)

Mozart is on the AO rotation for Composer Study coming up in 2011, and I can't wait!         Here are the selections: (the following information is taken from this page, click here for more links)

2011-2012 TERM 1 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (early classical)
Listening selections for this term:
Eine Kleine Nacht Musik
Requiem [A Vocal work]
Symphony no. 41 in C major (Jupiter)
Sinfonia Concertante
Piano Concerto no. 21 in C major (K.467) Mozart-Archiv has free mp3 downloads of all Mozart's works; the main page is in German and offers eight identical servers, but I can only get 4 and 5 to work.

It's Lewis Carroll's birthday too! He lived from 1832-1898. Our favorite books by him are Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (AOy3). Reading the book was WAY better than watching the Disney film, which is all the exposure I had had previous to AO ;)  This one in particular, Hammy read aloud to the boys a couple of years back.  We had a lot of laughs!  Like at this part:

Which road do I take?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know," Alice answered.

"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter.”

If it hadn't been for homeschooling, we may never have had an intimate acquaintance with either of these two men. I'm so glad that we have. I'm very much loving learning right alongside my kiddos!  Yay, for lifelong learners!

Other Helpful Links:

Composer Study - Our Method

The Mozart Project

Poets.org - Lewis Carroll page

Image borrowed from fromoldbooks.org

Peruvian Birthday Party... cont'd

Saturday, May 20, 2006 - I'm a day late as far as when I thought I'd get to these pictures, and to make things worse, after I checked out the pictures on my camera, I realized I didn't really get any good ones! So, I'll tell you that there were 4 tables just as heavily laden as this one: Click the picture to see some more pictures of this event There was everything from taffy, bubba-licious, chocolate bars, cookies, popcorn, masa-mora (majorly sweet jello/jelly combo), jell-o, lollypops, animal cookies covered in chocolate, nuts, raisins and even meat sticks! Everything was on platters and circulated throughout the afternoon. At 7pm they served a full dinner to all the guests (there were quite a lot there). The party was supposed to start at 3pm. HAH! No one else arrived until 4:30 and then it went until past 8pm (we left at 8). What did everyone do? We sat around and ate! That's all that was on the schedule; that and to listen to very loud music. The kids all disappeared upstairs as the birthday boy had just received a playstation. I could NOT believe how rarely we saw them! Well, this is how they do it. I must say it seems more catered to impressing the adult friends/family more than the kids. It is the tradition of the birthday person to host such things as this. The birthday person always provides a meal for all their guests and well-wishers. Seems a little backwards from what I'm used to. I like the American way of treating the birthday person to have their special day work and worry free! Amy

Monday, May 22, 2006 - Sweet Party

Posted by Dad (66.93.38.148)

This party looks like a job for rollaids. Wow my grandson is getting so big !

Monday, May 22, 2006 - birthdays

Posted by Jimmie (202.101.79.5)

Amy, cool birthday! Glad it was a success. Birthdays are like that here too. The person having the party hosts the whole thing -- ususally a meal at a restaurant. And what I envision as a child's party always ends up with tons of adults. The idea of a children's party just doesn't work here. I'm going to try again this year. We'll see. Amy, please remember me. We're in the midst of moving. So stressful. Appreciate it, sister.

Monday, May 22, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Fiffi (196.2.124.251)

Hi there WoW....... that was some party!!! You are so right............ it is amazing how so many parties are put on, for the sole purpose of impressing the parents!!!!!! Thanks for sharing.....I really enjoy visiting your blog! Bye Fiffi

Peruvian Birthday Party, Part one

Birthday parties in this country are AMAZING... Tons of people, loud music, loads of cake, candy, popcorn, jell-o and MORE. I'll post pictures tomorrow. It is an amazing event. I just HAD to post tonight... but as my husband just got home early... I'll be gladly spending the time I would've spent blogging with him! Yay! So, I'll see you girls around! Amy

Saturday, May 20, 2006 - HI

Posted by SuperAngel (216.241.142.146)

I am just stopping at all my friends blogs. Hope you had a great week! I am having a contest too! Check it out! Take Care! Luv Kryptonite Angel SuperAngel *Rosie-Posie Iris Hardbottle* ~Luthien Alatariel Elanesse~ @M@ND@

Saturday, May 20, 2006 - I forgot

Posted by SuperAngel (216.241.142.146)

I got you from my mom's blog!

So I didn't win the contest...

Well, I didn't win and it has taken me until now to get over it. After wiping up the tears, I think I'll be okay. ...with ever stronger fervor to win the next one! I WILL WIN SOMEDAY!! It is my second son's birthday tomorrow. He'll be seven! Yikes, if he's my second son and he's 7, then how old does that make me?! Oh my. Amy

Thursday, April 13, 2006 - Happy B-day to UR DS #2!

Posted by pajara (71.198.52.216)

Happy B-day to your little man. Yes, why do we have to age when they age? It just dosen't seem fair. My birthday this year I finally noticed a speckling of gray hairs, along with that my face is looking old. When did this happen! I've decided to not act my age and hold on to my youth, but unfortunately it dosen't stop the clock from ticking away. Happy B-day to your not so little guy!

Thursday, April 13, 2006 - Happy Birthday Cullen

Posted by Anonymous (66.93.38.148)

Papa Doug thinks you are just about the coolest 7 year old I have ever known. Don't worry. You will be 10 soon enough ! Love you !