Because Papa’s birthday means {healthier} peanut butter pie cookies, obviously.
Author: Jen
Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons: A Sewing Activity
Something I’ve wanted to start doing with Gracen for a long time now is fun hands-on activities based on our very favourite books. We looove reading and because we have a limited book collection and limited access to outside libraries here in Kuwait, our favourites get read over and over and over again. What I’m saying is – getting a little more out of them with a corresponding activity is a very good thing {and would be even if we had a huge home library}.
So What Are You Then?
Tonight after dinner….
Gracen: Mama, you’re not a character, right?
Me: Nope. You’re right. I’m not a character.
Gracen: So what are you then? You’re a mama – of course…. And you’re a human. Oh, and a sister! And a teacher. {long pause} Woah. That’s a lot of things to be.
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Tutus & Fairy Wings
This girl is officially obsessed with all things Nala {and The Lion King in general}. Where we go, Nala goes. What Grae does, Nala does. And what Grae wears, Nala wears too, apparently. Today they came out of her room both dressed in tutus and wings – hah!
iPhoneography // Friday Family Day
This week’s been sort of rough. Miss G’s been extra needy and I’ve been staying up extra late in order to finish up a big project I’ve been working on. Needless to say, the tired mama / whiny 3 year old is not the best of combinations. We made it through the week and my hope was that the weekend would serve as a reset.
Luckily, so far so good {thank goodness}.
Our morning started with Gracen experimenting with drinking water like a lion – something she’s been asking to do for days. {Have I mentioned that she is totally Lion King obsessed?! Oy. It’s out.of.control.} When I asked if she was ready to go to the Hilton, her response was, ‘Yup, Queen Sarabi. I just have to finish drinking my pond water.’ The girl didn’t skip a beat. The bulk of our morning was spent split between swimming in a waterfront pool and playing on the beach of the Arabian Gulf, which was lovely. Then, after coming home for lunch and a nap, we met some friends down in the courtyard and gave the concrete a little makeover using squeeze bottles filled with our favourite sidewalk chalk paint recipe. Later in the evening, our very good friends dropped off a very unnecessary thank you gift – Ladurée macarons and special homemade, wholewheat, sugar-free cookies for Miss G {sweetest thing ever}.
As far as days go, I’d say this is pretty much as good as it gets. And the best part? Gracen is back to her happy little self. Ahhhh…
Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes
You know what I miss? Spending time cooking and baking with Miss G. Don’t get me wrong… We do still spend some time in the kitchen together, but definitely not as much as we used to. Back home in Canada we probably did a cooking or baking project once a day. So what’s changed? Well firstly, here in Kuwait, I tutor several afternoons/evenings a week which means dinner prep is often done while Miss G rests after lunch, but mostly, our kitchen here just isn’t very inviting. And when your kitchen is a dark converted bedroom way on the far end of the apartment, spending a lot of time in it just isn’t that high on the priority list. That being said, I’d really like to get back into it. Time to suck it up. Grae loves cooking, I love cooking, and with the weather getting hotter (it’s currently 38 degrees), spending a little more time indoors is starting to become a necessity.
Do You Think That Really Makes Sense?
Gracen: Mama, what are you doing with my hair today?
Mama: Oh, I was just doing a quick French braid. Is that okay?
Gracen: But Mama, do you think that really makes sense? Because we’re not in France and we’re not speaking French.
iPhoneography // Spider Activities
Today at Bright Minds we focused on spiders. Our key concepts included the fact that spiders are not insects {they eat often eat insects}, spiders have 8 legs, spiders spin webs of silk, and those webs help them to catch food. We started the class with a really fun activity where we passed a huge ball of white wool back and forth across a circle, unraveling it and having the kids hold onto the yarn tightly as we went. The result was a giant collaborative spider web that I then flew giant insect figurines through in order to illustrate how spiders collect their food.
Afterwards, we created our own spider webs using hole-punched paper plates and yarn, and then made handprint spiders like we do each year at Halloween to attach them. {This is Grae’s spider and she is a girl, fyi.}
Just for Fun: Easter Over the Years….
Because I just can’t help myself… Her first Easter took place in Kuwait, in 2012 and 2013 we were back at home in Canada, and now here she is in 2014 sitting back in the very same apartment in Kuwait. Funny how things turn out sometimes…
Happy Easter from Kuwait!
Our Easter {2014}
Today was such a good day.
Would we like to be at home with our families for Easter? Yes, absolutely. But that’s not our reality right now and we’re so lucky to have a community here in desert that helps make holidays and celebrations feel special like they would at home, especially for Grae.
The Very Huggest
This girl has not gone a single place without her Nala since we bought her in Paris. Tonight I said, ‘You sure do love Nala, don’t you?’ Her response?
‘I love her SOOOOO much. She’s just the VERY HUGGEST.’
{Also known as the most huggable. Hah!}
iPhoneography // Butterfly Activities
Though we won’t be able to raise butterflies this spring, we did get to learn all about them today in our butterfly-themed crafting class at Bright Minds. We kept things pretty simple since the class is for 2 and 3 year olds and focused on the four main stages of the butterfly’s life cycle, the parts of the butterfly’s body, and the fact that butterflies are insects. Here are the projects Grae worked on…
The 4 stages of the butterfly’s life cycle in pasta…
Striped Egg Art {Using Washi Tape}
Gracen is all about ‘decorating’ for upcoming holidays, which in our house normally means switching out the wreath on our apartment door, changing up the garland that hangs above the large couch in our living room, and maybe adding a few pieces of artwork to the wall above our creative space. So with Easter not too far away, new decorations are needed asap. Our first project, this striped egg art, is very similar to our paper strip handprint art and is very easy while beautiful at the same time.
Healthier Easter Treats: Dark Chocolate Dipped Rice Crispy Eggs
It’s hard to believe that it’s already almost Easter… {Ummmm, wasn’t it January just a couple of days ago?! I’m certain it was.} Either way, it’s about time Miss G and I get busy with some Easter fun, and we decided we’d start with baking up something delicious in the kitchen along with our friends from Hillary with two Ls {please} and Little Miss Mama. As usual, we started with a totally non-healthy recipe {this one for Rice Krispie Treat Speckled Eggs} and then worked our magic on it to make it sugar-free and more whole foods based. While we concocted a delicious healthier version of rice crispy treats over a year ago {and even formed them into rice crispy treat eggs last Easter}, this time I wanted to try something new.