Yellow Wallpaper

Egypt: We had a lot of fun with Egypt. The kids colored the flag and we used this page to make some paper pyramids. We also read a few informational books about the country as well as this picture book (which I highly recommend). For dinner we had koshari (I used a cookbook from the library, but this recipe is similar). The adults liked it better than the kids, but they were happy to eat the olives, hummus, and pita that we got to go with it. El Salvador: We colored the flag, read some books, and ate pupusas for dinner. We all really liked the pupusas and I think I'll add them to our regular routine. This week S-Boogie and I had an interesting discussion about poverty, since the book we checked out about El Salvador didn't shy away from discussing the fact that many people are quite poor there. She noticed that their houses were much smaller and they had fewer things than we do. Ethiopia: I was excited to talk about Ethiopia because I didn't know very much about it. We...

I'm writing these posts because I've had a few friends ask me for meatless recipe ideas lately. Freezer meals are good because they eliminate preparation time, but they still need time to cook and require advance planning to make sure they are thawed in time. I thought I'd write up a few of the quick meals that we have on hand for days when I'm busy or when I don't really feel like cooking. Eggs Eggs are a wonderful, cheap source of protein that are easy to cook. If you aren't eating a lot of meat or other saturated fats, having eggs one or two times a week is usually not a health issue either. Eggs are a great food for little kids too. You can also replace some of the whole eggs with egg whites in order to make your recipes even healthier. Fried or scrambled eggs with toast are a great, simple dinner. Sometimes we will make omelettes , which are fun for kids because they can choose what they want to have inside (cheese, green onion, mushrooms, peppers, olives, ...

I've seen this on a few other blogs and thought I'd copy; here are ten positive things from today (and I decided to include yesterday too). -Yesterday afternoon S-Boogie had a friend come over to play, and they actually cleaned up the toys when they were done without any prompting from me. -For dinner last night I tried a yummy new recipe for a breakfast casserole that we're going to make again on Sunday morning for the brunch after P.Bibby's blessing. -Last night we went to the library for Family Home Evening; it's one of my favorite places to go as a family and it's so fun to see the kids get so excited for books. Little Dude surprised us by reading the title of a book-- Farmer Duck --that he had never seen before. He is learning a lot of sight words and really interested in spelling lately. -We had ice cream cones for a treat; I love ice cream and putting it on a cone is a great way to control portions! -Mr. Fob and I checked out the movie Mean Girls and wa...

Back before I had Little Dude I went to Costco and bought five pounds of ground beef to turn into freezer meals. They were tasty meals, but after his birth I discovered that my body really needs more fiber. During the last few years our family has transitioned away from eating meat so often (now it's probably about once or twice a week at most). With this recent baby I wanted to have some meals in the freezer but didn't want them to involve meat. Thankfully many of my regular recipes have worked well in the freezer and it has been great to be able to have some easy dinners on hand. I just thought I'd share a few of my recipes. I did try one for a veggie lasagna with white sauce, but it wasn't that great and I think that it would be just as easy and cost-effective to buy the Stouffers one next time. In addition to casseroles, I also made a few batches of spaghetti sauce and froze them. Plain cooked beans and chili are also two other meatless meal ideas that freeze well. ...

I know I haven't posted for a week, but I've spent much more time reading things than writing them lately. I have a baby who won't sleep anywhere except in someone's arms. Not in the swing, not in the bed. Nope. She has had a few good days, like yesterday she was really mellow and even took a two hour nap in her bed ( yay !), but most days involve a lot of juggling the baby. Thankfully Mr. Fob can sometimes take her down to hang out with him in his office. We're both ready for her to get a little bigger and get better daytime sleep. Yesterday afternoon I did escape for a while and did some shopping. I tried to buy some clothes at Savers and ended up buying another pair of maternity pants. According to the scale I have lost all the weight from the pregnancy. But, my tummy is still poochy and the area around my incision is fairly tender as well. I put on jeans the other day but after an hour started feeling sore and changed into sweat pants. My plan at Savers was to...

I hesitate to declare ourselves 'back to normal', because life is far from normal or routine around here. It won't be for a while and I'm generally all right with that. But, like the warmer weather that keeps popping up now and then, we've had a few nice days. Saturday and Sunday were quite good. Saturday morning Mr. Fob took the kids to run errands with him, and then after lunch we all went to the library together. We even took P. Bibby, wrapped up in her special wrap. By the time we were done I was feeling a bit sore (Mr. Fob was wearing the baby, but I still got sore from all the walking around), but it was still nice to get out of the house like a normal person. Saturday afternoon Mr. Fob worked in the garage on refinishing the crib while the kids played outside (and I sat on the couch inside reading and nursing). One of our neighbors noticed Mr. Fob sanding and brought over his power sander. It really made the job much easier and faster. That night we had some...

Today is P. Bibby's one-month birthday. We've all managed to survive with our health and sanity mostly intact. Things have been made easier by two factors: we've surrendered to the needs of the baby quite a lot more this time (like letting her sleep in our bed) and we know this is the last time we ever have to do this. I love my children, but the first few months of life are not my favorite ones. I'm also immensely grateful for the fact that I'm not in school right now and that Mr. Fob has a good job done entirely from home. My body is still recovering and I hope that by the end of the month I'll be back to my usual self. While I've enjoyed this month of being homebound , I'm starting to feel a bit of cabin fever and can't wait to get back to more of my usual routine. So far P. Bibby has mostly been pretty mellow. She tends to get fussy every night around bedtime, but the majority of nights have been peaceful once we get past the initial fussiness an...