Preschool pomp and circumstance

Yea Earth!

Yep, this proves I'm not artistic at all! But I can bake a dang sugar cookie.

Hen, Gideon, Elliot, and Emory - the four amigos.

Dinner! Cobb salad, roasted lamb, beet salad, and barley with squash and bell pepper. Yum.

Petey the Parakeet

Petey is the second class critter to visit the condo. Man, did we ever have fun with that guy. We visited OMSI, where we learned that Petey can indeed fly, we perused the stacks at Powell's, and took home a couple of really cool picture books, we checked out Mill Ends Park, the smallest park in the entire world, and Petey visited the dinosaur council late one night.

Newtown

When I learned about the Newtown shooting earlier this morning, the media was reporting 18 children dead. This is the same number of children in Hen's preschool class. It's hard to wrap your brain around that.

This evening our preschool had its holiday party. Many were on the fence about going, many weren't sure if a festive night could overcome such a heart wrenching and sobering day. Many of us were surprised by how therapeutic it was to gather and celebrate with each other.

Dino chocolates

Keeping with our some-things-homemade Christmas theme, Hen and I decided to make dino chocolates with candy cane bits for his friends at preschool. Hen is a superstar when it comes to smashing candy canes. He's thinking of starting a business. You can contact him directly with all your candy-candy smashing opportunities and to get a quote for services.

Step one - smash candy canes

Step two - add smashed candy cane bits to the dino chocolates

Step three - enjoy a candy cane

Step four - remove chocolate from fridge when hardened and pop out of mold

Shelby the Turtle, day one

Hen is caring for a classroom pet this weekend. Yesterday, Shelby the Turtle accompanied us to the grocery store and the library before we returned home and watched about a half an hour of Home Alone before bedtime. Of course, there were pictures...

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Field trip: Pumpkin Patch

No one can say I don't have enough pictures of my kid.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Show-and-tell: A

Hen's preschool has show-and-tell each week and each week has a specific letter the teacher would like kids to focus on. We're on a mission to find crazy things to bring in to fit each letter. For the first week, there were a couple apples, an aunt, a sister named Alice, a few aprons and airplanes, an astronaut, and Hen's ankylosaurus.

School lunches: Jelly pinwheels

First, another mom at the school introduced me to sunflower butter. It is very close to peanut butter but without the death-producing anaphylaxis. I made a mistake by asking Hen if he wanted to try it beforehand - I'm fairly certain had I just subbed it in, there wouldn't have been a problem - but since he said he didn't want it, I didn't add it to his sandwich. Hen loves pinwheel sandwiches. They are the more artistic pb&j (or just j or sb&j). Vegetables and fruits included in this meal: a spinach, cucumber, and raspberries salad and hominy. Tasty, tasty hominy.

I was run-ning

School lunches: Honey and soy salmon

I thought the soy and honey marinated salmon was really good. Alas, Hen wasn't a huge fan. He ate it but only begrudgingly. When I asked if he would eat the salmon without the sauce, he said yes. So, next time it'll just be plain salmon. Today's vegetable was spinach salad with pine nuts and olive oil. Today's fruit, a pear that we got at Kiyokawa Family Orchards when we went apple picking. I also made Mark Bittman's cheese straws. (The recipe I used in his book didn't include parmesan but I think I'll add that next time. Hen loves parmesan.)

School lunches: Pasta with pesto!

Hen had dinner while out with his papa last night so I got to use our pasta with pesto leftovers for his lunch today. Today's vegetables include spinach, cauliflower, and carrots. Today's fruit, gala apple that Hen picked himself. And the treat he forgot to eat, Lindt chocolate ball.

Coming later this week: Honey and soy salmon skewers.

Sixty-second Wordless Wednesday requires a preschool photo, senior year

School lunches: Finger-picking chicken balls

Hen will try these tomorrow in his premiere (pre)school lunch so the real review will have to be posted later. I, as mere mama and lowly chef, think they are fabulous. Since Hen isn't a fan of big onion flavor, I would probably use way less onion then the recipe called for. (It suggested one whole onion, I used a little over a quarter and next time I'll use an eighth.) But they were super easy to make, easy to fry up, and there are leftovers that can be frozen or used for dinner tomorrow night. Woot! Ingredients include: apple, skinless and boneless chicken breast, onion, parsley, thyme (optional, I omitted it this time), white bread crumbs, chicken bouillon, salt and pepper, and flour for coating.

The goal is to try one to two new recipes a week for lunches. The nut concerns were put to rest when the teacher established a nut-free table during lunch time. That being said I'll do my best to fill Hen's lunchbox with nut-free offerings until he starts to make a big stink about wanting plain old pb&j. (There's always the possibility this won't happen so we could go the whole year without entering the building with any nuts.)

The rest of the contents in Hen's lunch are cucumbers, carrots, black grapes, white cheddar (cut in the shape of fish), and homemade pumpkin bread (not pictured as it just came out of the oven). Next up, "luscious lunch on a stick". There's no real cooking for that recipe so it probably won't be featured on the blog. But if I'm bored, it might be. You never can tell what I'll throw on this thing.

School lunches: Homemade ramen noodles

With Hen's official school lunches about to start in a couple weeks and a possible nut ban to boot, I have to come up with more creative lunch ideas. Enter Annabel Karmel's Lunch Boxes and Snacks. Homemade ramen noodles is super easy to make. The recipe says 6oz is 2 servings but this produced way more than Hen could eat on his own in two days. We will all have it for dinner tonight and there will still be leftovers. I forgot to cook the chicken so it wasn't added, which would only slightly alter the flavor and shouldn't cause too much fuss. Hen does like his protein. But I purposefully left out the scallions as Hen isn't a huge fan of onions. The ingredients include noodles, corn, peas, soy sauce, cornstarch, chicken broth. We stopped at an Asian market to grab the noodles, although in a pinch, I'm sure a pasta like vermicelli would suffice. Next up, chicken finger balls.

Nut ban at school

Good or bad? Discuss.

Preschooler fashion review

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

School picture numero uno

Boy outfit #19 Picture Day

Hen's school picture almost didn't happen, twice. First, he balked at having his individual picture taken. He was finally lured into sitting for it after I told him I'd read him a book once he was done. Second, when the entire class went outside and Hen proceeded to fight his teacher as they lined up for the shot. When she turned to me and said she thought Hen might not be able to be in the picture, that was fine by me. I don't let him hit me and I don't expect her to put up with that, either. So, I calmly said to Hen I was sorry he had made that choice because I was going to have to take away the LEGOs. After I asked him if he'd like to change his decision, he quickly got in line, and I swear his voice was one of the loudest when it came time to yell "cheese!" I hope he learns sometime soon that if he just does what he's asked it'll take two seconds versus the five to ten to fifteen minutes it can take if he tries to get his way. I mean, really, it's not like this kid has never seen the front of a camera before. Oy vey.

Also, I was a bit overwhelmed by what to put the kid in for his first official (pre)school photo. At least I was until Rachele wrote "what says 'Hen' to you" as a response to my Facebook status update concerning his picture attire. So, we went shopping, and wouldn't you know it there was an octopus shirt at Hanna Andersson and it totally said "Henry" to me.

Shopping guide info:
1. pants - Catimini, purchased on ebay.com
2. shirt - Hanna Andersoon, purchased at Hanna Andersson
3. superhero mask (not worn for official picture) - purchased at Thinker Toys

Auction preschool

I spent too much. But I got some super cool art (again! and for much cheaper than this guy), two gift certificates to Baker & Spice and Sweet Wares (for a third less than the value, which means Hen and I will be able to have lunch out a few times and buy goods to make more baked goods), a Seattle getaway package that includes tickets to the Seattle Aquarium (woot!), Experience Music Project (huh?), the Woodland Park Zoo (sweet!), and two gift certificates for food at Tutta Bella (pizza - score!) and Capital Grille. Oh, and I won the live auction item I wanted so the family will be able to spend a nice long weekend at the beach during the summer. I'm going to email my friend to book that mini-vacation right away, being mindful of when the Timbers are playing, of course.

It sort of sucked as Darr ended up staying home because he's sick. And he was not overjoyed at my going over the budget but, but, but...it's for the children! Okay, so that probably won't get me anywhere but the heat of the moment did get the best of me and for that I apologize. As penance for my misstep, I will not buy any more Legos for myself this year, AND, because that is not enough, I will not buy any more Legos for Henry, either, (excepting Easter, Hen's birthday, and Christmas).

Amber won my Dessert of the Month live auction item so I am now her personal baker. What say you, Amber? Shall we start with pots de crème or key lime pie?

And because I can, here's a pic of Hen's growing art wall. This does not include the surf boy art we bought before the little man was born. It does, however, include Marlin, the My Robot art I bought from Etsy artist extraordinaire, Fall Down Tree, a fantastically fabulous custom whale by famed Seattle muralist, Ryan Henry Ward (thanks Rick and Anya and Mila and Nica!), and now, three chicks in a piece called I Want to Play by Shauneen Field. Whoops, I almost forgot the framed art done by Henry Finn in the mix. It's one of seven things he's painted since birth. I'm very pleased with this selection. It is refreshingly nontraditional yet I am thinking it is high time I introduce some green into the mix.