Aaron Wanted Hamburgers

So we busted out the grill, and had the first backyard BBQ of the season. In March.Ha! It was 75 degrees though, so why not?

And of course we followed up with some mallows. Check out Miss Personality over here:

 Happy Friday!!!

Night. Mare.

What if every time you left the house you had to haul five kids (ages 7 and under), a stroller, and yourself over a 15 foot trench and then walk a block to your car? You probably wouldn't leave your house much, right? Unless you had to take your daughter to preschool, or your sons to their theater class, or piano lessons, or doctor's appointments, or go to the grocery store, or any of the other myriad reasons people leave their houses during the day.

Welcome to my world for the last week. Grrrrr....

Frustrating doesn't even BEGIN to describe it. I seriously want to throttle something.

Good-bye sidewalk. Goodbye parkstrip. Goodbye grass. Goodbye trees. Goodbye mailbox. Goodbye sprinkler system. Goodbye driveway.

The city is supposed to put it all back when they're done. But it will be on their own time-table and as the city budget allows.

Sometimes, they fill in a dirt driveway and a dirt walk way for me. But other days, they don't. Leaving me wondering if I or one of my children will fall into a precipice (think of that word being said in your best Jim Carrey voice please).

My kids love it though. They think the tractors are more magical than TV.

We Are The Champions!!

I've been playing on a city-league women's volleyball team with some ladies from my stake. I love it! It's so fun, and feels so good to get out and play hard and come home tired and content.

We've been in tournament play the last couple of weeks. We were knocked into the loser's bracket, by a team we've beaten before, because we had a really off night. So we've been battling our way back to the top.

And tonight we found ourselves in the championship game against the team that sent us to the losers bracket. We had to beat them twice in a row, because they hadn't lost yet.

We played awesome! The first game was pretty close, but we did beat them in 2. The second game we clobbered them 25-8 in the first set, and then 25-22 in the second set.

We got championship t-shirts and everything! And check out are funny ref photo bombing us in the background. Love it!

Yay volleyball. I'm sad the season is over so soon. It's been a really nice physical outlet for me. Until next year!

Little Bear Books

Do you have memories of being read to? I do...some of my favorite books are attached to voices of people I love, and wonderful memories. I can hear The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in my dad's voice. Heidi in my mom's. The Island of the Blue Dolphin's is Grandma Lemmon. And Just So Stories my Aunt Charlotte.

Then I became a mom, and now I do most of the reading. I wonder if my kids will think of me every time they read Little House on the Prairie, or Mouse and the Motorcycle. I hope so.

I did have a flash back of sorts the other day though. Ivan was doing his reading lessons, and as part of that was reading out loud to me one of the Little Bear stories while I fed and rocked Rue. His voice was soft, and he's just about the same age I imagine Little Bear to be. I closed my eyes and rocked and listened. It was one of those perfect moments. And I hope that as long as I live, whenever I think about Little Bear books, I can hear them being read to me in Ivan's 6-year-old voice.

Rue-ba-licious

Baby Rue is getting so big. My fat baby, I call her, actually. :) She's wearing size 9 month clothes. Almost 4 months old, and she still has her hair! We get all sorts of comments on it where ever we go. I should probably call her Ace, because she's sort of stylin' like Ace Ventura by the end of the day. 

Good news: She finally likes her baths. She kicks and plays and splashes, and talks to herself while she does it. It's a hoot.

 Bad news: She thinks she wants to roll over. Watch out world, this kid wants to be on the move. I guess I can't leave her alone on the bed or the couch anymore. She hasn't rolled yet, but every time I lay her on the blanket she turns to her side, so it's only a matter of time.

In other news: She still hates her car seat. She still gets up about twice at night. And I am still nursing her (and hating every minute of it).But, I love this roly-poly and wouldn't trade her for the world.

Homeschool Showcase: Wax Museum

The Wax Museum is my favorite Showcase that we do each year. I love seeing what the kids come up with and the different ways they choose to present. It's fun.

This year, Lincoln, Ivan and Adelia decided to go as Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea. (They may or may not have been highly encouraged by me to do something that went together, so we only had to squeeze in the time to learn about 1 subject matter and make 1 poster, instead of 3. It just makes life that much easier to have them doing the same thing right now, judge if you must.)

 The kids and I read these two books from my new favorite series, in preparation for the Wax Museum. We also listened to a Jim Weiss CD titled "Gone West" which talks about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. We also read a few different picture books that we found at the library.

I think the kids' favorite part was coming up with costumes. I admit I ordered Adelia's off of Amazon. But every needs a Native American costume in their collection, right? I'm sure we'll get our money's worth out of it. To go with her costume, Del wanted to wear her sparkly pink boots...very authentic, I'm sure. She was also delighted that Aaron came up with a way to use an infinity scarf as a carrier for Rapunzel, so that Rapunzel could be Pompy and ride on Adelia's back. Lincoln and Ivan both found hats in the dress-up box that they liked. Lincoln decided to wear his church vest with it, and Ivan opted for some suspenders fashioned from a pirate belt. And we drew on some sideburns using an eyeliner pencil. So cute, all of them!

Lincoln was Lewis, and wanted to focus on the journals that were kept along the way. His speaking part:

"My name is Meriwether Lewis. I was a secretary to Thomas Jefferson when he made the Louisiana Purchase. President Jefferson sent me and my friend William Clark to explore the new land, look for a water way across it, and claim Oregon Territory for the United States.  On our journey we found many plants and animals and things we’d never seen before. The groundhog is one example. We kept detailed notebooks of our trip that included many drawings."

Ivan was Clark, and he wanted to tell about meeting Grizzly Bears. His part:

"My name is William Clark. My friend Lewis invited me to be a co-captain on the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the new land bought in the Louisiana Purchase. On our way we found many plants and animals. Once of the most dangerous animals we came across were Grizzly Bears. Once when we were hunting we saw a Grizzly Bear and we tried to kill it while it was asleep, but the first round of shots didn’t work. The bear came after us, and it was angry! We reloaded and fired some more shots. This time we killed the bear, and used it’s meat for food."

Obviously, Adelia was Sacagawea. She wanted her part to be short, and to talk about carrying her baby on her back. :) Her part:

"My name is Sacagawea. I was as a guide for Lewis and Clark. I carried my baby on my back all the way across the country and back again."

Here are all the kids who participated in Showcase. I loved the creativity that went into the costumes and presentations. Everyone did so well. Wax Museum is my favorite.

Date Night: Dinner and a Movie ;)

Ivan (aka Spiderman) Turns 6

Happy 6 Ivan Boy!! This kid knows exactly what he wants and will let you know in no uncertain terms. He's my best helper and my best babysitter. He loves all things poisonous or dangerous. His favorite color is black. He knows every spell in Harry Potter books 1-5, and will use them on you as needed. He is thoughtful, practical, and passionate about the things he loves. He is a keeper and I'm glad we've had him these 6 years.

He wanted to go to lunch at Costco for his birthday, Gramma Tam came down to spend the day with us too.

Several days ago, I asked Ivan what kind of cake he wanted, he told me he'd have to think about it. A few days passed and he came and found me in the kitchen and said, "Mom, I've decided what kind of cake I want. I want a three-layer white cake with lemon frosting between each of the layers. On the outside I want the frosting to be black, and on top I want a white spider-web." Oh? Is that all, haha! Luckily a round cake is easy enough. And on his actual birthday day he changed his mind and decided he wanted chocolate cake instead of white cake. This is how it turned out:

Ivan hit the jack-pot for his bday. We found him a bike on KSL for $10. Cleaned it up, pulled the old stickers off of it, and put new, cool, Spiderman stickers on it. (If you can't tell, he's a little bit in to Spiderman right now.) 

He also wanted a guitar, but was perfectly thrilled with this ukulele instead.

It wasn't Ivan's year to have a friend birthday party, but we are going swimming at the Provo Rec Center as a family on Saturday to celebrate some more.

St. Paddy's Day

Horses and Bunnies and Goats, oh my! Not to mention the worms and Roly Polys, and a Pachycephalosaurus to boot.

Adelia came home from preschool the other day and drew this picture. She then informed me that it was a picture of a Pachycephalosaurus. Wow!

Her Primary teacher sent me this message on Facebook on Sunday:
This is what Adelia told me in primary today, "I am expecting lots of jewelry for my birthday. I need my mom to buy me rings, necklaces, bracelets, hats, and crowns. That is why I am being so helpful!"

Adelia's preschool teacher, saw the above message from the Primary teacher and added:
"Ok I have to chime in...I love that Adelia! At preschool this week we read "Yes Day". It's a story about a kid who gets one day a year when his parents say yes to everything. When I asked the kids what they would ask for or want to do on yes day, Adelia 's arm shot up and she told me she would ask for 10 horses, some goats and some bunnys! Loved it. And that's why yes day isn't a real thing ;)"

The weather has been lovely, and Del has been asking to spend her quiet times outside digging in the garden. She tells me she's collecting worms for her worm farm, and making a colony of Roly Polys.

Sometimes Ivan likes to go out and help her. 

This is what being a kid is all about, and it makes my heart so happy. I have so many memories of spending time outside while I was growing up, just using my imagination and nature to entertain myself. Even though we don't have as much backyard space as I'd like, I'm glad my kids have found a little slice of it to enjoy and create with.

Post Office Field Trip

*Photo credit to my dear friend Arianne. She shared these pictures with me because my hands were too full to take any of my own. And her pictures are much more lovely than any I could have taken. :) 

Have I ever mentioned how much I love our homeschool group? Because I do. :)

Today we went on a field trip to the Spanish Fork Post Office.

The lady who set up the field trip also arranged for each kid to have a pen-pal from a homeschool group in Idaho. In preparation for our field trip, the kids wrote letters to the pen-pals. When we got to the Post Office, the kids mailed their letters, and then we got to go around back and see the whole process from start to finish.

I neglected to bring a stroller of Ollie to ride in, and I had Rue in the Bjorn. So, I spent a good portion of the filed trip holding 2 babies, trying to keep Ollie under control. I didn't hear a whole lot of the presentation. But Lincoln really enjoyed it. He spent that evening at dinner brainstorming how far he'd have to send a letter to get it to fly on an airplane, instead of just being carried around by truck. :)

My Kids Are Even Funnier

I haven't posted any kid quotes for a long time. I've been saving them up in my phone. Here they are for your enjoyment:

"It's like I have a pink body...with ruffley bumps." -Adelia

"Too bad we can't put our heads inside our bodies." -Ivan

"It's not ordinary to freak out." -Adelia

Del: "Mom dad is bigger than you. "

Me: "You're right, Dad is taller than me."

Del: "He's a whole head bigger than you!"

Me: "No, not a whole head, only a half head."

Del: "Oh. Well, let's call him Half Head. "

"Oh, how we long for a tree house."-Lincoln 

"But, well, I'm sort of alone when I'm not with anybody." -Del

Me:" Ok guys time to start school. "

Ivan: "Mom, can I finish killing the enemy solar system?"

"Mom, I guess Wilbur is a pig and a Wright brother." -Ivan 

I'm not a smarty pants! I don't have smarts on my pants!"-Adelia

Adelia went behind the couch and started throwing out all sorts of toys that were behind it. When she was done she came out and said, "There. Now all of Ollie's toys are free and in the wild."

"Don't let Del know about that, she"ll be shrieking mad" -Linc

Me: "Ivan did you eat all of my M&Ms?"

Ivan: "Yes, but let's talk about something else."

"Mom, when I grow up I want to be the church's piano player. " -Ivan 

Lincoln talking to himself while playing pirates, "I'll just put a few diamonds about the deck." 

Adelia singing her version of My Heavenly Father Loves Me, "He gave me my body, my mind, my heart. I'll thank him for three years...."

"Mom, didn't you see a glimpse of me?" -Adelia

We were sitting around the dinner table, everyone was finished except Lincoln. Me: "Last one to get their jammies on is a rotten egg!" Ivan: "How about a rotten noodle?" Lincoln: "How about a rotten log, then it could just go into the ground and be food for other plants. That way when I'm last I'll still be good." 

Aaron: "Adelia, you need to be lotioned."

Del: "I don't want that lotion it's baby lotion."

Aaron: "this lotion is just fine it's almost the same as the other lotion."

Del: I want lotion for humans. 

Aaron : this is lotion for humans. 

Del: no it's not, that's lotion for Oliver. 

Aaron: Oliver is a human. 

Del: Oliver's not human, he's a baby. 

Linc: Mom if you have a nightmare you can come get me and I'll help you not be scared. 

Me: thanks Linc. 

Linc: But you might not have a nightmare, but your room's pretty messy, so you probably will have a nightmare. If you do, come get me. 

Del: I'm giving this beetle some more death. He probably won't be very happy about it when he's dead. 

Ivan: I call myself Forgets. 

Ivan: Ants are the most boringest creatures God ever made."

Me: Then I'll just use this spoon to scrape out the rest of the chocolate. 

Adelia: you mean spatula, you're using a spatula to get it out, not a spoon. 

Adelia: "Dad, I just want a snack, something that tastes good, and is yummy, and is not good for me."

Aaron: "Del do you want a cookie?"

Del: "Ya, I want a cookie."

Adelia, handing Aaron two my-little-ponies: "Here Dad, one of these is for you and the other is for your mateys at work."

Aaron let Lincoln read a page online about motors. Lincoln: "Wow Dad, did you know they have AC motors and DC motors?"

Aaron: "Yeah."

Lincoln: "So are AC the motors they had before Christ, and DC the motors they had after Christ?"

"It's just like mom to get done with a dentist appointment and then go straight over and get a Pepsi." -Ivan

Me: Del did you know you had swimming today?

Del: No! That's impressive!

Del: Oh, how foolish I have been! I didn't know where the list was and that was very foolish. 

Del: I'm not funny! I'm just a little girl who doesn't know what to do to carve a pumpkin. 

Del: Mom, you've got to watch this, it's completely legal. 

Lincoln: what's that guy's costume?

Aaron: he's wearing a HAZMAT suit. 

Lincoln: What do HAZMATS do?

Adelia: I want the one in the middle. 

Me: You get what you get and you don't throw a fit. 

Adelia: Right, but I AM going to throw a fit if you don't give me the middle one. 

"I eat missiles...for breakfast." -Del

"Dad! Look! You can see my carbon dioxide! You know? My air!" -Del

"Dad, someday when a giraffe goes by, let's catch it with a rope so we can see how tall it is." -Del

"And what do the toy buckets go in? Cubbys! Isn't that a funny word for buckets to go in." -Del

"Mom, I was just kidding when I said you were going to get old and die. You've lasted a very long time so far. Ever since you were a baby!"-Del

"It's bad guys vs. ponies. Do you who's going to win? The ponies. Because I'm pretending that they have a venomous bite." -Del

"Mom, tell me about the things you did in the old days." -Del

"Mom, I get tired of telling you what goes on in preschool." -Del

"Mom! We don't want to listen to love songs!" -Ivan (The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson was on the radio.)

We're All Gonna Die!

Oh man, a friend of mine posted this blog post on Facebook today, and it had me laughing, and nodding my head. I love satire. And I have to say, that I pretty much agree with the message the article is putting out there. Do what you've gotta do with your own family, but this is pretty much how I roll. Haha. Enjoy:

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!

MARCH 12, 2015 BY AMY AND ADENA
Yes. It’s true. In the meantime, I’d also like to live. Except, nobody wants to let me live--they all want to remind me of how I’m going to die, or how I’m going to cause my children to die.

I was packing my kid’s lunch the other day, and tossed in a Twinkie with a smile and stroke of endearment, when I happened to glance at my kid's class newsletter on the table. It informed me that if I feed my child Twinkies, I might as well be feeding them rocket fuel. Rocket fuel, sheet rock, and Twinkies are made out of the same things. If you consume rocket fuel, you are sheet rock and if you are sheet rock, you will die. I am killing my child.

I thought of replacing his Twinkie with an apple. But I didn't have organic apples, and hence, they have no nutrition. Rather, they are miniature toxin and pesticide-infected death bombs. In buying non-organic apples I am also killing the earth by causing soil erosion. Good thing my son doesn't like apples. But, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." Except, they will also kill him.

I came home from a refreshing morning run a couple weeks ago and was stretching when my husband informed me of the latest research on running. If I run too much, it is worse than not moving at all. Ever. If you never move, you may as well be dead, and running too much is worse than that. So running is worse than being dead.

I was at a wellness check a couple weeks ago for my baby and told my pediatrician that my infant was exclusively breast fed and loving life. She looked me square in eye and asked if I’d heard about the latest study. Apparently we can’t love life yet, because my breastmilk doesn’t have enough Vitamin D. She anxiously gave me a free sample of the life-saving drops to add to my breastmilk. So now my baby will grow stronger bones than my other children, which means he won’t have a hunchback when he’s 74. But, no worries, neither will the other kids--they’ll all be dead, because they were breastfed without Vitamin D drops.

A few months ago, I was sitting on the couch enjoying some cookies and cream ice-cream when I saw an article that said a new study shows that to rats, Oreos are more addictive than cocaine. So, Oreos will kill me, because I am just like a rat. And of course cocaine is equal to Oreo fluff, and cocaine kills rats. So, Oreos kill people.

I was at a play group last summer spraying my children with sunscreen when I overheard some moms talking about the latest study on sunscreen--apparently, I was endangering my children. We're supposed to use sunscreen because if we don’t, we’ll die of skin caner. But we shouldn't use spray-on sunscreen because if we do and then we breathe, we’ll contract asthma, which restricts breathing, which can kill us. But at least it won't be death by skin cancer.

I was happily eating eggs, toast and bacon the other day, when I saw a viral article containing the 10 foods Americans love that no other country will touch with a 10-foot pole. What?! I'm eating ractopamine disguised as a pig, which causes chromosomal abnormalities and erratic behavior changes? I'm eating potassium bromate disguised as white bread, which is linked to kidney and nervous system disorders? But won't whole wheat bread mutate my genes? And I am eating arsenic disguised as an egg, which is a notorious poison? How did my grandpa, who gambled with life every day during breakfast on the family farm, avoid spontaneous mutation and a slow and painful death? Must have just been luck. Because the ractopamine and arsenic with a side of kidney-hating grains that he ate every morning are now my executioners.

I was munching on some impressively organic carrots the other day and about to choose a dip from my selection of fat-free salad dressing that I had purchased because the ones with fat were going to kill me. But then I remembered that the war against fat is over. So, in the trash they go, because low-fat diets are contributing to our obesity epidemic and obesity will kill me.

Okay. So, I get it. And I'm with you. I too would love for me, my children, and my children's children to die peacefully in our sleep at the age of 99, after having eaten a totally organic breakfast followed by a juice cleanse, topped off with a vigorous session of Zumba and a successfully completed, expert-level crossword puzzle. But here's the thing: in our obsessive quest to ensure an ideal, high-quality death in the future, we are hijacking our shot at a joyful and high-quality life in the present.

I've known families living in debt because they will only eat, clean with, and bathe in things organic;  I've known parents who can't hold down jobs because they practically live in the ER and prescription drive-through, running in over every single sniffle.  I've known children who suffer from anxiety at school because their teachers practically pat them down every day to make sure they're not concealing peanut-infested food--because if they are, they would then cause the death of Jimmy, five doors down, who has peanut allergies. And I've known married couples who can't go out to eat on dates because no restaurant will cater to their special dietary whims.

Who wants to live this way?! I understand that there are some legitimate scenarios where diets and lifestyles really do need to be adjusted. But for the most part, all of this, which began as an innocent attempt to be wise, cautious, and healthy, is now getting completely out of hand. Even worse, we're running on information that is often false. If it were true, if I really believed something had a significant chance of altering my life, or death, for the better, you may have me half-way on board. But the thing is, most of it is not true, or only partially true.  And what is considered "true" today may be false tomorrow.

Take, for example, this article, where the author tries to convince us that choosing to hold your child on your lap on an airplane is akin to climbing “the side of a sheer mountain with your baby in one arm and a pick ax in the other." Yes. Exactly the same thing. Except that in one instance the chance of death is about 95%, and in the other, the chance of death equals about .00002%.

And this was published on USA Today, in all of its sophisticated glory. Real, adult human beings, on planet earth, are falling for the blatant, fear-mongering tactics of those driven by profit, power, or even misinformation that they themselves are fed, all vying for our dedicated readership. And it's controlling our lives.

What we see in these articles is almost always consistent across the board. The news, the studies, and the quotations tend to either leave out numbers or masterfully disguise the real numbers to be something far beyond what they are. We're told things like, "You're 10 times more likely to die if..."  While this may be true, when you dig a little deeper and do the real math, ten times a minuscule number still equals a minuscule number. The differences in health, safety, disease-prevention, and life-preservation almost always end up being nearly negligible.

As just one example of the formulaic click-baiting and bad reporting I am talking about, I can't tell you how many times I've seen articles shouting that drinking diet soda will cause cancer. But when I actually did the research using primary sources--and by research, I don't mean reading anecdotal evidence, websites that have a clear agenda either way, secondary sources, people's opinions, or any of the other easily-accessible but so often non-factual junk you can find on the internet--I found that most of the claims were just outright absurd, and for "diet soda causes cancer" to be even remotely true, I would have to be a rat who was injected with obscene and impossible amounts of artificial sweetener--every day throughout my life--and then just maybe I could get cancer. But, the headlines and 500 internet commenters tell me it will happen, hence, it must be true, right?

So, for the extremely remote possibility that drinking soda might actually cause cancer, one will avoid soda like the plague for the rest of their life and preach these gruesome, half-truth, cancer-filled details to their soda-loving friends and family at the risk of annoying or offending to the point of self-alienation. Never mind the newest study saying that cancer is usually the result of just plain old bad luck (and yes, don't take that at face value either).

Are you following me? Please say you are. Because it needs to stop. The latest mind-boggling, manipulative, irrational-fear-inducing articles, offering gross misinterpretations of vague numerical summaries--these aren't going to stop. But we can stop. We can stop falling for the scare-tactics and use a little critical thinking. It's not that hard to do the research, to find the primary sources, to do the math--and as a result, to be able to quiet the fear and look at things with a bit more perspective.

I am still running outside, sometimes without sunblock on. The same son that ate his Twinkies also licked sheet rock last summer, no joke. And last night, in a fit of rebellion, I threw out the Vitamin D drops, and made Oreo milkshakes while snacking on a genetically engineered apple. To top it all off,  I still occasionally fly on an airplane, with a child in my lap, while enjoying some carbonated poison. Not only are we all miraculously alive, but we’re generally in good health and loving life, despite our risqué lifestyle.

Don’t get me wrong, we try to eat nutritious meals at our family dinners, we all buckle up in the car, and we canceled our family vacation to an Ebola-infested portion of West Africa. It's called using good judgment, moderation in all things…LIVING. Even so, we're all still gonna die. But for the love of all things that are beautiful and amazing in life, please, let us live!

Frying Pans: Who Knew, Right?

If Flynn Ryder ever tries to break into my tower he's a dead man. Seriously, look at this beast! It's 15 inches of cast iron glory; a birthday present from my mama. It weighs more than Lincoln. I don't even want to know what it cost Amazon to ship it to me. Probably more than my Prime membership. Mua-ha-ha-ha! Say hello to deep dish pizzas, perfectly seared steaks, real southern corn bread, and oh so much more. And it will hold enough to feed the Swan Family Militia (also known as my children).

I broker 'er in easy last night, with a quick Brown Butter and Coconut Dutch Baby recipe. It was very tasty, but in the future I'll double the recipe. The pan is so big the batter had to spread really thin, and didn't puff as much as it normally would. I liked the toasted coconut, pineapple, bananas, and real maple syrup on top though. Sooooo good.

Brown Butter Coconut Dutch Baby with Bananas and Pineapple

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (if doubling the recipe, don't double this amount, it will still grease the pan just fine)
31/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
6 large eggs
3/4 cup half-and-half
6 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
A pinch of salt
1 cup chopped fresh pineapple
1 banana, cut into pieces

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

In a small skillet over medium heat, add the shredded coconut.  Toast the coconut, stirring frequently, until light brown.

Put the butter in an 8 or 9-inch cast-iron skillet (you can also use a similarly-sized cake pan or pie plate), and place in the preheated oven.  Let the butter cook and sizzle, swirling occasionally, until the butter is melted and there are brown solids.  Remove from the oven and tilt around, completely covering the sides and bottom with brown butter.

Meanwhile, in a blender, or with a bowl and whisk, mix together the eggs, half-and-half, and sugar.  Add the flour, ginger, salt, and 6 tablespoons of the shredded coconut and blend until smooth.  Pour into the warm skillet, and slide into the oven.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the center looks set and the edges have risen and are golden brown.  It will rise and puff around the pan while in the oven, but will deflate as it cools.

Remove from the oven.  Top with the chopped pineapple, banana slices, and the remaining toasted coconut.  Serve immediately with maple syrup, if desired.

Native American Cultures: Southwest and Mesoamerican Region: Sand Drawing

I was using food coloring, and cornmeal, so of course I was expecting a gigantic mess. But my history class surprised me by doing really well with our art project today and keeping disaster to a non-existent minimum.

We learned about the Native Americans of the Southwest and Mesoamerican region today. The kids were great listeners today, and we covered the necessary educational material really quickly and glued some things into our notebooks. I try to do a little chart about each region, so the kids can see how the regions were similar and how they were different. I also try to find a few famous people from each region and talk about what they were famous for. And I like to put in a picture of how the tribes in each region dressed. Mostly I'm attempting to teach the kids that not all Native American's hunted buffalo and lived in tee-pees.

Our project this week was really fun. Medicine Men in the region used sand drawings to try and get bad spirits to go away. They did their drawings on the floors of homes, but we did ours on paper. :) I gave each kid a smallish  card stock rectangle and had them lightly draw a picture of something in pencil. Then, using paint brushes, the would brush glue onto a small section of their picture. Next they sprinkled colored cornmeal over the top, and then shake it off again. The cornmeal would stick to the glued spots, but not to the dry spots. They could brush glue on another spot and use a different color of cornmeal, creating fun sand drawings.