Sous chefs

I had a batch of helpers in the kitchen the other night. I had planned to make Thai Fish and Corn Curry for supper, and as it turned out, I did very little of the making of it. Emmi got the rice going in the rice cooker, Ben loaded the food processor with lemongrass and garlic and cilantro, Tim operated the food processor (with supervision), Emmi cut up the fish fillets (with scissors), EVERYONE had to help stir, and loved seeing the coconut milk go in, and the final result was YUMMY!! I had planned to send some leftovers to work with David for his lunch, but there weren't any!

Here are two of my sous chefs working on the cilantro garnish for the dish:

Everyone looks pretty happy with how it turned out! I think they were happier to eat it too!

Knitting Project - socks

In my Christmas stocking this year was a knitting magazine - "for inspiration" said David. It worked, I became inspired! But I thought I had better use up some wool I had on hand before buying any more. I had some brown sock wool, that I am trying to turn into socks for David. The first one is started, and gets worked on in spare time (not much of that!) or in the van (while David is driving - not me!!). I have read that knitted socks are the most likely to be singles (because the second one never gets knit) and I am hoping that this sock will avoid this fate. Maybe at some point there will be a post about the finished pair!

Snowman

A few days ago, when it was warmer and the snow was packing snow, we made a snowman. This was the first snowman "we" made that I didn't do the bulk of the work for!! I did have to lift the mid-section in place, which was almost too much for me, but the older children rolled all the parts - pretty impressive!

The children have been having a lot of good play-time outside, here they are on the same day driving a car, and being goofy:

More Sledding!

We visited some friends who have an excellent hill in their back garden, and we took our sleds. The snow that day was quite powdery - as you can see. One of our friends took some photos, which he passed on to us, and now you can see them too! The photo at the top shows Emmi in her new snowsuit - what a cutie!

Here is a great sequence of Tim's ride down the hill:










David and Emmi on a run down (thanks Auntie for the warm hat on David!!):


David starting a run standing on the "Torpedo":


It was a great visit, with some great food and conversation after! Thanks guys!!

Sledding

We are enjoying winter! We often walk down to the park at the end of the road, where there are some small hills, with our sleds. Here are some photos of a recent visit!

Emmi coming down the hill:

It must have been a fun run!

Daddy and Ben:


The whole gang:

Pottery Class

Yes, yes, we are working on math and spelling and reading and history, and all good academic subjects, but in addition to the automechanics class, we are having some good enrichment activities. One of these was a pottery class that a friend of mine graciously gave the children. They had to make pinch pots, and then had the option to turn the pots into animals. Ben made a "snack bowl", Pip wanted a bear (I helped!), Tim made a turtle and Emmi, a chipmunk. Here is the happy group:

Emmi is working on a chipmunk:


Tim getting silly with his turtle:

Automechanics Class

We're back to homeschooling! David recently held an automechanics class - "How to Change the Headlamp", he had a very interested audience of 3 boys! He did most of the work, but had them fetching screwdrivers, and holding things for him. And best of all, the car now had 2 working headlamps again!


"Now, who can tell me what screwdriver we need here?" (Ans. by Ben: "Philips!")


"Hold on to these screws - and don't lose them!"