Morgaine, the Slave

The minister invited the children to the front of the church and asked them to tell her what they do to help...

Morgaine: I help my Mommy do the vacuuming. (she turns back to smile angelically at me).

Minister: That must make you feel really good.

Morgaine: Yes, then I am allowed to go play with my toys!

Umm, she's vacuumed a handful of times, always because she's asked me if she could do it, and playing certainly hasn't been conditional on her doing it! *lol*

Morgaine Wanted a Change....

Hair today...



Gone tomorrow!

(BTW, the kid is thrilled and loves her new hair style. Mom and Dad are hoping it grows out soon....it's shorter than we thought it would be because someone (okay, I) used the wrong guide on the shaver.)

What we are reading - June

Liam is reading:

The Magic Tree House series.

He is really loving these books. They bring history to life for him and he was so excited to see that there were stories about events we've studied this year (like Pompeii and the sinking of the Titanic). He has happily read (and reread) a number of these books this year. Right now he is reading The Carnival at Candlelight which is a Merlin Mission (as opposed to the original Magic Tree House books) novel which brings the characters into the world of mythology. The Magic Tree House Classroom Club also brings together numerous activites and ideas for each book and a guide for using the books to teach history. Combine with the Research Guides that are available, I believe that The Magic Tree House is a valuable addition to homeschooling. The fun thing for Liam is that it certainly does not feel like work!

Runny Babbit by Shel Silverstein

We're all loving talking in Runny Babbit (Bunny Rabbit) language. This book is actually harder to read than one might think!



Morgaine is Loving:

The Skippyjon Jones series by Judith Byron Schachner. All I can say is I am so happy that they seem to come with CDs because the author does a much better job at reading them then I ever could.



I'm reading....

Hmm, what am I reading? Well, mostly I'm reading Canadian Living magazine. It's my little treat once a month to walk to the store and pick up the latest copy and then sneak a peak at it from time to time before finally getting a quiet evening when I can sit and devour it.

I'm looking for some good summer suggestions (for myself and the kids as well). What are you reading?

I'm loving-Sense of Community

Living as an anglophone in a very francophone community in Quebec we didn't have much interaction with the neighbours and I always felt that the kids were missing out on the activities that the other families would do together in the evenings. It has been wonderful to have the kids take a few toys outside only to be quickly joined by the other children in the area. We can talk to people walking by and they love to talk. We have people stopping in all the time to talk about our garden or what projects we have planned for the house. I expect it to continue through the summer. It feels like we are actually making a little place for ourselves here on the island. The kids have little friends knocking on the door asking them to go out and play. I love it.

Monkey pudding....err, bread.

I've talked about monkey bread on my blog (and facebook) a few times and have gotten curious questions about it each time. Basically monkey bread is as pull apart cinnamon bread dessert that is just divine. Rich, cinnamony, ooey- gooey goodness- what more could you want?

I had the most AMAZING monkey bread recipe but can no longer find it on the internet. As I promised the recipe, I decided to wing in on Wednesday and make up my own monkey bread recipe.

So here goes

1 cup whole wheat flour (just beacuse I am the Mommy and I can throw some health goodness into the most unhealthy treats)
2 cups white flour
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
Wee tad of brown sugar



Mix these ingredients together with water (I added about a cup and a half) until you get a sticky wet dough (you want it to be significantly wetter than your standard bread dough).

Then melt 1/2 cup of butter

and make a cinnamon and sugar mixture to roll your bread balls in.

Make a small bread ball and send it swimming in the butter mixture (it is incredibly hard to take pictures of this recipe as it is so messy).



Fish out your bread balls and roll them into your sugar mixture and place into a baking pan (traditionally, one would use a bundt pan but I don't have one of those).



Continue until you have used all your dough and then throw the remaining butter and sugar over the bread.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes.

Unfortunately, though, if you follow this recipe you will NOT end up with monkey bread! We pulled them out of the oven, anxious to get our fingers on them but were surprised to find that instead of monkey bread, we had something quite different. The kids declared it, not monkey bread, but monkey pudding and I totally agree.



It definitely had the consistancy of pudding chomeur (poor man's pudding) or Grand-pere au Sirop d'Erable (a real Quebec treat...maple syrup grandfathers *lol*) but with a definite cinnamon twist. Quite yummy, just the same.

If you want true monkey bread, though, I will have to direct you to my beloved Michael Smith of Chef at Home. Not the recipe I normally use but he is the man that started my love affair with Monkey Bread.

Enjoy!

Breastfeeding Protection Petition

As many of you know, I've breastfed my babies (and for a long time, at that). However, I was very lucky to not have any real difficulties when it came to breastfeeding. Unfortunately, many women are misinformed or don't have propper support and give up on breastfeeding very early, if they even decide to try. I think that it is important that women receive proper information, support and care during the early breastfeeding period but unfortunately in many places in Canada these services just aren't available. Please click the above Banner and sign the "Breastfeeding Protection Petition" that will be presented to Mr. Harper in an attempt to get better support for mothers across Canada.

What would you like to see here?

I would love to know what YOU would like to see on this blog. I am hoping to get more traffic through here. (and even get people leaving comments...imagine that!)

I miss posting recipes so I am thinking that it will be something that I will do weekly (starting with Monkey Bread, by request, today if we can get it made). So I was thinking something food related once a week.

I was thinking every couple weeks I could have a What We're Reading Now post (I miss having that widget). Sometimes with a review of the books (either from me or Liam) and sometimes just pictures.

I want to continue with my I Love/Friday Favorite posts.

There will be some reviewing coming up.

Is there anything else that you would like to see? Are there ways that I could improve the site? Are there things you don't like?

Leave me a comment and let me know!