Art Projects

  I recently discovered a great resource for fun "art projects": these books by MaryAnn Kohl.

       

These are not crafts books in the sense that there is not a cute finished project to hang on the fridge, but rather they provide ideas for creative play: kids get messy, explore materials and create...well, something. There are SO many good ideas. Oliver has had a lot of fun this week working on mixing colors and making tin-foil sculptures. I didn't get a picture of his tin foil creations, but he made a hat out of a sheet of tin foil of which he was justifiably rather proud. He was in seventh heaven with the color mixing project. He loves playing with water and mixing things in the kitchen, so this was a perfect project. He happily mixed and poured while I did some sewing and Elliot napped. He was so focused and kept saying "I just need ONE more sing" and then would go get a whisk or a measuring spoon or a ladle. The medicine syringe dispensers worked really well. 

   

Full of Good Ideas

In keeping with my schedule, I must be in bed in 2 minutes but I just wanted to post a link to the coolest blog I discovered. It's chock full of fun and creative art projects for preschoolers. I wish I could think up these great ideas myself, but I'll just be content to check in on her blog and follow suit.

Let's Explore: Simple Ways to Create, Discover, and Play

Erin go braugh...and the truth about corned beef

Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody. Erin go braugh means "Ireland forever!"  To celebrate my Irish ancestry I decided to cook a typical Irish meal: corned beef and cabbage. (Ok, I know corned beef isn't really Irish, but it's sort of the traditional St. Patrick's Day meal.) I haven't had corned beef in almost 20 years so I hardly even remember what it tastes like, I just remembered that I liked it. So I looked up a recipe on foodtv.com. Paula Deen's recipe started with "open a can of corned beef" Uh...what? Corned beef comes in a can? Is it a relative of SPAM? I decided to look further. Alton Brown has seldom led me astray so I checked out his recipe. Promising. It started at least with a cut of beef brisket. But then as I read the recipe one questionable ingredient popped out. Saltpeter. What is this? I decided to do a little research. It turns out that saltpeter is potassium nitrate, a key ingredient in gunpowder and fertilizer. If you have trouble finding it at the grocery store (which you will) you can order it from a lab supply company. No thank you! Saltpeter is what makes it pink. I suppose you could make it without the saltpeter but I wasn't going to try to find out.

On to Irish Soda Bread. The Brennan Family Cookbook that I complied this winter for my mom's family has no less than 4 different Irish Soda Bread recipes. Although the Irish Soda Bread that we make (with sugar and raisins or currants) isn't authentically Irish, soda bread, is in fact a traditional Irish food. You can read a really interesting post about the science and history of Irish Soda Bread here. Oliver and I cooked up a batch using my Aunt Gayle's recipe. It was delicious! I'll post the recipe below. I also ended up making an awesome variation on Shepherd's Pie for supper. I'll post that on my cooking blog when I get a chance. 

 

    

Gayle Brennan's Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 TB baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup butter (softened)
2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg (beaten)

Mix dry ingredients first.

Add the rest. Mix by hand until blended. (floured hands are very helpful ; ) ) On a floured surface, knead for a minute or two. Divide into two sections. Place each section into two greased cake pans. Make an X through top of each with knife. Bake at 350 for 40 - 45 mins until golden brown.

Best served warm with butter, or later toasted with butter.

Enjoy!

Quarterly Report

So here we are coming to the end of the first quarter of 2009 and I thought I'd give myself, my posterity, and "all y'all" ("youse guys" for you New Yorkers) an update on how I'm doing on the old New Year's Resolutions. I'm not going to give a line-by-line accounting of where I stand on specific resolutions (but just to get it off the table, no, I have not lost 10 pounds yet). But since all my resolutions essentially related to being more organized, disciplined, accountable, and on time, I'll just give a general overview on my quest to get my shizz together.

We (Ryan and I) started out this year with the intention of making "A House of Order" our theme for 2009. This phrase comes from a passage in one of our church's foundational books of  scripture, the Doctrine & Covenants. It reads:

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God" (D&C 88:119).

The idea was that if we could create order in our lives and home we would be happier, be able to feel and heed the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives, be more effective partners/parents/friends, and have more time to enjoy the things we really value, not to mention be able to find the car keys. Actually, I am not that bad about misplacing things, it's structure and time management that are my biggest challenges. I have a hard time sticking to a schedule. I've never been known for being excessively early to any sort of engagement/appointment. I am not a list maker. I have never felt the urge to purchase or use a label maker. 

The upside of this is that I don't mind a certain level of unpredictability. In fact, I kind of hate the routine as much as I hate routines. Does that make sense? For instance, I can't imagine wanting to have the same meal, like Tacos on Thursdays!, week after week. I do plan my meals a week out, but the meal plan is entirely flexible and subject to change, and the only thing that is guaranteed is that it will NOT be what we ate last week. I also think that my lack of structure has allowed me to become particularly good at embracing serendipity, living in the moment and seizing the day, as it were.

All that is fine and good, but I realize that I lose a certain amount of productivity by being so lax about time management. I could be doing good and rewarding things if I could make better use of my time. So I gamely set about changing my ways. For instance, I resolved to be on time, but what really happened was that I only marginally improved my on-time performance but greatly increased my frustration and dejection when I was inevitably still late. I don't really know how to change that about myself. It's constitutional. I am shocked and frustrated EVERY time. How did this happen? Again? I planned to be early, even! And here I am late, again. Sigh.

I soon realized that if my efforts to be organized, disciplined, accountable and on time made me a crazy woman it wasn't worth the effort at all. So now in my effort to create a House of Order I am guided by another scripture which I love:

And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. (Mosiah 4:27)

So this means scaling back on my expectations, and also scaling back on my commitments. There are so many things out there that I am interested in doing, that I'd like to do, that would be fun to do, that I perhaps should do...but I can't do them all. I remind myself of this scripture whenever I feel like I am not doing all that I should or when I get the urge to take on a new project.

The biggest success that I've made in creating my House of Order was that I created a schedule that actually works for me. (Sort, of...more about that later)*. Now, for most people this would be no big deal, but for anyone who knows me, this is a HUGE deal, because this is definitely NOT my M.O.  This schedule works because it provides the basic framework of what is supposed to happen, when. It gives me a fair amount of flexibility but ensures that there is time set apart for the things that need to get done.

The asterisk on this schedule is that I have actually never followed it completely. Even for one day! I joked with Ryan that I can safely post it here (below) without fear that some crazy stalker will know where I am at all times because chances are I will have called an audible and decided to skip quiet time and take the kids to the science museum (as I did yesterday), or punt on playgroup and enjoy a rainy morning watching ducks in our backyard (today). The beauty of this schedule is that I FEEL like a person with structure and order in her life just by having this schedule. I am inordinately proud of it. I have posted it on our fridge where I consult it daily and build my (new) plans for the day around it.

So, without further ado. Behold my creation: The Halverson Family Weekday Schedule

Halverson Family Weekday Schedule
6:45-7:00 Everyone wakes up
7:00-8:00 Ryan reads scriptures to the family; Oliver eats breakfast, takes Periactin and vitamins; Elliot eats breakfast; Family prayer, Ryan leaves for work
8:00-8:45 Everyone gets dressed and ready for the day. Ollie brushes teeth
8:45 Walk/drive to preschool on Mon/Wed
9:00 Nap for Elliot
9:00-12:00
       MONDAY: run with Megan; clean the house
       TUESDAY: gym; playtime for Oliver (outside if possible) 
       WEDNESDAY: run; “free time” (blogging, reading, sewing, church calling)
       THURSDAY: 9:30 Pilates, playtime for Oliver (outside if possible)
       FRIDAY: 10:00-12:00 Church playgroup
10:00 Snack for Oliver
12:00-1:00 Lunch for Oliver, Elliot & Anna
1:00-3:00 Nap/quiet time for Oliver & Elliot; scripture study
3:00 Snack for Oliver
3:00-5:00 play time for Oliver; run errands
       FRIDAY: 3:00 Swim lesson
5:00-6:00 make dinner; feed Elliot dinner
6:00-7:00 mom, dad & Oliver eat dinner
       MONDAY: Family Home Evening
       TUESDAY: 7:00 Anna tennis clinic
       WEDNESDAY: 7:00 Anna YW meeing
       THURSDAY: Ryan’s Guys Night Out
       FRIDAY: Date Night/Movie Night
7:00-7:30 Oliver & Elliot ready for bed: PJs, read books, brush teeth, say prayers
7:30 Lights out for Oliver
8:00 Lights out for Elliot
10:45 Lights out for Anna and Ryan

From Frostbite to Sunburn in A Week

 

This is what it looked like on Monday morning. As an act of love and service I scraped all the snow off Ryan's car. With a piece of cardboard. From our recycling bin. Without gloves. In my pajamas. OK, not so much an act of love and service as an act of stupidity. I hope that he felt my good intentions.

I was too lazy to go up in the attic and retrieve the snowpants and boots I had put up there after our last big snow (January 19) so the boys didn't really get out to romp in the snow. It was awfully pretty once the sun came out, but still bitingly cold. The snow stuck around for two or three days and then...the temperature began to rise. It got up to the MID 80s!!! by the weekend. Yeah, now that's more like it!

 

This afternoon I took the boys to Falls Lake to throw rocks. Now, I'm telling you, this NEVER gets old. I don't know why this is, but it is the gosh awful truth. Men of all ages can be entertained with this simple formula: water + projectiles = fun.  My own dad cannot pass a body of water without trying to skip a stone or throw a penny in for good luck. In college I lived in an MIT fraternity house one summer and the guys used to go up on the roof and shoot waterballoons down Beacon Street with a slingshot it took three guys to operate. My boys are still at the age where actually getting the rock to land in the water is still a thrill to them (and somewhat thrilling in the sense of presenting a real danger) to bystanders. Good times. 

Playing Bowling

On Thursday we went bowling with my friend Megan and her kids. Her daughter is in Oliver's preschool class. Despite several tumbles (her one year old and Elliot both took spills) and bruised fingers,  kids had a blast "playing bowling." No one dropped a ball on their toe, and so we count that as a victory. This bowling alley was a far cry from the dingy smoke-filled bowling alleys that I remember growing up. They had bumpers and a handy little ramp to roll the balls down. Megan and I played without bumpers. Needless to say, the kids beat us handily.

 

Star Swimmer

Ollie has been taking swimming lessons for about 6 weeks with two of his buddies. It's fun for the boys and I get to chat with my friends, too. His swim teacher "Ms. Laura" is amazing. She knows how to make them feel really comfortable and confident in the water. That is no small feat considering Oliver really hated being in the pool before we started lessons. A few weeks ago she gave them all little ribbons that said "Star Swimmer." Oliver was over the moon. Ever since he has been going around the house raising his arms triumphantly, proclaiming "I'm a STAR SWIMMER"!  

  

After the lessons we go into the basketball gym and let the boys run around and play with the balls...as much as they like being in the water, we know that this is their favorite part of "swimming."

It's My Party And I'll Cry If I Want To

We had a birthday party for Oliver this Saturday and frankly it was a bust. In the cold harsh light of reality the truth is I am not a great party planner. I love to go to parties, I appreciate creative touches and decorative flourishes, I love when every detail is thought of and carried out with great style. But, man, that is just not my strong suit. And I'm (learning to be) OK with that.

So, we planned to have a combined birthday party with Oliver's buddy Lucas at the firehouse. It sounded like an awesome idea because (I thought) Ollie loves fire trucks and the firemen said that we could have the party there, in a training room at the firehouse. The firehouse even had a friendly Dalmatian dog, Angus. Could you do any better than that for a little boys' birthday party?!?! I was totally psyched.

The first hitch was when Elliot got sick. We had to postpone the party but our friends decided to go ahead and do their own family birthday party for Lucas, so they didn't even come to this party. We changed the date AND the time and a fair number of our guests didn't realize the change in time on the second invitation and missed the party. Oliver was totally freaked out by the fire trucks and the fireman who came in to show the kids that firemen weren't scary. Oliver wasn't convinced as you can see from the pictures below. He had his hands on his ears the whole time because he was scared that they were going to turn on the siren.

He wouldn't go in to check out the trucks with the other kids because he said that he was "too little, too tiny." Instead he played with TOY fire trucks and drew pictures on the dry erase board. Fun times. I didn't plan any party games because I thought the kids would be so swept up in the excitement of seeing the trucks and meeting the firemen. Oh, well. At other parties it seems like the grown-ups make the kids stop playing so that they can participate in organized games that are never quite as fun as the free-for-all that the kids were enjoying on their own. I didn't want to do that but in retrospect I should have had a few more games or activities. Oh well. I guess this might have been an improvement over last year's birthday celebration.

Isn't this the saddest picture of a little boy's birthday party, ever!! All his buddies were clambering all over the trucks but Ollie wanted no part of that.

The good thing is that despite not being very organized I think that generally the kids had a fun time. I sure love this little guy!