Soccer!

First day of soccer, and Gaya gets a tooth knocked out. Fortunately a baby tooth, so no need for a trip to the emergency room, like when she split her lip playing basketball last winter. Still enough blood to impress, or so I hear. But what do I know, I wasn't even there...

Both girls lost their first games. Rasi made it through an hour of the craziness of toddler soccer without crying, so I guess that means he won?

One Week Done

We survived our first week of school, though out of three kids (that had been healthy all summer), two got sick with a cold and fever. It was enough to test our enthusiasm for sure. I know a lot of kids get sick when they go back to school, but we homeschool! We concluded there must be something in the books. A conspiracy! It was also the first week of classes at the university, so Dave had several evening orientations and receptions to attend. Typical. In the end, it turned out to be a pretty good week. I am happy with our workload and what we were able to get done. And the kids had fun. They are particularly excited about the animal reports they are writing.

This week all their activities start, so we'll see how it goes. It will be a busy time: Soccer, swimming, and art lessons. A bit of science, and a class at the zoo. That's more than we've ever done before, and maybe a bit more than ideal, but we did just move here and I am hoping the kids will make some friends!

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Between getting familiar with our new oven, trying to avoid using the AC too much, and having a vegan bakery around the corner, there's been ridicilously little baking happening here this summer. A batch or two of cookies, a box-mix coffee cake from Trader Joe's (it's really good!), and maybe a tray of muffins. But for Dave's birthday this weekend, I finally got around to baking something a little more exciting.

These are the tiramisu cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. It was my first time making them, and I have to say out of all the recipes I've tried in the book (many!), these are my new favorites! The vanilla cake is soaked in a mix of coffee and Kahlua, has a cream cheese icing, and is topped with a dusting of cinnamon and chocolate.

Vegan Cupcakes is one of my most used cookbooks, and I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't already have a copy of it. However, this particular recipe can also be found here.

Back to School

 We had the eagerly awaited first day of school at our house today. I always forget to take pictures, but this year (I say this every year), I will try to be more organized and document more of what we do. Today went well, in spite of the little man feeling pretty lousy with a cold. We spent some time familiarizing ourselves with the new books, started a Spanish course, and spent the afternoon solving a Swedish history mystery online. It rained most of the day, and with Rasi sick, we mostly stayed in. I just sent the girls out with their jump-ropes between the showers. Tomorrow we need to take a trip to the library to get books for upcoming research on brown bears and crocodilians. All in all it was a good first day. As I was getting dinner ready, Gaya came by and said: "Hola! I can't wait for school tomorrow. Adios!" Let's hope this enthusiasm lasts!

 

Hello!

Well, I am just trying out my new camera here. ;) I haven't even read the short version of the manual yet, so I really don't know what I am doing with it, but I like it!

Kids In the Kitchen

I was alone with the kids for dinner tonight and really did not feel like cooking. School planning had kept me busy all afternoon, and dinnertime crept up on me. One of those nights when I didn't have a meal planned out, and the fridge was pretty bare (excet for a ton of peaches!). But then I thought of the pita bread in the freezer. Pita pizzas are easy enough for kids to make all on their own. (For these ones: brush with oil, slice peaches, crumble cheese - done! I helped put them in the oven.) 

The kids have been super helpful in the kitchen lately, and are now responsible for planning and cooking dinner one night a week. So far they are sticking to steamed veggies and rice, but they have a list of other things they want to learn. I love to take them shopping for vegetables. They get so excited: Did we bring enough bags? Will these taste good together? Should we make a sauce? 

The time I spend with them in the kitchen is an investment that is already starting to pay off; and one that will hopefully lead them to a lifelong love of healthful good food!

Almost Time!

We are all ready for our official start of the school year next week! Well, not quite, we are still waiting for a few more books - the result of late planning - but we're very excited to get started! Today the kids made self-portraits for the covers of their folders. (I am kind of relieved to be outsourcing their art lessons this fall!)