Reading to My Kids

I just came across this poem at poemhunter.com and it brought back some childhood memories. In honor of the smile it brought to my face, I want to mention what I love about reading to my boys.

I enjoy children's books- all kinds. For those that know me, I always was a bookworm and still enjoy reading. I think that books enhance kids' vocabulary and broadens their mind. I'm not a fancy psychologist or an expert in these areas, but I see that my kids sometimes learn the most fascinating things from books.

So which books do I like? ANYTHING! Of course anything that moves- trucks, trains, boats are a favorite with the boys, and if it has a rocket ship or a fire truck then we're really in for a treat (and loads of questions!). But we also like real stories and rhyming stories, pop-ups and repetitiveness, long books and short books, people and animals, you name it. There are some classics that I remember as a kid, like The Giving Tree and Caps for Sale, and now my kids share them as memories. Others, like I Spy and My Peekaboo Book, are great because they're interactive. There are others that we like because they have lots of interesting and exotic scenes to explore. And there are yet others with simple pictures, like Eric Carle's array of choices. Each book has its own charm, and is entertaining for its own reason.

It's important to me to have a wide variety of books, just so that I don't get bored, although on the other hand I also like reading the same book every night as part of our ritual. The compromise that usually happens is that they get attached to one and we read it for a few weeks, until something else interests them. I generally read four books a night (each Big Brother chooses two) but depending on what time it is, and my patience level, it can be less or more. I wouldn't do less than two though, I really feel that the stories gear them up to go to bed. The few times that we've tried to skip the stories to save time just backfired.

There are a few things that I love about books. First of all, one of the greatest pleasures is sitting on the couch with two freshly bathed, pajama clad boys curled up next to you. They get so engrossed in the book, and it's amazing how these rambunctious and active children, who can't sit still for a second, will just listen to me read book after book after book. I enjoy the familiarity of it- no matter how many times we've read the same book, they'll point out the same things and ask the same questions. I like teaching them new things from the pictures. I like hearing the questions they come up with, and discussing different ideas. I am constantly amazed at how they notice details and discover things in books that we've read countless times! Big Brother Sr. is enthralled by Go Dog Go, our latest acquisition, and it is currently on our nightly reading list. I sometimes find him during the day, sitting and reading the book to himself. Wow!

One thing that I learned from a dear friend and neighbor in Israel who, incidentally, I miss a lot, is to mention the book's author. (She taught me a lot about the pleasures of reading to kids and having a big library of kids' books). If they have the whole book memorized, at least let them learn something! I had a few cute incidents with it. I was reading a book and Big Brother Sr. said, "I forgot, who wrote the dog book?" It became important to him! A different time I was showing them a photo book that I made with family pictures, and one of the boys said, "the author is Mommy." I was quite proud when I asked them who wrote 10 Little Rubber Ducks (another one they can't get enough of) and they both said Eric Carle.

There are some books that we parents like better than the kids, like those Dr. Seuss books that you have to be an adult to appreciate the humor. Some have good lessons that I try to convey, like Old Hat New Hat. Curious George always has terrible lessons (you can go against all the rules but if you do something good at the end it's all okay) but the boys really like it so I tolerate it. I think the pictures are stimulating for the kids.

Reading with my kids is enjoyable and educational, and I treasure it. And on that note, here is the aforementioned poem by Shel Silverstein.

Sick

'I cannot go to school today,'
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
'I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more - that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut, my eyes are blue -
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke -
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb,
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my spine is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is -
what? What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is ... Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!'

Cottage Birthdays

Little Sister is 1! It was nice to share the celebration with the northern contingent of the family, and her secular birthday was celebrated with the other side of the family. We're starting to see that our pretty, precious, delicate, overprotected, oh-so-sweet little girl is turning into a regular one year old: smearing food all over herself, mischievously emptying out cabinets, destroying her brothers' lego creations... Baruch Hashem!

I made these beautiful cupcakes and I was quite proud of them actually. Simple but they really look nice. These were especially yummy because the frosting was made with real butter (mistake from the upsherin that I saved for this).  I can't wait for an excuse to make more cupcakes!

Here's another birthday cake I made for someone special's 50th birthday, albeit a little belated. The cake is red velvet, with cream cheese frosting, something I've always wanted to try. It didn't quite come out the way I wanted it to, but it was nice nonetheless and it tasted okay.

Hop on the Upsherin Train!

Big Brother Jr. is 3 years old! I will treat you to loads of pictures of the beautiful celebration, just bear with me. As you can imagine, I started planning the cake months in advance of the big party. Not that it got me any closer to actually coming to any decisions, but I thought about it a lot. I looked at tons of upsherin cakes online, but nothing was perfect. I knew I didn't want to do the same thing as his older brother- too boring! I finally decided on a train cake- cute, different, and it also incorporates the upsherin ideas (kippah and tzitzis). A few days before the event which was so graciously and generously hosted and arranged by my parents, I decided that once we're at it, make it a Train Party! What could be more fun for a 3 year old boy? So it was back to the drawing board for me, or in this case, Pinterest. After pinning many more train ideas, we ended up with a cute train theme that didn't take too much extra work.

 Made from 2 loaf pans. The tray is covered with homemade marshmallow fondant, and colored coconut.

I made a train track along the length of the table. I covered containers to look like train cars and filled them with candy- it was the first thing that was finished, and there was a lot of good food!

Ice cream balls- scooped in advanced and dipped in sprinkles, all ready to eat!

 The centerpieces were plastic wind up trains that went around a track.
Look at that beautiful long hair! And there it goes...

I think this was my favorite addition to the party. I froze ice cubes of different colored drinks, and poured Sprite over it. It looked so pretty and tasted good too.

Thank you to all who helped (you know who you are), and photo credits to all those who contributed!

Cake Creations

I'd like to share with you some of the cakes I've done in the past.

This one was for Lag Ba'omer. The fire is fruit roll up, and since I made it shortly after our move with absolutely no equipment, the cake is a mix and the frosting is store-bought. Not at all the way I like it, but it was nice anyway, and it tasted okay.

The cake I made for my decorating course. I invited my neighbors after Mommy and Me to eat it. So fun to make and I was eager to do more roses after this.

Adorable booties for a shalom zachor.

And a kiddush...

Self explanatory! Boy was my husband proud! And to think that I didn't know ANYTHING about football before I got married!

Pretty Shavuos flower cupcakes.

Peanut Butter Play Dough

Not much to do on a semi-rainy day like today, so here is something that I put together. Most ideas I have on Pinterest require a well-stocked house with various supplies, which I lack, so this was what I ended up with. Not the greatest activity, but fun (and yummy) nonetheless and impressive under the circumstances. I found a few recipes for peanut butter play dough, and then I did what I generally do: improvise! I put in some peanut butter and sugar, and then added flour till it reached a consistency I was happy with. I added food coloring to some of it, I could've done more but I figured that the kids just mush all the colors together anyway, and colored peanut butter is not very appealing.

Thank you Aunt T for all your help and input!I hope the kids don't end up with stomachaches...

Fire Truck Birthday

There is nothing my guys like more than fire engines and firemen. I mean, any truck will keep them happy, but fire trucks are probably the best. When I saw this fire truck cake tutorial I knew I had to make it. It's easy enough even for an amateur like myself, but still so impressive. I learned that I can't work on my cakes with any kids around, because then it becomes "don't touch anything!" instead of "wow this is fun! and "come look at what I just added!"

This little guy was my own addition, after looking at countless cakes on CakeCentral. It was actually a lot of fun to make, even though it took a lot of time. It was my first attempt at using fondant, and I was quite pleased with the results.

Tie-Dye Cookies

These aren't the chocolate chip variety, but I figured it would be apropos to start this blog off with baking- cookies, specifically. Today was the upsherin of Big Guy Jr., but more on that later. I enjoy coming up with activities to do with my kids, especially ones where we can get creative, and I have endless ideas and good intentions. However, many of these ideas include preparation, or lots of supplies that I would need to buy (especially in our current post-move situation), or time or space or other factors that I don't have. But baking is something I can always do, and there are many recipes or variations of recipes that are fun and creative. And as you know, or you'll find out, I enjoy baking as well as coming up with projects, so that's always a possible option.

So the morning of these cookies I was thinking of what to do with the kids in the afternoon, but of course there was no major project that I was prepared for. In addition, it was Thursday and I thought it would be nice to have some home baked dessert for Shabbos, so my Mommy head was trying to figure out how I would keep two full-of-energy boys busy while I baked, when it hit me: Baking IS a kids' activity. (I believe in it, like I said before, but sometimes I forget.)

I've seen these tie-die cookies before, but all my cookbooks are still packed away in boxes, so I kind of had to improvise - not that hard because it's pretty basic. I took a regular sugar cookie recipe, divided it into 3 bowls (yes, I have 3 bowls, believe it or not), and added food coloring. The boys had such a fun time mixing the colors, and they really felt like they were playing with play dough. I wasn't sure how this would come out, but it was great in the end, and they even tasted good. The challenge I had was letting go and allowing the boys to have fun without intruding too much on their creativity. I had an image of how I expected these to turn out, but they did their own thing. Also, I had to relax and bre-e-e-a-the when they kept sneaking bits of dough into their mouths, and tell myself over and over that this is for them to have fun!

Even Little Sis joined in the fun! (but not the eating- she's too hesitant of new things for that).

The final product. I know, I know, they don't look so bad... that's because these are the ones I made. The ones the kids made... well... they just didn't get photographed!