Hot Cocoa to Warm Chilly Hands

New Mexican Hot Chocolate

5 Tbsp powdered, unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup hot water

4 cups whole milk

1 tsp vanilla

1. Combine the cocoa, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and honey in a saucepan and mix well.  Stir in the hot water.

2. Stir over medium-high heat until it begins to boil.  Turn down heat immediately and simmer and stir for 30 seconds.

3. Add milk and stir constantly over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes.  Don't let it boil.

4. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Use a wire whisk or rotary beater to make it frothy.

From Josefina Just For Fun

Falling Leaves

My creative energy has felt blocked, or somehow stuck, lately. Not the ideas or inspirations -- I would describe these as "overflowing." This isn't a good combination. Does this ever happen to you?

Needing a project for our handmade calendar, I found an activity that looked fun on the Art Projects for Kids blog, and I quickly gathered the supplies for the three of us before I could get distracted.

Good news: the movement in these pictures has restored my creative energy flow -- can you feel it, too? And just in time for Christmas crafting!

                                                                       

Cranberry Wreaths

When you make your cranberry sauce this year,

save a few berries for these pretty little wreaths.

We found them on maya*made.   

These are all the supplies you need (floral wire found at Michael's, ribbon, fresh cranberries & scissors) 

Wire cutters make the project even easier.

Linus did a little stringing, too -- but mostly he sampled the berries.

We may take this to our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow -- it's easy enough for all ages, you can spend as long or as little time at it as you like, people can come and go, and if you end up with a lot of them they can be festively hung on trees outside for your outdoor friends!

Knee Bone's Connected to the...

Halloween skeletons got us started on a really fun study of the body.  We started with bones.
Here's a little trivia to get you started -
1. How many bones do you have?
2. How many bones make up the skull?
3. Where is the smallest bone in your body?

We printed the template for the paper plate skeleton and used some really great books to discover the names of things.  We had a good time experimenting with the different kinds of joints we have -- sometimes it was downright humerous (hee hee)!

• The Search for the Missing Bones (Magic School Bus)
• The Human Body from Teacher Created Materials

From here, we've got big plans for experimenting, game playing, and art project making about all-things-body.  Well, maybe not all things.  But, you get my point.  Here are the books on deck for that:

• Adorable Wearables that Teach About the Human Body from Scholastic
• Arty Facts: Our Bodies & Art Activities (Linking Art to the World Around Us) from Crabtree Publishing
• My Body from Teacher Created Resources

How well did you do?

1. There are about 206 bones in an adult body.

2. There are 22 bones in the skull.

3. The smallest bone in the body is in the cranium.  The "stirrup" is smaller than a grain of rice and is found deep inside the ear.

Source: The Search for the Missing Bones (The Magic School Bus)



It's Comin' on Christmas...

With Nutcracker rehearsals in full swing, and the impromptu sketching of gingerbread house ideas for the Waldorf Gingerbread House exhibit, it was only natural that the Christmas cd's should come out.  We started with our favorite, Santa Baby.

     What marks the beginning of your season?

What are your favorite Christmas songs?

Last of the Summer Garden

The summer garden finally came out, the winter garden finally went in, some pesto went into the freezer for a cold winter evening.

pesto
1 cup fresh spinach
1 cup basil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 tsp ground pepper
pinch of salt

Combine in the food processor.  Stir into pasta. 

The adults toss some fresh spinach & tomatoes in our bowls as well.  We go to bed feeling proud of ourselves for eating our leafy greens.

A Friend for Maryann

Because hermit crabs do best when they live with others (despite their name), we went to Petco in Davis to find a friend for Maryann.  Sela chose this cutie (yep, I think she's cute!) because she thought she seemed like a good choice for Maryann - not too big and didn't seem like she'd crawl over top of her.  Her legs are a pretty gray-blue, and Sela named her Blue. 

She heartily ate the apple and grape dinner her first night with us, checked out the salt and fresh water, and today explored around the crabitat all day.  I think she's climbed over and under every surface, including the hygrometer (measures humidity) -- where she took a pretty long nap!  You should know that the hygrometer is about a quarter-inch thick and is velcroed to the side of the tank.  I'm serious - these guys are funny.  People don't believe me.