There's Just Something About Food

On Saturday, this guy got hankering for some good food.  He found a really great recipe for blackberry rib sauce, and was all over trying it out.  With ribs already in the freezer from a good deal a while back, he was in business.

Shortly after the cooking was over and we were beginning blackberry rib bliss, this guy came home from being a pioneer for 3 days with some of our homeschool friends.  We got to hear some of his stories in between bites.

When that was gone, it was proposed that maybe s'mores were in order.  That was quickly seconded (and thirded and fourthed...)

(Hello chickens in the background!)

In the picture below you can see our favorite s'more method.  Those Keebler striped cookies with the marshmallow are much easier and in my opinion better than the traditional graham cracker and chunk of chocolate.  The chocolate is well-spread and melts nicely, and the cookie breaks without being getting really crumby.

This is my favorite picture of the evening.  Looking at the picture above, I was sitting in the chair next to Jamie with Isaac on the grass between as, as you see him above.  While I was getting pictures of everyone, I turned the camera to get him but couldn't see what I was getting very well.  After taking this, I pulled my phone up to see if it took very well.  Jamie quickly started telling Madeleine to get her s'more away from Isaac, but apparently his quick little fingers had already grabbed enough to get marshmallow.  By the time I turned again (seriously, seconds), it was on his hands, shirt, and blanket.  I ran in for wipes, and by the time I got back his pants were involved too.  I love the pre-chaos captured here, with Madeleine's hand tempting him with the perfect s'more.

Today after church I asked Adam what he wants to eat this last week before he heads off to camp again.  After dutch oven cooking on the pioneer trail, dutch oven potatoes topped the list.  Knowing today was probably more low-key than the rest of the week, we dove into that and had most of the pre-cooking preparation done when Jamie got home from after church meetings.  He quickly set us straight on the appropriate dutch oven potatoes recipe ingredients, and the men folk got to cooking.

Delciousness again.

This picture is actually after that meal was over and the dutch oven berry chocolate cobbler was about to be partaken of.  Melanie has the serving spoon at the ready.

Multiple times both evenings the words "wholesome family recreation" came to mind.  It's lovely sitting around a campfire or a dutch oven, filling our tummies with great food, laughing, and sharing that time together.  An important piece of what helps "establish and maintain" successful families, but so simple.

The Power of Play

This afternoon I (don't be surprised) watched a TED.com talk by Freeman Dyson on looking for life in the outer solar system. Before he dives into that topic he shares a few thoughts on history and then on biotechnology. He makes the statement, "As soon as computers became toys, when kids could come home and play with them, then the industry really took off." Freeman said only half jokingly that that's what they need to do with biotechnology.

I think it's key that Freeman didn't say that when schools started teaching computers they took off. When they became exciting and fun, maybe even a little off limits at times, computers took off.

Play is a powerful way to learn! I try to use playing as much as I can here at home with the kids. Melanie learned most of her math skills last year sitting next to me at the counter adding up 6 and 12 sided dice while I was working on something else. Carolyn learned all her letters in about the same way, sitting next to me at the counter where she had climbed up to talk or color while I was doing something, and I would ask, "Do you know what this letter is?" and draw it out for her. I would quit after just a few so she wouldn't get bored. After the first few were introduced, most letters were pointed out while we were cuddled up reading.

I helped Adam create a blog for himself because he wanted to write about baseball and whever else he felt like writing about. I jumped at the chance thinking, "Ah ha! Typing and writing practice!" He's had it for several months and hasn't written too much, but I just helped his friend create one too, so maybe that will get a little blog competition going.

Sammy has played with animating his Legos a bit using my camera to take the pictures then scrolling through them, but this week he went to town and has done some really cool things. To take that further, now I plan to learn about Stop-Motion Animation so we can take all these pictures from the camera and make something with them. He doesn't know that's the plan because I don't want to get him too excited until I know we can do it, but he asked about starting his own blog to show off some of his Lego creations and animations so we did it earlier today.

The kids are also teaching themselves to play the piano. Melanie used to tinker all the time on it, till one day she played a few notes and realized they were the same notes in a primary song. I helped her figure out the rest, then after she got that down, showed her some simple left hand notes to go with it. Now she plays parts of 4 or 5 songs, one that she figured out the left hand entirely on her own. Jamie got Sammy started on the Indiana Jones theme. Adam hasn't jumped on the bandwagon... yet.

Play is probably why I'm so excited to really get back to school this year. We just keep having more and more fun! Did I mention I plan on hiking the kids to Ensign Peak for the first day back to school?