Curious about what will show up on our dinner table this week? 

Monday: Shrimp tacos with citrus cabbage slaw, black beans

Tuesday: Broccoli bean and bowtie pasta salad

Wednesday: Grilled corn w/garlic basil butter, spinach with quinoa and grilled meat

Thursday: Vegan blueberry corn pancakes

Friday: British muffin pizzas

Saturday:Big Bands and Barbecue

Sunday: Crock pot chicken and dumplings

I stopped at our local farm stand for some fresh fruits and veggies this morning. Spina Farms is right by IBM, and I've been meaning to stop in for ages. To my surprise, it's a very well stocked stand, with more than just fruits and veggies. They have snacks, eggs, drinks, honey and more. I love that everything is locally made and grown. Sigh. If only it were also all organic, it would be perfect!

Check out my morning haul.

Local honey, corn, cantaloupe, raspberries, cucumber, avocado, limes, pluots, plums, and peaches. All for only $23.07.

It's going to be a yummy week!

We have a pool in our neighborhood, but it's just so cold! Seriously, I don't know how people swim in cold water. It was really hot one day last week, and I needed a quick way to cool the kiddos off. Enter some creative thinking on my part, and we turned the back yard into a mini pool play area, LOL.

Annapurna is saying, "You want me to get in the bucket? Really? "


Pretty soon, water and sand toys were all over.


When that got boring, I added some Dawn to the water, and we got an instant bubble bath!


Brr!


After a while, Annapurna was violently shivering. She did some smart thinking, and took advantage of the sun warmed bricks.


Meanwhile, Emily and I were just chillin' and chatting with our coffee. It was fun to watch the kids, and take advantage of the oncoming evening breeze.



I love how such simple things can bring so much pleasure.

I haven't done tie dye since I was a kid. I have fond memories of making tie dye t-shirts as a  Girl Scout, and have been wanting to try it out with the kids. Sounds scary, doesn't it? Permanent dye and children? Eek!

After a bit of discussion, my friend Stephanie and I decided to do a little tie dye experiment. I bought a kit and scrounged up some white shirts. We set a date, and finally tried it out.

Morgan and Matthew check out the directions, and try to decide what style of binding to do with their shirts.


The grown ups tried our hand at binding the shirts first.


Then, the kids bound theirs.


The bound shirts needed to soak in a bucket of soda ash and water for about 30 minutes.


This gave us time for play and snacks! Emily was very popular with the children.



She even had them delivering snacks to her hammock.


The kids dyed from oldest to youngest, so Kenyon was second. We were a little too stingy with the dye with the first few shirts. This resulted in lighter colored shirts and more white showing. Live and learn.



Annapurna, true to form, was not open to Mama suggestions on what to do next. She was very free form, and had a funny back handed way of squirting the dye. It made me very nervous!


Ethan wasn't about to be left out of the fun!


Emily dyed shirts for herself and Mom


Ta Da! They look nice, don't they? 

Annapurna's


Kenyon's


Mine




The experiment was a success, and I'd love to do it again!

So, friends...who is up for a tie dye party? I am thinking that we could use buckets of dye for a larger group. I'd be willing to buy materials if folks chipped in to help with the cost. We could meet up at a nice grassy spot, and spend the morning dying and playing. :-)

I am so pleased with how this one turned out! I used this tutorial, and found it to be very fast and easy. It only requires a bath towel and a hand towel. Pretty bias tape and a little applique makes it extra nice, though.

Annapurna celebrated her fourth birthday on Tuesday. I threw out the "To Do" list, and we spent the day doing whatever caught her fancy. It turned out that she was easy to please, which suits me just fine.

We opened presents right away. Why wait? Annapurna's loot included Lego, Playmobile, a couple of outfits, books and a movie. 


We spent the entire day in the house. We played with the new toys, watched a couple of shows, and just relaxed. Late in the afternoon, we exercised and showered up for an evening birthday party at our traditional birthday place, The Old Spaghetti Factory.

Cuddles with Grandmama


Little Mermaid cake


Presents from Grandmama and Aunt Emily


Video Games!




Sisters and babies


Quarter keeper


Can you believe that she's already four? 

It has become something of a tradition to celebrate July 4th in San Francisco. It's a fun place to visit, plus July in "The City" is always significantly cooler than in San Jose. My youngest sister, Emily, flew in from Charlotte that afternoon. It was just destined to be a great day!

We started by getting reacquainted with Emily, and had lunch at Le Boulanger.  It took the kids precisely 5  minutes of being around Emily before they were fully comfortable, and acting crazy as always.


The weather in San Francisco was perfection. Lots of folks were out to celebrate, but it wasn't overcrowded.

At the park by Fort Mason, Golden Gate Bridge in background


We spent the day in the Marina and North Beach districts, with only a plan of seeing fireworks by the waterfront at dark. Otherwise, we were totally unplanned.


The kids, with Mom and Emily


We followed the sounds of live music to the little beach by Aquatic Park and the Maritime Museum. We relaxed, jammed, and watched the kids play in the sand.


The kids had sand in EVERY pocket and crevice.


We marched up to Ghirardelli Square for some chocolate samples and more live music.

Then, we trekked up to Chestnut Street in search of our favorite playground and dinner.









Dinner was a delight of comfort food at the Grove Cafe on Chestnut Street. You have to try this place. Seriously. The macaroni and cheese is "smack your Mama" good.

With full bellies and steaming cups of coffee from Peets, we finally headed down to the waterfront to settle in for some fireworks.

Dreamy girl with her dandelion


We braved the insanely busy Safeway to pick up some M&Ms and gummy bears. Mom and Emily waited about 30 minutes to use the bathroom while we were there. It was crazy, crazy busy! 

Trading M&Ms and cuddles


I love this happy picture.


I had fun playing with the fireworks setting on my camera. The pictures are far from perfect, but I think they look pretty cool anyway.






Saturn




Last one, I swear.


It was a near perfect day. Getting through traffic and out of the city was the only yucky part. We were smart enough to get the kids ready for bed before buckling them up, so they snoozed the night away as John and I slogged through traffic.

Happy Independence Day, indeed!

Kenyon's current "When I grow up" plan is to build things. Specifically, he wants to build airplanes and rockets. He practices a lot with Tinker Toys and Lego, and he's determined that it would be a suitable use of his time.

John and Kenyon were discussing this idea last week, and John mentioned that Kenyon would need to study a lot of math to be able to build airplanes and rockets. Kenyon was totally shocked to learn that math is an important part of building things.

Kenyon, my little man on a mission, has now become obsessed with learning math. He's writing numbers, learning addition and subtraction, playing his favorite online math games here, and working in the Kumon Simple Addition workbook that he selected at Barnes and Noble.

I'm really lucky about two things here.

1. My almost 6 year old is feeling passionate about math.

2. My dear husband is great at math, and is great at teaching math. Did I ever tell you that he spent a year teaching math to elementary aged kids with ADHD? John has a way of explaining things in simple terms. He always has some little trick, shortcut or new way to look at a problem. I needed him when *I* was a kid! 

Hard at work




He brings his workbook everywhere. The car, restaurants, stores...


Question for the audience: Do you have any favorite math resources for young kids? Books? Software? Manipulatives? 

Currently on our playlist...

NPR reported on the story of fossil hunters unearthing a rare specimen of dinosaur skin. It's 66 million years old. Can you imagine? 

Link here.

We decided to make the most of John's long holiday weekend, and planned some fun "mini vacation" activities. Friday turned out to be one of my favorite days in recent weeks.

We started the day in our typical relaxed fashion. We all slept in, had breakfast, and played until after noon. These are my favorite mornings. Everyone is just so relaxed and happy.

Once we started to feel ready to get out of the house, we threw out the "one meal out a week" rule, and headed to Chipotle for lunch. Yum. It's been two months since we last ate there, and it was such a treat. Please pat me on the back for managing to drink water instead of soda. I gave soda up a couple of months ago, but Chipotle is one of those places that makes me totally crave it. Must be a "need" for sugar to balance out all that salty food.

Next up, Oakland Zoo! I don't know what it is about this place, but it suits me just right. It's up in the hills of Oakland, and manages to catch a breeze that keeps it feeling cooler than home. The zoo itself is small and very kid friendly.

My advice: Be sure to pay the $2/person to take the gondola skyride. It provides great views the animals, bay, and surrounding city. They have a train, too, but it doesn't really give any animal views.

Checking out the "Super Croc".


Giraffe


Bison


The lions were particularly entertaining.

Did I mention the lovely views from the skyride? You can't see it in the picture, but you can actually see the San Francisco and Oakland skylines from here.






We left the zoo feeling relaxed and happy, and moved on to the next part of our adventure::Jack London Square. This placed delighted all four of us.

There are lots of shops and restaurants. 

More importantly, it's on the waterfront, which means that there are cool breezes and lots of boats to watch.

The "cargo ship loaders" were really cool to watch. There is surely a proper name for that, but I surely don't know it. We watched a container ship that had brand new cars being unloaded. That was really cool.


The kids manned a pirate ship and declared themselves captains of the sea.


We admired all sorts of power and sailboats, paying special attention to the weather instruments attached to each boat.


The kids might argue that the fact that a mainline railroad runs through the area is even more important than the waterfront location. I confess that it *is* pretty cool to watch those trains roll through. We saw Amtrak, commuter trains and freight trains passing by. Kenyon was in heaven.

The square, of course, is named for the writer Jack London. I knew that he was the author of Call of the Wild and White Fang, but really enjoyed reading more about him in this link. This guy lived a really interesting life, part of it being in Oakland.

Annapurna met up with White Fang, and he proved to be quite tame.


This log cabin is the actual cabin that London lived in when he went to Klondike, Alaska to seek his fortune during the Klondike Gold Rush. To the right of the cabin, you can see Heinold's First and Last Chance, which is known as "Jack London's Rendezvous". London spent many hours studying and writing at the tables of this historical saloon. Indeed, this place hold quite a lot of history, as evidenced here. 



We popped into Barnes and Noble, and Kenyon asked us to buy him a book about math. How can we say no to that request? Each kid picked out a workbook of their current interest.

Tired and hungry, we ended the adventure with dinner out. Unfortunately, the restaurant we hoped to patronize is now closed. It was growing late, so we decided to just grab a quick bite on the way back to San Jose.

In honor of Annapurna's upcoming birthday, we selected her favorite restaurant, Fresh Choice. Simple, inexpensive and healthy. A perfect way to end a great day.

Post ice cream happy face.


The boys, discussing math and science.


And, that was just Friday. Wait until I tell you what we did on Saturday. :-)

What Kenyon does, Annapurna does. One recent morning, Kenyon taught Annapurna how to use his camera, and let her loose in the house. She took an astonishing volume of photos.











This one makes me laugh. The kids have been talking about how they really want to try Kentucky Grilled Chicken. Kenyon says that when he sees the commercials and billboards, it just looks so delicious, and he wants to eat it up. I burst out laughing when I downloaded their pictures and found a picture of the Kentucky Grilled Chicken commercial.



She actually took quite a few pictures of stuff on television.


The reason the TV was on during Annapurna's photography spree. Tummy bug in the house. Poor, sick Mama.

Kenyon is an avid photographer. He takes photos of things that I never think to photograph. I tend to photograph events and outings. Kenyon photographs our daily lives. 

Sometimes they're crazy blurry.
Sometimes they're better than mine.
Always, they're a wonderful perspective on Kenyon's point of view.

Self portrait--he takes a LOT of these.


Mama's morning perch


Daddy's morning nest


When Dad works from home


Mama, with iPod and chores. Um, and jazz hands? 


Guess who his most frequent subject is? 











Occasionally, he takes the camera outside.




I especially love that he photographs their creations...


...and treasured belongings.



The thing I love most is that he is cultivating a passion.

Breaking News: We use a lot of sunscreen in our family.

You're surprised, no? 

As if being fair skinned wasn't enough, we live in sunny California, and get 300 days of sunshine a year. We always try to practice good sun safety, but we're especially vigilant during the summer months.

Most days, we try to stay indoors or in the shade until after 4 pm. We wear protective clothing, though I haven't invested in SPF/UVA protective clothing. It's on my list, though. Land's End has a nice looking line at reasonable prices. We always wear large sun hats. I'm partial to Sunday Afternoon hats. They are fantastic.

Still, we use quite a bit of sunscreen. There are a LOT of choices out there. I used to just go with anything that seemed gentle, but our switch to using more Earth friendly and natural products led me to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. This database provides a LOT of detailed information about the ingredients in various products, including make up, lotions, soaps, sunscreen and more. It's my "go to" place when I need to buy new products. I get a few ideas of what is considered to be safe, and go from there.

I've tried a number of different sunscreens over the past few years, and thought I'd share my experience.

Thumbs up--I'll buy it again!

Kinesys (Kid's Alcohol Free Sunscreen Spray with Parsol 1789,SPF 30)-- This is my current favorite. It comes in a liquid spray, which means quick application for kids. It feels really slippery as you put it on, but it manages to dry without leaving a greasy feel. I've purchased it from Amazon.com, REI and Sports Basement (Sunnyvale). Hand's down, the best price was at Sports Basement. They charge $16 for a bottle, which is $3 less than most places. Plus, they often offer 20% coupons, which makes the price just that much sweeter. Skin Deep rates this one a 2 out of 10.

Jane Iredale Powder Me SPF-this is one for me. I put this on right before my make up, and provides protection to my face and neck. It's pricey, though. The container has lasted many months, though, so I suspect that I can get away with only buying it once or twice a year. Skin Deep rates this one rates this one a 4 out of 10. The main reason this one gets marked down is that it contains nanoparticles of titanium dioxide. I guess powders are tricky that way. Still, I really like it, and will continue to use it until I find an even safer solution to daily sunscreen. I may revisit the face lotions with sunscreen, to see if something new has popped up.

Mixed Feelings, might have to try it again

Badger Sunscreen (SPF 30 for face and body)--this one has a lot of zinc oxide in it, so it goes on thick, and is makes a mess on clothes. It does smell really nice, though. I just hate how thick it feels, and it just makes the kids a greasy mess. This one gets the safest possible rating at Skin Deep, so it's still high on my list. Skin Deep rates this one rates this one a 0 out of 10. I feel like I should try this one again, and at least use it when I don't mind getting the kids messy and greasy.

Thumbs Down, it just doesn't work for us

Burt's Bees (SPF 30)--I really wanted to like this one. I just didn't. It's chemical free, which I like. It's safe, which I like. But it has a really weird texture and color. I can never quite get it all rubbed in, which leaves a yellowish tint on the skin. The most annoying part is that it gets kind of flaky and chunks up on your skin. It just doesn't work for us. Bummer. Skin Deep rates this one rates this one a 4 out of 10.

Aubrey Organics Natural Sun with Green Tea (SPF 25)--I do like this one, but it also makes a mess on clothing. It's kind of brown colored, and even shows up on the kid's hair. It smells nice, and is very gentle. I have to reapply it really frequently, though, and I'm not sure that I trust it for swimming. Skin Deep rates this one rates this one a 4 out of 10.

Terra Sport Sunscreen (SPF 30)--I bought this one because it was on the shelf at Whole Foods. I liked it a lot. It goes on smoothly, and doesn't leave too much of a greasy feel. Then I checked Skin Deep, and found that it didn't get great ratings. So, I didn't buy it again. Now, it doesn't even show up on Skin Deep's site. That seems really fishy to me. Why would it be gone? They still have the "Aqua Sport" version up, and it rates 4 out of 10, which is what I think they gave "Terra Sport" as well.

Neutrogena Waterguard Kids (Mist SPF 70)--This was another impulse buy. I needed sunscreen fast. I was at Target. I stood there, staring at the wall of sunscreen, and had no idea what to buy. Target didn't seem to carry any of the "safe" brands that I've tried. So, I picked one that sounded gentle. Wrong! Skin deep rates it a 6 out of 10. I did like it, though. The kids adored the spray, and how it feels cold going on. It's so darn easy to use, too. I wish this one got better ratings. 

Trader Joe's Sunscreen (SPF 30)--This is one that I also liked. It goes on smooth, doesn't smell terrible, and is easy to get, since I shop at TJ's weekly. Thankfully, it has been discontinued, because it turns out that Skin Deep gives it a 7 out of 10 on the hazard scale. Yeesh! Blast those parabens and oxybenzone!

My "to try" list includes:
UV Naturals
California Baby
Neutrogena Sunblock Sticks


What sunscreens do you love or hate? What about hats or sun protective clothing? 

From birth, children are hard at work, trying to decode the mystery of language. They start with spoken language, soaking up sounds and words like sponges. Most kids don't need us to teach them to talk...they just figure it out.

One of my favorite courses at University of Wisconsin-Madison was about the Psychology of Language. One of the books we read was Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct, which provides a fascinating look at how we acquire language, particularly as children. It turns out that kids are just hard wired to learn language. They're born with a natural curiosity and determination to learn it. Little babies can take something incredibly complex and decode it. They piece together words and meanings, and even grammatical structures.

When I think about my philosophy of education, it really just expands the idea that kid's are born with an innate readiness to learn. As parents, we trust our children to learn to talk, play, walk, run, and many other amazing accomplishments. I'm just extending that to other aspects of life...like reading, writing, and math.

Now that Kenyon and Annapurna have developed a good grasp on spoken language, they've started work towards mastering reading and writing. These two things permeate our daily lives. It's all around us. Not because I'm making them learn to read and write, but because they are teaching themselves. They've both decided that they want to read and write, and both are working hard to meet their goals. I'm just the facilitator. 

I scatter writing instruments and paper around the house and car. You can always find a jelly jar of colored pencils and spiral drawing books in the dining room. They have notepads and pencils within reach of their car seats. Plus, I've devoted an entire drawer of the craft room to crayons, markers, note pads and drawing paper. If inspiration strikes, there is always something close by for writing and drawing.

Books abound in our home. Between our overflowing bookshelves, and our near weekly trip to the library, we never run out of good reading material. My job is to read to them as much as they want. I'll read anything they want to read, without worrying about which books are age appropriate. Sometimes we read board books, which the kids often try to read themselves. They find that the single words and short sentences are easy to sound out and digest. Sometimes we read long story books, geared towards more advanced readers. The kids don't always sit still for the stories, but they have mastered the art of playing while listening to stories. And, of course, sometimes we read books that designed for their age range.

I actually think the kids learn the most when we're in the car. They pick up their notebooks as soon as I buckle them in, and they're off on some sort of drawing or writing adventure. The drive is peppered with lots of "Mom, how do you spell space craft?" or "Mom, how do you spell too?"

Of course, these questions often lead us on tangents about language. We've discussed the differences between too, to, and two. Or, how cat and kangaroo have the same sound, but start with different letters. Both kids have a tremendous appreciation for "silent e", and how tricky it can be to know when a word has a silent letter.

We bring the notebooks and pencils into restaurants, waiting rooms and even the grocery store. The kids make lots of lists. They copy down license plates, phone numbers,  and business names. They write stories about the pictures they've drawn. They make birthday and Christmas lists.

It feels so amazing to watch this happen. These are my BABIES! They're learning to solve the mystery of language because they're kids, and this is what kids are designed to do. I am so proud to be their Mama, and so happy to help them on their learning journey.

Sorry for the silence. I just have no big news from the Toblerhaus. We're enjoying summer, eating in as much as we can muster, swimming, seeing friends that are *finally* out of school, and playing a lot.

I've managed to finish a few little projects that I'd love to share.

First up, a pool robe for Annapurna. I used this tutorial, and it was quite easy. Actually, the most time consuming part was making the seahorse bias tape. I love that it used up an old bath towel.









Next up, coffee sleeves for a couple of coffee loving friends.


Finally, an art notebook holder for little miss i, a sweet girl that loves to draw.


We've only recently discovered that you can buy colored pencils that erase! How great is that? 



To keep me cool while I sew, I'm loving this delicious recipe for iced tea with plums and thyme. So refreshing, and perfect for a hot summer day.

This is how the kids are keeping cool.

Photo credit: Wayne Washam

Plus, a little creek play with friends.

Photo credit: Wayne Washam

Not to mention 800 hands of family Uno. ;-)

Honey, there is something strange on the kitchen floor...



She *said* that she wasn't tired, but plopped herself down on the tile and was asleep in under 5 minutes. Not tired, my butt.

We've spent a fair bit of the last week in the house due to illness. As always, I'm astounded at how patient and creative the kids can be with how to fill their time. A bit of our latest:

Kenyon lost another tooth, and garnered a slightly crumpled $1 bill from the "Mama Fairy."



We sold the train table, and the kids were allowed to use the money to buy something. They decided to pool their money, and purhased a cool Lego set. It has a boat, dock and Coast Guard station. It's an obsession right now.



The kids decided that they wanted to learn to cut out shapes. I know that this is something that most kids learn in preschool, but I've been waiting for them to tell me when they're ready. We spent a delightful morning cutting out all sorts of shapes, and Kenyon decided that they should make stoplights.



Annapurna's features a "rainbow light", though I'm not sure what you're supposed to do when you see it. After the fact, she decided to add a yellow light on the side.


Both kiddos are really into photography right now. They're sharing Kenyon's camera quite nicely. Here, they are experimenting with taking photographs in a dark closet.



I finally bought some high quality art supplies, and we've been enjoying our oil pastels. A few recent projects:

Kenyon's "Train"


Annapurna's "Rainbow, Bird and Sun"


The kids are doing lots of writing and drawing lately. It's so cool to see them put it all together.

The other day, Annapurna was quietly writing. I stopped to ask what she was writing about, and she said it was about "kuukuez" (cookies) and a "sedy" (city). How cool is that? 

More of her writing...Check out all those words she knows. Baby Kenyon, Baby Annapurna, no, pat, hat, cat...


And, some of Kenyon's (Kenyon, on, sun, off, on, cry)

Kenyon's neighborhood. I drew the outline of the bus and cars.


Annapurna's neighborhood, complete with high rise apartments.

Hakone Gardens is a delightfully peaceful Japanese garden in Saratoga. We last visited with my friend Syd a couple of years ago, when our daughters were still pretty small. Today, we met up again, but our babies are so much bigger now!



Syd, Jadyn and Ozmin. Really Oz's hair isn't that patchy. The light must have been really funky.


Feeding the koi their breakfast.




The grounds are just beautiful.




But the kids really only need some dirt and pebbles to make them happy.


Kenyon's self portrait


Syd and Co.


Unfortuantely, Jadyn's shoe got wet right after this photo, so we had to end our outing sooner than planned. It was great to see them after many weeks of various illnesses between our families. My fingers are crossed that we will still all be healthy for our beach trip on Thursday! ((knock on wood))