News – Page 51

Fall Fun

November 3, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

In contrast to neighbors to the south, who experienced snowstorms this week, and in some parts of New Jersey, apparently exhausted their snow days for the school year, here in the Great White North, we had balmy temperatures of 14 degrees Celsius (almost 60 degrees Fahrenheit, for those who can’t convert). The perfect day for a fall jaunt. Also a great day to take my husband’s new camera out for a spin.

As much as I am excited about going back to China, fall in Canada is one thing I will definitely miss.

November 3 in 30

October 31, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

I just spent one of those weekends that makes you take a second look at your life and wonder if your priorities are completely in the right place. Not that they’re dramatically off-center, just that I wonder if there are some things I left behind along the way that I need to spend more time on–a lot more time on. It’s all very personal at the moment, and nothing I want to go public with, but it did make it a challenge to prepare my 3 in 30 post for November.

I can tell you what I’m NOT going to do. I’m not going to participate in NaNoWriMo. Much as I’d love to, it’s not the right time for me. Maybe next year. I’m not doing it with my kids this year, either, although last year’s experience was wonderful, and I heartily endorse it.

There are three reasons for this:

I’ve spent so much time in recent months concentrating on After the Snow Falls that I need to give myself a reprieve to recharge my creative juices.
We’re planning a big trip later this month. More on that really soon. I’m so excited! It’s a surprise for the kids that I’ll unveil here when I tell them.
We’re gearing up to move back to China! Again, excited beyond words, and so. much. to. do. Already reading moving blogs and advice because I’m determined to make this one less stressful!

This may require some future revision, but here are my goals at this moment:

Get my personal schedule on track. For me this means getting up before everyone else in the house, spending some devotional time, and then exercising and showering before breakfast preparations.
Begin moving preparations.
Pull off a successful birthday celebration for Sweetpea, and have a blast on our trip.

Conquering the Picky Eater

October 25, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

I was never a picky eater, so I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of patience for those who are, but seemingly coinciding with our move to China and continuing forward from there, our Sweetpea, in particular, has decided that most breakfast foods are not her thing.

And yet some years ago, after talking to someone about concerns about allergies, the advice I received was to have a lot of variety in our food choices. Up until then, our kids had pretty much eaten oatmeal every morning.

Funny enough, one of the things Sweetpea now has challenges with is oatmeal. So I created a new breakfast food: “Buffet Oatmeal.”

We pull just about everything out of the pantry and they’re allowed to “dress” their oatmeal in whatever they like. The only rules: eat everything you take and everyone has to help clean up.

Here are our favorite formulas:

Me:

bananas
walnuts
coconut
honey
peanut or almond butter
cocoa

Pumpkin:

raisins
coconut
almond milk
maple syrup
peanut butter
almond butter
cocoa
walnuts

Sweetpea:

maple syrup
honey
almond milk
peanut butter
cocoa

Sprout:

bananas
peanut butter
honey

What’s for breakfast at your house today?

Chef’s Hat and Apron

October 19, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

Did you see the chef’s hat and apron in yesterday’s post? If not, here’s another peek at it:

I made these for my kids last Christmas, because they were getting into doing chores in the kitchen, particularly washing dishes, but Sprout didn’t like it when her clothes got wet.

So I took an old McCall’s pattern for an apron I had lying around and made it from vinyl-coated cotton. I used a fabric that would be acceptable for both boys and girls, omitted the pocket from the pattern, rounded the edges, and used binding all around to finish the edges and make the ties and the loop around the neck. Then I found this fabulous tutorial for a chef’s hat. The same site also has an apron tutorial, if you’d rather make one from fabric.

The chef’s hat involves a lot of pinning, but otherwise, it’s very easy. I enjoyed it so much, I made aprons and hats for my niece and nephew as well.

Enjoy!

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