the sleppys

About a week ago, we received our third “High Five” magazine in the mail. It’s a spin-off of “Highlights for Children” and written for youngsters ages three to six. In the issue was a recipe for soft pretzels, so Dad thought we could try them. He bought a package of yeast and some sea salt. The next morning, before snack time, Ty helped me measure out the ingredients. I kneaded the dough until it was smooth enough to manage. The children sat at the homeschooling table and made stars, crescent moons, knots, ropes, and hearts. Of course, I made some that were traditional pretzel-shape.

I have made pretzels in the past using a more complicated recipe. They came out hard, and nobody ate them. I never tried pretzels again and stuck to plain bread. Now, with the help of a magazine written for preschoolers, I can make pretzels again!

Fresh out of the oven.

Ty’s own pretzels. I think they make good bagels.

The three children’s enjoying their pretzels at the table. Note the magazine opened to the recipe page.

I shaped Taylor’s pretzel into a pony and swirled another into a mouse. She liked eating all the
mustard first THEN the pretzels.

Kyle has nothing to say except, “MMMMmmmm yum yumyum yum yum.”

We later made another batch. The day after, we made two batches of pretzels as well. Next time, we’ll stuff them with cheese and sausages.

The peafowl have been roosting in our neighbor’s yard under their tree. It’s a quiet yard that is full of grass, no children, and two small dogs that hardly ever go outside. So it makes sense the the birds chose their yard.

These birds have also come into our backyard because it’s pleasantly shaded. I’m sure that they eat the Royal Poinciana pods or the bugs that are around that part of the yard. It’s a dark corner where we used to have our compost pile (now we have a compost bin).

Yesterday, we found them in our patio!

We had our young garden plants in the patio to protect them from the summer sun but have recently moved them to the fence on the side yard. We still have a some sprouts that were planted a few weeks ago. We found the birds pecking at the young tomatoes! This made Dad pretty angry, so we tried shooing them out. But the birds are such bird-brains that it took the peacock a few minutes to find his way out. We had trouble with the peahen who was panicking and trying to peck her way through the patio screen. She got stuck in the corner of the patio on the left side of the white chair. She wanted to go to the door but couldn’t get past the aloe plants and the small crate that were sitting in her way.

Dad had Isis on a leash to give peahen a reason to leave. But she still was stuck. I got out of the house through the bathroom door and herded her away from the corner and toward the doorway. She finally got out and joined her companion in the yard. Dad took Isis out on a longer leash to get the birds back into “their” yard. We later found that they had pecked at the tiny tomato that was growing from one plant. I can see why the people down the road view them as pests.

It has come to my awareness that there are people on this continent, and in others, who do not appreciate Christopher Columbus nor do they acknowledge his holiday. I have read and heard a dozen arguments on this behalf, yet I cannot bend to remotely agree with them.

ANYway, in the United States of America, we observe Columbus Day on the second Monday in October. That was when I taught Ty the old poem that most of us know about the young lad Christopher.
“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” I added, “He used three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.” Ty did not like the names of the ships and refused to repeat them. He said, “I don’t like spanish.”
“Well, Ty, in America, we celebrate Columbus Day, and Columbus wouldn’t have gone anywhere if it weren’t for the Spaniard king and queen. And the ships that were loaned to him had spanish names. So if you want to live in this country, you have to know the names of Columbus’ ships. If you don’t want to learn them in homeschool, you have to learn them in building school.”
We threaten sending him to school when he acts up.
“I don’t want to go to building school!”
“Then learn the names!”
He learned the names of the ships but with a big scowl.

We made a cake. This time we had time to put icing on it. I told the kids, while they were helping me read the recipe and put in the ingredients, that this was a cake to celebrate Columbus Day. And we baked it, waited for it to cool, and iced it.

We went outside to play on the tire swing that Dad had just put up.

Dad watches as Ty spins on the new tire swing.

Kyle wants to join the fun.

We came back inside and ate the Columbus cake together for lunch. That’s great about homeschooling: You get to have cake for lunch. And dinner. And celebrate a holiday with a new toy.

This Halloween, we are not going to have a bonfire. Although, it would have been super-fantastic. This year, we will dress up in costumes disguises, beg people for candy, and watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” on YouTube.

A few months ago (when I start thinking about All Hallow’s Eve), I asked the kids what they wanted to be. They were watching Disney’s Peter Pan a lot then. Ty said he wanted to be Peter Pan, and Kyle wanted to go as Captain Hook. If I have a few months, I can patch those disguises up in time for Halloween. But they started on their Legend of Zelda phase, obviously influenced by Dad’s video game, and they both want to be Link, the boy who is on the quest to save Princess Zelda. Link looks a lot like Peter Pan, except Peter Pan doesn’t have iron boots, rupees, nor a sword. In other words, Peter Pan is a wimp with a fairy on his shoulder.

AAAaaaanyway, Dad wants a black cloak to hide himself from the evil sprits that roam that night. I mocked one up of old light-colored bedsheets. Now Ty wants to go not as Link but as “a white ghost, like Daddy.” So Ty can go as a white ghost (with sleeves and a hood), and Kyle can be Link. Taylor is going to be a fairy because Link needs a fairy. And I think I’ll be a gigantic fairy this year. I don’t know what Isis wants to be.

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Now that it’s not so hot, the kids are spending more time outside. The summers are so backward here. In the summer, we close up the house and do not go anywhere. Yesterday, it was hot again. Not only hot, but humid, too, because a storm passed overhead the night before.

The boys on the monkey bars. Taylor was taking a nap. She can climb as high as Kyle does, but it is frightening to watch as she is still uncoordinated.

Ty swings like a monkey. Now if we can get him to let go with one hand and work his way to the other side.