cheese and quackers

For many years, my beloved's mother has set up an incubator in her primary grade elementary school classrooms and served as surrogate Mama Duck to several generations of ducklings.  The bambini have always enjoyed seeing the hatchlings, so much so that one year the then not-quite-four-year-old elder lad drew this "duck crossing" sign to commemorate the blessed event as a gift to his grandmother.  This drawing holds a special place in my heart because it was one of the elder lad's first drawings of a figure from his imagination.

"duck crossing" sign Apr 2009 by the not-quite-four-year-old elder lad

This year, the elementary school's solarium is playing host to twelve wild baby ducklings and their doting mama duck.  We're anxious to meet the little fluffernutters.  Until that time, we'll satisfy ourselves with these hilarious books by Jez Alborough starring a well-meaning if spirited title character named Duck and his friends Sheep, Goat, and Frog.  

Captain Duck by Jez Alborough

Throughout the books, including Duck in the Truck; Super Duck; Hit the Ball, Duck; Captain Duck; Duck to the Rescue; and Fix-It Duck, the clever rhyming text and lively panel-style illustrations work hand in hand to convey both Duck's quirkiness and his eagerness to help his friends, who bear with Duck and his bumbling ways with love and good humor.

Hit the Ball, Duck, by Jez Alborough

While the thematic material like trucks, baseball, and super heroes might initially appeal to young lads, our lasses ask for and relish these books just as much as their brothers.  We've requested many of the books from the library several times, nearly enough to warrant a collection of our own.  They're almost as fun as the real deal, with no incubator required.

We also like Lauren Thompson's books about Little Quack, his four older siblings, their mama and friends with illustrations by Derek Anderson -- especially Little Quack's New Friend, and a sweet book from my beloved's grandmother called Lemon the Duck by Laura Backman (illustrated by Laurence Clayet-Merle).  

Little Quack's New Friend by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Derek Anderson

debriefing

dinner table debriefing in progress...

Elder lass to her daddy: "What did you do at your office?"
Her daddy (my beloved): "I sat in two meetings which took up most of the day."

her: "What is your office like?"
him: "Actually, we met in the kitchen."

her: "In the kitchen?!  Were there curtains?"
him: "No -- there were windows, but it wasn't so bright that we needed curtains."

her: "Did you have a picnic?"
him: "No."
her: "We did."

her: "Where did you take your nap?"
him: "I didn't get to take one."

With that unexpected answer, there were no more questions.

chocolate cake. enough said.

Yes, I know I do yammer on about the merits of cooking with kids healthy things with less sugar and all that good stuff.  But there *is* a time and a place for this:

That time was this past weekend, when we celebrated my sister's birthday a few days late (we celebrate birthday seasons, remember?).  I made this double layer chocolate cake with ganache frosting, which, though it is a rarity, enjoys status as a family favorite after being the centerpiece of a couple of special birthday celebrations (her sweet sixteen being one of them, my beloved's birthday being the other). 

Even though I made this cake all by myself, with no little helpers oddly enough (lassies were napping, lads were helping my beloved with yard work), I overlooked a few ingredients and came up short on another one.  The party people ate it anyway.  Here's the whole story at Foodie Proclivities.  I do hope you'll head on over...

more zoo books

With the preschool field trip to the zoo a qualified success (and behind us), I realize one post about zoo-themed picture books is simply not enough. 

Sheena Knowles and Rod Clement have created two funny books about emus -- of all creatures -- that I think belong in any zoo-themed book list.  In Edward the Emu, the title bird thinks it would be more interesting to be any other animal in the zoo than an emu, so each night he sneaks out of his cage and climbs in with another animal.  Each successive morning everyone is surprised to find an emu in with the lions, seals, and snakes.  Imagine his surprise, however, when he learns that visitors to the zoo are looking for the interesting emu -- that's him!  When he gets back to his cage, he meets Edwina, the emu who replaced him when he went wanderin'.  Their life together is the subject of Edwina the Emu, who by now is the mother of ten emu eggs.  The illustrations in these two books crack me up (pardon the pun).  Who knew emus had such hilarious facial expressions?

Every so often the talented librarian who does the storytime at our local library branch will read The Baby Beebee Bird by Diane Redfield Massie.  I think it's the way she reads the story that endears it to me.  I was delighted to find a copy of the book at my parents' house on a recent visit.  I didn't remember it at all from my childhood, but I'm so happy to share it with my bambini now.  A wee little baby beebee bird comes to live at the zoo.  As darkness falls and the animals settle in for the night, their sleep is disturbed by the "bobby-beebeeing" of the baby beebee bird, who is nocturnal by nature (like some children I know, ahem).  The animals all try to shush the bird, who is only doing what comes naturally.  The next morning, the zookeeper is confounded by all the sluggish animals.  The baby beebee bird tucks into her nest to sleep for the day, but the other animals will have none of that.  They roar, squawk, and pester the bird to keep her awake all day.  The next evening when darkness falls, the zoo is blissfully quiet. 

Some zoos have an in-house aquarium (but not ours -- that's a separate field trip).   Therefore the recently released One Cool Friend  by Toni Buzzeo and illustrated by David Small (a favorite of mine) fits right in.  A proper young man named Elliot goes to the aquarium with his eccentric father and comes home with a penguin -- a living, breathing penguin.  Elliot is a thoughtful and generous host to his new friend, making the bird's accommodations (i.e. Elliot's bedroom) just to the penguin's liking and making all the family's frozen fish available to the guest for his consumption.  The dad is clueless to the fact that an actual penguin is living in the house (he thinks the penguin is a stuffed animal souvenir from the aquarium gift shop).  He is set straight in a funny and surprising way.

We've been working through many of David Small's books lately, with two of them making my ongoing "favorites" list: George Washington's Cows (which Small himself both wrote and illustrated) and The Huckabuck Family: and How They Raised Popcorn in Nebraska and Quit and Came Back (one of Carl Sandberg's Rootabaga Stories).  I digress, however, from my zoo theme by mentioning them.

Back on topic, for the wee-est zoo-goers in the group, there is Eric Carle's 1-2-3 To The Zoo and Deborah Guarino's Is Your Mama A Llama?

We also really liked Jon Agee's My Rhinoceros, about a boy who adopts a rhinoceros as a pet even though he's told that rhinoceroses are only good for popping balloons and poking holes in kites.  Turns out, those talents are actually useful in certain situations.

Now I feel a little better about my canvassing of the zoo-themed books scene (not that I've even scratched the surface).  At least I've given a more complete picture of the books we will reach for should anyone suggest going to the zoo again anytime soon.

overheard

What a privilege it is to hear the bedtime prayers of our bambini.  The elder lad has offered the same prayer every night for a few years, praying for his loved ones in exactly the same order.   The younger lad tends to vary things up a bit, sometimes composing his own spontaneous prayers and sometimes asking his daddy to pray the Our Father with him.  The elder lass sometimes needs a little prompting, but other times she knows exactly who she wants to pray for -- and it's usually a mixture of her immediate family, extended family, and some random people all mixed up together in no particular order. 

It's always humbling to hear them praying for me.  Lord knows those are the prayers I need most.  Surely he hears them loud and clear, even if they are sometimes sleepily mumbled. 

not my thing -- or is it?

We made these cookies earlier this week for the elder lad's birthday snack at school -- even though his birthday isn't for another two months. His wonderful teacher works the summer birthdays into the classroom celebration calendar so that the summer babes can bask in birthday glory with their schoolmates before everyone scatters for the summer.

We used this oatmeal cookie recipe (with most of the oats ground into flour to smooth out the texture) and frosted them with this glaze. By all accounts, they were right tasty.

A mom of one of the elder lad's classmates -- one who has been unfailingly generous and friendly to me, a relative newcomer to the parish school community, for which I am so grateful -- asked me recently after I brought homemade baked doughnuts to a class party if baking is "my thing."

"It is now," I told her, relating how I'd taken up the craft as a way of both feeding my picky selective eaters well *and* having something fun to do with them. Before I had children there were a few recipes that I liked to bake (brownies being the primary one), but the activity usually wasn't my first choice when I had free time (whatever that is). Playing the piano was my thing. Making jewelry was my thing. Doing various paper- and fabric-related crafts was my thing. Baking and cooking?  Meh. 

When my beloved and I were courting, my attitude toward cooking began to change because it was a hobby of his.  He was (and is still) amazingly skilled and at ease in the kitchen, as his recent Sammy can chicken experiment shows, and cooking together soon became a favorite pastime of ours. 

Nowadays I spend a lot of time in the kitchen doing a lot of "from-scratch" cooking and baking -- and I like to do it (usually). Serving nutritionally-dense meals is important to my beloved and me, and this is one way we accomplish that.  It's not a matter of wanting to show off or be Super Mom or anything like that.  It's mainly about finding a way to satiate this formidable sweet tooth of mine (and that of my elder lad, gee willikers) in a way that precludes sugar high-related behavioral unpleasantries and negative impacts on physical wellbeing.

Rolled and cut out cookies with frosting decorations are definitely not my thing.  Those are generally more hassle and mess than I'm willing to take on with little helpers, but I am at times persuaded to make exceptions. Especially during Easter season, we revel in the sweet treats that often accompany celebrations like birthdays and sacraments. We can do so in good conscience by eating in moderation and choosing ingredients that are both wholesome and delicious. And if we get to make those treats together as part of the festivities, so much the better.

appetizing idea

The elder lad was at his persuasive best trying to convince the younger lad to try macaroni and cheese for dinner:
"You'll like it.  It tastes like Cheez-Its [the current favorite after school snack -- junior Scrabble style, please] but gummy like gummies."

appetizing (?) juxtaposition of flavors... and why the fascination with gummy fruit snacks?  Why?

"Maybe for breakfast," the younger lad -- ever the diplomat -- hedged...

... he opted for a mini bagel with cream cheese instead.