Turtle & Bread In The Same Sentence?

Sounds weird, right?  But that is what we did today. Make Turtle Bread. 
We are studying a unit on Turtles in Kindergarten. For those of you who don’t know, I homeschool E.  It’s been a challenge, but one we continue to work at. 
Anyway, just as we were finishing up our unit, I saw instructions on how to make a turtle-shaped loaf of bread.  I had been looking for SOMETHING to make shaped like a turtle and *snap* there it was! Perfect.
Today was Turtle Breadmaking day.  I just make a quick recipe of white bread from my breadmaker (which is broke at the moment but that is another story) recipe book

and then set it to rise on the counter.  E kept running to check to see if it had “rised” yet. LOL
The fun part was next.  E got to “punch down” the dough.  Then we broke it up into the following pieces and put it together on a greased cookie sheet.
Shell – one 6” ball of dough
Head – one 3” ball of dough
Legs – four 2” balls of dough
Tail – one wedge of dough

We didn’t have raisins to use for the eyes, so E suggested we use chocolate chips.  Yummy.  Great idea E!
*forgot to mention the eggwash - 1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp water *
Let it rise again for 30 minutes, than into a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes.
Turned out GREAT and tasted GREAT too!

Not sure if there will be any left when my husband gets home!
Sharon

It's Been A While.....

We've had a busy summer and now it's over (although not pool time...it's still warm enough to swim for a few more weeks).

E had a couple of first in the last few months:

1. She started swimming w/o any swim aids (vest, ring, water wings).  She is quite the fish now and LOVES to swim.  I may need to get her on a swim team.
   
2. She has started reading.  She has a few Step 1 (K-1) books and she is reading them fairly easily.  She is so proud of herself and stops just about every sentence to say "Mom, look, I'm READING!" 
   
3. She is OUT OF PULL-UPS!  This is the one that makes me the happiest.  She has stayed dry at night for all but one night the last two weeks.  I do wake her up before I go to bed to have her go potty but she is doing great and I am so proud of her!

We've started Kindergarten at home and we both LOVE it.  We took our first field trip last Friday.  We went to the St. Pete Pier, which has an aquarium on the 2nd floor.

We took the bus there...what long trip it is.  Then we had to walk about 15 minutes from the bus down to the Pier. We walked through a little park and saw a great fountain and some beautiful flowers.

It started to rain and we got drenched.  E was worried about her dress getting all wet but I just kept telling her it's only water and it will dry.

First stop was an ice cream at a little food court while we dried off.

Then it was up to the aquarium to check out the fishies and other sea creatures.   Some were beautiful...and some were just plain strange looking. LOL

I have so many other pictures but they were all taken with my cell phone and the quality is just not good.

On the way out, we stopped at the gift shop and bought a few things to remind us of our trip....a story about a flounder, a sticker book with some aquarium fish, a coloring book and crayons (mostly for the bus trip home) and a coin purse with the Aquarium logo on it.

Next, was a trip up to the 5th floor.  There is an observation deck with awesome veiws of the city skyline and Tampa Bay. 

Last stop was the restaurant also on the 5th floor for a quick dinner before heading back home. 

Turns out there is a trolley that runs from the Pier up to 1/2 a block from the bus stop so we were able to catch that...and only costs .25! 

E had a great time!  We will definitely go back another time.  She loved the clownfish and the fish that looks like Dori from Finding Nemo...and the little sting rays.

Now you are all caught up.  As usual, thanks for stopping by.


N

News From The Pool, v1, issue 1

My daughter is destined to be a cheerleader, I think.  "Mom, you are swimming great." and "Go daddy, go daddy, pull the wagon, go daddy." and "Keep peddling mom--ok that one was from last year since I haven't ridden (is that a word??) my bike in a L O N G time--you can do it."   She also happens to believe, and who am I to disagree with her, that I am the Best Mom In The World.  I mean, she tells me every day so it must be true, right?

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File this one under Imagination In Overdrive!

I've posted a lot about my daughter's imagination.  Just when I think I've heard the funniest thing from her, she surprises me.

It's not secret that she LOVES Disney Princesses.  Just about every day, she pretends to be one of the DP's and has this whole storyline that he replays, sometimes ad naseum. 

Today, she was in her blue princess gown, and tells me she just got married to Prince Eric.  Then she tells me that she is moving to the beach but not into my house on the beach but we can live next door.  Then...well I'll just post what I put on my Facebook status today.

"Is currently in a house with a Princess in a blue gown, who was recently married to Prince Eric that is being pulled through the sky by Rudolph who is taking us to the beach to look for a house that is colored 1/2 blue, 1/2 purple and 1/2 yellow."

followed by:

" ‎...and I just became a Grandmother to Daisy who was born because The Princess wished on the Wishing Crown to have a baby the same day she got married and viola (her new favorite word to say), Daisy arrived. "Now remember mom, I get to name her because she is my baby."

There is so much more of the conversation I'm leaving out so I guess it's the cause of "Guess you had to be there" to see the humor in it but some days she is just pure entertainment!  Love this little girl. :o)