LASNAMÄE Juku Mängumaa

I've heard of the indoor playgrounds here, but we have not gone to any.  Several of us ladies within our community took our kids to play at LASNAMÄE Juku Mängumaa this afternoon.  I did take the camera but didn't take any pictures.  The one above is from their website.  

We had a nice time, but we will not be going there very often as it was 3 Euros for each kid to play for one hour but it is definitely a nice option to have throughout the long winter season here.  Me, I just send the kids out to play in the snow...properly bundled up of course.  Luckily there were only a couple of kids other than the ones with us, but I've heard it is quite busy on the weekends.  

Because we love all our critters...

 We get excited over all their successes.  Here we are enjoying witnessing Stripe catch his prey for the first time.  It was spectacular!  Clara recorded her own version of Wild Planet with her iTouch as she narrated the perils of being a bug in a land dominated by a gecko.  Between my flash going off and her commentary, I'm impressed he maintained his focus.

1st Week of Latin

Clara started taking Latin and Spanish this week.  It was a rather disjoined week as Presidents' Day was Monday, plus we had other activities that disrupted the typical school week.  This means we did a little school work over the weekend, which is a huge benefit of homeschooling...we do not ever sacrifice lessons but rather reschedule them.  Anyway, Clara took her first Latin quiz today and I felt that she did really well considering it was her first test plus it was such a crazy week, which translates to me not doing the best job coordinating everything.  We didn't get to the quiz in Spanish, but I think she will do even better as she already has three school years exposure to Spanish.  Although she was not pleased that I was adding this to our curriculum, she seems to be enjoying it.  

Weekend Highlights

We had a very relaxing weekend.  I was able to enjoy my fellow female friends Friday night with a tasty dinner while Charlie and the kids enjoyed a night together.  Saturday called for cleaning along with a trip into the city.  The gecko has to eat, and we get his crickets at the Zoo.  Here I am documenting our first family outing to get the crickets.  

I messed around and deleted the picture of the store front.  Oh well.  Below you see Clara holding the crickets after purchasing them.

We decided to go to Vapianos for take away (that is how they say it here and also in Japan).  Charlie got his favorite pasta, I ordered a salad, plus we got a diavolo pizza and the kids split a bear pizza.  Yum!  

 On our way home I thought to take a shot of a trolley.  It is fun to watch for them!

After a trip to the grocery store, I thought it would be fun for the kids to make their own peanut butter.  You can see them working to shell the peanuts.  I eventually had to help, but I think they learned a lesson.  

The bag was a 300 g bag and yielded roughly 1.5 cups of peanuts after shelling.

Oops.  I deleted another photo!  I am having such a hard time with  blogger lately!

Anyway, Zach helped clean up after shelling.

As you can see, we use transformers for our American appliances.  We are about to blend our peanuts!

Yes, Clara was dressed as a fairy.  That is what she does.  Regardless, she is mixing the oil with the peanuts after we added a dash of salt.  

And there we have it...homemade peanut butter!  Ok, there were still a few whole peanuts, but overall I think it worked.

Killing Me Softly with His Song

Ok, one of the things I enjoy about living over here is the fact that I often hear American music on the radio but also get to hear tunes I'm familiar with performed in Estonian.  I heard this song in the grocery store today and decided to share it with you.  Enjoy.

Just so you know, the title is:  Millest sa elad ja hingad and translates to "Of What You Live and Breathe".

Petey's Back!

Our good friend, Petey, has come to stay with us again, and this time we'll have him for nearly three weeks.  This time he has settled right in and having fun already.  The kids play with him constantly, and they were eager to get outside to burn some energy.  

Our snowman has been repeatedly covered in snow so is more a blog and we need to recover the decor.  Petey noticed the hat, sniffed it out, and took off for a game of tag with the kids.  I have no idea how much snow we have on the ground but I'd say close to two feet.  Luckily, it is fairly packed and you do not sink too far but you can tell in some of the pictures how deep it is.  I have accepted it will likely be like this for a long time.  It will likely be easy to spot the Easter eggs when the time comes.  

 There are a couple of steps to get to the porch but the snow is practically even with it.  

Just as a side note, we are pleased the gecko and fish are all still alive.  Our home now has the periodic sound of crickets chirping.  Nice.  That and the perpetual sound of the filter running.

Dragon Fruit

Recently, Clara and I read about dragon fruit.  I cannot recall where it was and really thought it had something to do with her schooling, but she denies it.  While at the grocery store this morning, I noted they had dragon fruit!  I thought it would be a nice experience to give it a try, and splurged.  I say splurged because they did not have it whole, and the half was priced at 2.40 Euros ($3.22) which is rather pricey to me.  We documented our first experience with this new super food for your viewing enjoyment.  

We all liked it, but it will remain something we splurge on.  If you are curious about the fruit, check out this short but informative video below.

My Papers Came

Check in the box!

Chocolate Cake!

 My blender has been in overdrive!  The food processor was accidentally put in long-term storage and I cannot bring myself to buy a European model.  They aren't cheap and I cannot use it beyond our time here, and I am too impatient to wait for Amazon to deliver right now.  Besides, if I can pull these off with a blender...can I really justify a food processor right now?  I'm trying to justify one as a birthday present, but I've already picked out what I want for my birthday.

Anyway, thanks to Chocolate Covered Katie, I tried another dessert recipe from her blog.  She calls it chocolate cake...with a crazy ingredient.  I spent quite a while at the grocery store yesterday scouring for some of the ingredients.  Clara had a play date and Zach stayed home with Charlie.  Armed with my list and thanks to Google Translate for helping me translate them I was able to locate organic whole wheat flour and spelt flour, plus flax seeds, etc.  The recipe called for ground flax, so I had to use my blender to try to do this and it turned out ok.  In the picture below you can see the cake after it was done.

Chocolate Covered Katie recommends using her Reece's Pieces Fudge Frosting, so I decided to use the blender for that too.  To be honest, I think the food processor would have really helped this, but it turned out good using the blender.  However, I wanted to try the cake before adding the frosting.  It turns out the cake is moist and rich enough without the frosting so I haven't actually put it on the cake yet.  

 Charlie said it tasted like chocolate cake.  Clara and Zach both said it was good.  Only after they tried it did I reveal it had cauliflower in it!  You should have seen their faces.  Clara then stated that must be why it smelled funny.  I guarantee you she will ask for a second piece later today.  This is Zach's piece half-way eaten.  Not a morsel was left on anyone's plate.

Now, my honest opinion is that this cake tastes really good.  I'm not sure if it was there, or if it was the fact I knew cauliflower was in it, but I did detect the smell of cauliflower but couldn't taste it.  Nobody else remarked about a different smell.  This cake tastes good enough that I would take it with me to a friendly gathering.  I imagine it is even better using a food processor, but I don't know how.

While I love chocolate, I'm so glad I have found some recipes that I do not feel too bad making for my kids.  It turns out to be a win win, and I don't feel like I'm being bad when I have some too!

On that note, I will say that I am very happy with my results with Insanity and drinking Shakeology (the other reason my blender is overdrive)!  We are down to just 16 days left.  It will feel very good to know I completed the program and I believe our plan is to repeat Insanity before doing Insanity the Asylum.  Well, I know that is MY plan.  I don't know that I would have stuck with it without Charlie doing it right there by me.  We've had to get creative to work around his schedule because some days he has to be at work super early or sometimes stay super late.  Some days we get up early to do it, other times we fit it in late at night and a couple of times he has come home on his lunch break to do it...but we have not skipped a single workout!  Since this is a lifestyle change, this dedication will have to stay with us forevermore, but the longer we do it the easier it becomes to stick to it.  I'm feeling energetic and starting to see muscles that I had allowed to be covered with a nice layer of fat.  My clothes are getting looser!  The numbers on the scale have come down a bit, but I have a few more pounds to lose.  I'm hoping to add running into the mix on this next time around too.  With all the delicious recipes I have found for main dishes, snacks, and desserts, I have no complaints about what we eat.  I no longer have cravings for junk unless I do not have these things available.  I gave up potato chips and am on day six since that making that commitment (my biggest vice) and realized I hadn't been thinking about it until I typed it!

Another noteworthy food blog

I am having way too much fun perusing blogs for new recipes!  Luckily friends are sharing their finds, making it easier for me.  If you know me, you know why I'm so loving the blog, Chocolate Covered Katie.  Earlier this week I made the kids Five-Minute Chocolate Oatmeal for breakfast.  Today, I tried a her recipe for No Flour Black Bean Brownies and didn't tell anyone the ingredients until after they declared them yummy.  Clara had a playdate and when she came back I sent some home with them and still waiting for their thoughts.  It was definitely a hit, and I had to pull up the recipe to prove to Charlie what was in it!  He said he was impressed.  You should see my satisfied smile.  However, I should have cooked the brownies a few minutes longer.  I was rushing to pass them along to my friend, but they were still delicious, just not quite as firm as one expects in a brownie.  Not one of my family complained.  

Six Sisters' Stuff is another blog I've mentioned.  Yesterday I made their Slow Cooker Quinoa Chili, which Charlie also declared quite tasty!

The Classroom

Honestly, we call this room the office, but it is where the teaching takes place.  I've not been very happy with the arrangement and now that we have the pets I wanted to organize it in a way that we can move the fish in there too.  As it turns out, our home has very few outlets and they only have one plug. So, for a nice little project today I moved things around.  Overall, I'm happier with this arrangement than it was but I'm still not sure.  I think it is more functional at least.  I have another bookshelf upstairs that I am considering moving down here.  

When Charlie and I do it, I believe the fish tank will go between the gecko and the lamp.

In other exciting news, Charlie called earlier to let me know that Clara's Latin and Spanish materials arrived today!  I ended up choosing Spanish for Children A and Latin for Children A, both through Classical Academic Press.  I think I will start her on Latin next week and after four weeks, introduce Spanish into the schedule.  Of course, if Latin is not going smoothly I might change my game plan.

Happy Valentine's Day!

You guys know I'm not very creative, nor do I have a spark of artistic ability, but that doesn't mean I don't try.  In and effort to demonstrate my love, I attempted to make pink heart-shaped pancakes for the kids.  You probably cannot tell, but I also shaped the sausage into hearts.  The kids got a kick out of it, and Clara declared them to be.....LOVEly pancakes!

 Each child was presented with a small box of chocolates as well.  It was definitely a sweet morning!

Charlie was not left out, but he didn't request pancakes.  I make him an egg and cheese sandwich each morning, but this morning we added sausage to make it special.  And of course, an extra portion of love was added to each person's serving.

I hope you all have a happy Valentine's day!