Easy Disney Treats

This week for Potions, the students get to make a Disney Treat. Here are some fun and easy ideas.

Must Try Mickey Mouse Cupcakes

Mickey Mouse Oreos

Mickey Mouse Lunch

Monsters University Tin Can Cakes

Jessie Cowgirl Hat Cookies

Of course, sometimes making something Disney can be as easy as arranging things on a plate!

 Mickey Mouse Pancakes

 Finding Nemo Carrot Sticks

 Snack it Up!

 Build Your Own Olaf

Cars Stoplight Brownies

Mouse Ear Doughnuts

Oreo Mickey

Have fun mixing it up with the Mouse this week. Don't forgot to play some Disney music in the kitchen while you work some magic. Bibbity Bobbity Boo! 

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Meal Planning Made Easy

Yesterday I posted about the importance of feeding our families and gathering around the dinner table together as often as we can. I thought it might be fun to share how I plan and organize our family dinners.

My menu revolves around where I buy our food and what I buy at certain times of the month. Let me explain.

Once a month I go to Costco. I pick up in bulk the household supplies that I need: toilet paper, paper towels, dishwashing detergents etc. I also buy food. One of our favorite things to buy at Costco is the Big Package of Uncooked Flour Tortillas and the huge bag of Kirkland Tortilla Chips. For a week after I shop at Costco, I plan all my menus around these tortillas. We go crazy with the Mexican food that my kids love.

Here are the items that I regularly serve using these tortillas:
Green Chili Quesadillas
Breakfast Burritos
Chicken Enchiladas
Homemake Cafe Rio Sweet Pork and Rice
Fajitas
Beef Taquitos
Chicken Chili Quesadillas

I try to limit our red meat consumption but once a month I do buy good quality lean hamburger. The following week most of our dinners revolve around this meat. Here are some of things that I serve.

Taco Salad
Lasagna
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Meatloaf
Hamburgers
Navajo Tacos

The other two weeks of the month I do regular grocery shopping usually at Walmart. We eat Italian and Chinese on these weeks with the pasta and rice that I can get very inexpensively.
I serve a mix of the following meals:

Stir Fry Chicken and Rice
Orange Chicken
Ham Fried Rice
Homemade Pizza
Calzones
Pizza Rolls
Fettuccine Alfredo
Stroganoff
Homemade Mac and Cheese

I have tried lots of different meal and menu plans (see this week's post on adaptation above) but this system seems to work the best for me. When I plan my week around a few key ingredients, we spend less money on groceries and waste less food. My family doesn't seem to mind that each week is repetitive since we get lots of variety in the course of a month.

I hope this helps you think about menu planning in a different way and gives you some of your own ideas about what might work for you.

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Feed the Bears

Recently I read the transcript of a speech that was given by Anthony Daniels, a doctor and psychiatrist from Birmingham, England. He shared some of the experiences he has had making house calls to the homes of his patients.

"I should mention a rather startling fact: By the time they are 15 or 16, twice as many children in Britain have a television as have a biological father living at home. The child may be father to the man, but the television is father to the child. Few homes were without televisions with screens as large as a cinema- sometimes more than one- and they were never turned off, so that I often felt I was examining someone in a cinema rather than in a house. But what was curious was that these homes often had no means of cooking a meal, or any evidence of a meal ever having been cooked beyond the use of a microwave, and no place at which a meal could have been eaten in a family fashion. The pattern of eating in such households was a kind of foraging in the refrigerator, as and when the mood took, with the food to be consumed sitting in front of one of the giant television screens. Surveys have shown that a fifth of British children do not eat a meal more than once a week with another member of their household, and many homes do not have a dining table. Needless to say, this pattern is concentrated in the lower arches of society, where so elementary but fundamental a means of socialization is now unknown."

This sad commentary reminded me of some advice I received as a young mother: "When your children are grumpy and out of sorts they are probably hungry. Feed the bears and you will have a happy home." I have learned over the years that there is a lot of wisdom in that advice.

"Nothing rights the world more than a meal lovingly prepared and served by a mother."

It isn't easy to put food on the table every evening for our families but it is worth it. Good luck in feeding your hungry bears!


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Make some Patriotic Pigeons

Happy 4th of July! One of my favorite patriotic stories is about a pigeon named Cher Ami. I made some pigeon cupcakes last summer with my daughter to honor this heroic bird.

Share this story with your family around the picnic table this Independence Day.

Cher Ami lived almost 100 years ago during the time of World War 1. Her name means “Dear Friend” in French. She was given to the Americans by British soldiers to be a messenger pigeon during the War.

On October 3, 1918, 500 American troops from the 77th Infantry Division were trapped behind enemy lines without any food or ammunition. They were hiding behind a small hill during the Battle of Argonne in France. The men of this Lost Battalion sent out one messenger pigeon with this message:

MANY WOUNDED. WE CANNOT EVACUATE.

This pigeon was shot down by the enemy and many men were killed and wounded that first day because they did not receive the help that they needed. By the second day only 194 men were left alive. They sent out a second messenger pigeon with this message:

MEN ARE SUFFERING. CAN SUPPORT BE SENT?

Again, this second pigeon was shot down. By now the men were in desperate circumstances. The enemy was closing in on them and they had begun to receive “friendly fire” from Allied Troops who did not know their location. They had one messenger pigeon left, “Cher Ami.”

She was sent out with a note in a canister fastened to her leg. The message read:

WE ARE ALONG THE ROAD PARALLEL TO 276.4. OUR OWN ARTILLERY IS DROPPING A BARRAGE DIRECTLY ON US. FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, STOP IT.

As soon as Cher Ami rose from the brush, the Germans started firing on her. The men watched anxiously as Cher Ami flew through the air with bullets zipping all around her. Suddenly, Cher Ami was shot down. The mens’ only hope seemed lost. Then Cher Ami rose into the air again. She flew frantically back to her loft at company headquarters 25 miles away, arriving in just 65 minutes. She delivered her message even though she had been shot in the breast and was blinded in one eye. She was covered in blood and had one leg hanging on by a tendon.

Because Cher Ami successfully delivered her message, the 194 remaining men were rescued and their lives were saved. Meanwhile, Army medics worked to save Cher Ami’s life. They were unable to save Cher Ami’s leg but they carved a wooden leg for her. When she was well enough to travel, the one-legged bird was put on a boat back to America with the American General John Pershing himself seeing her off.

Once she was back in the United States, Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre medal for her heroic service in delivering 12 messages during the war. Cher Ami died of her wounds on June 13, 1919 at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Cher Ami is now displayed at the National Museum of American History in the Price of Freedom Exhibit. She is a true American hero for her service during the war.

You could also take a minute to write a letter to a serviceman or woman to thank them for the sacrifices that they make for our country. 

You could use this website: http://www.operationgratitude.com/get-involved/write-letters/

Thank you heroes for all you do to keep us free!
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Candy Covered Wagons

When I told my students that they were going to be making covered wagons out of candy, one student said, "No way, we get to play with our food!"

This was the perfect activity to end our studies of Lewis and Clark, Manifest Destiny, the Gold Rush and the Oregon Trail. I loved the finished products.

Too bad they didn't last long. Yum!

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Country Day: England

We are back to celebrate the country of England. Check out these links to our past posts about Africa, Russia, and France. Then enjoy these fun activities for learning about the beautiful country of England. I spent six months living in England as a college student and fell in love with the culture and people. My favorite thing to do was take the Tube to one of the many incredible museums in London and then picnic along the Thames. I even fed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square and once fell off a red Double Decker Bus. I am excited to share my memories of England with my children.

English Crafts

Build your own London Bridge or make a Big Ben out of Legos.

Edible Tea Cups- How adorable are these tea cups for tea with the queen?
Or these?

Hot Chocolate Tea Cups

More English Crafts
Find the instructions for making the queen hat, the robin hood hat, the craft stick palace guards and more!

Look at these cute miniature bows and arrows for Robin Hood and all his little Merry Men. Purchase the kits here or make your own with fun foam, frilled end toothpicks and a small branch and some string.

I love both the bus and telephone booth craft. Or make the phone booth a Tardis by painting it blue! Find the instructions here.

British Bobby Paper Doll and More
Find this cute paper doll to color as well as a British bobby that you could make with a toilet paper roll, English crackers, and many more activities.


English Foods

Union Jack Fruit Pizza

English Trifle

English Scones

All I every really ate in England was McVitie's Digestive Biscuits. One of my close friends has a son serving a mission in England. When he told her he was eating lots of Digestive Biscuits, she thought he was having stomach problems! But really, these are just delicious cookies! You can wash them down with a bottle of squash!

Games Played by English School Children

Playground Games from England
Go to this link for fun games like Queenie-Queenie, 5 Stones, and Please Mr. Crocodile!
I love this funny rhyme!

Please Mr. Crocodile,
May I cross the water?
To see my baby daughter
Who lives in a cup and saucer!
 se m

y crocodile,

English Songs

London Bridge is Falling Down Lyrics
(There are lots more verses than I knew about!)

Ring Around the Rosie

Grand Old Duke



English Expressions

Do you know the meaning of the word Lorry? How about Boot?

Is it this?

Or This?

How about the Loo? Share these fun English expression by labeling different items around the house.
Find lots of fun English expression here.



Picture Books About England

Great Movies Set in England

I hope you enjoy this round up of activities about England. Cheerio!

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