Friday, August 27, 2010

Pretty INTENSE!

Eight days as substitute mom! Pretty Intense! Hyper Vigilance! and Lots of Fun.

We played . . .

With hair!

A popular part.

Couldn't talk Hailey into the swings.

But Kaitlin was all for them!

This is the do for Jo! She loves this look!
With Food!

This is the Apple Gallette the night before Max and Katie took off.

Next we made a Rice Krispie Treats calendar to mark the days until Mom came back.

Each mixed her own gooey bowl.

This is what the calendars looked like with just two days to go.

Next day we made a batch of eggless oatmeal cookies.

While the kids and some neighbors played outside, I set up the cooking stations.
Pretty simple recipe as you can see: oatmeal, butter, sugar, and some flour.

"Hard" at work.

The oh-so-tasty finished product.

Hank liked them, too. (Monty joined me for the weekend!)

Next cooking project: the tea party.
Karlie's contribution.

Biscuits, whipped cream, and strawberries!
The party.

The last big cooking playtime was a taste of France with both sets of grandparents.
Crepes with chicken and asparagus with Bechamel sauce
Crepes with whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries
Chocolate Truffles

Karlie and Hailey wrapped the chicken in the crepes. Kaitlin sprinkled the dessert crepes with the cinnamon and sugar. Whipped cream was everywhere! And the truffles were 100% kid produced. A bit too busy to snap many photos!


Oh Yeah! Finger lickin' good!
Enjoyed by all!

Outdoors!
On the tramp. This was a tough one because I know the stats on injuries!
And even limiting the jumping we had our share of bumps and tears.
One at a time. Only safe way to go!
Bikes and trikes. Yes, he did crash.

A sure winner: WATER!!
We had a great time tossing these around in a circle. We had quite a stash!
This is just the beginning.

Indoors.

School.
Legos.
Dancing to Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses
King for a Day

An Attendant


For Hank, it is all about a train.
A morning train set-up.
A train ride. Two times!!!!!

And a toy train.

And lastly, we played with paper.
Letters for the cousins.

A diorama of Paris with key sites mom and dad were visiting.
We started with La Seine.
And ended with this.

And bedtime.
We read every story of Madeline. The girls delightedly
recognized landmarks that we had made for the diorama.
We also read the Moira Kalman's Max in Love, a delightful
dog who finds poodle love in Paris. Oooh-la-la!
Lucky Mom and Dad in the City of Love!
Right. . . . fast asleep! (Yup, I let them sleep in
Mom and Dad's bed and lugged them down the hall each night.)

Like I said, pretty intense and lots of fun.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bravo bravo bravo. Our travels were enriched each day as we saw photos of the great time they were having with you back home. They just wish you could have stayed longer, and we do too. Thanks for giving yourself over fully to the "substitute mom" role. They were yours for those 8 days and they will always remember it! Hope you do to.

MKHKKH said...

We are SO thankful that YOU were watching them. You did better than I wished for. Thank you for coming and doing such and amazing job. They are still missing you and asking "when is Nana coming back?" Hank just asked, "where Nana?" What a wonderful experience for them and you. Love you so and miss you!

Anonymous said...

Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo - you oudid yourself - history, cuisine, w/Madelaine in Paris - priceless.

Anonymous