Today is the 64th birthday of the State of Israel - Happy birthday Israel! We
wish we were there celebrating with you! But we're not. We're in the kitchen and
the kids are hungry. So in honor of Israel's birthday and the colors of her
flag, blue and white, we're going with a color themed dinner. Blueberry
pancakes. Blueberries for the blue and pancakes for the white, but you already
knew that, didn't ya? 

You can go ahead and hit the fruit store for some blueberries and you can go
ahead and make some pancakes from scratch. Or, if you're, you know, me, you can
break out this:

My trusty box of yummy blueberry pancake mix. Soo easy, just add water and go lay down.
Okay, fine, it's not quite so easy, but it's close. Add water and stand there in
front of the frying pan and wait for bubbles to appear on each pancake so you can
flip 'em. You can totally zone out while doing this so I wasn't totally wrong,
it's sort of like sleeping. 

Serve warm with some Israeli* salad and maybe a vanilla yogurt with a few blue sprinkles
thrown in for good measure. 

If you really want to go to town, you can bake a batch of these Israeli flag cupcakes
we made last year. 

*Do you know how to make Israeli salad? It's yum - and one of the only ways
my kids will eat salad. Chop up a couple of cucumbers and tomatoes into small
pieces and mix. That's it. Many people add chopped onions or peppers but my kids
won't touch those. You can also add an olive oil based dressing. The Israeli
kind usually has some kind of herbs in it, like parsley, but again, my kids
would run away. So we just stick with cucumbers and tomatoes and call it a day. 

If you live here, you have a 1 in 4 chance of being the Kid of the Day. And
that's because we have started a new system in an attempt to curb the constant
bickering, kvetching and complaining about who gets to go first, pick the first
book, choose the show on tv or get into the car first. Or get out of the car
first. Or sit on the big chair at the kitchen counter. You get the idea. 

This behavior was driving me and Josh completely insane. Like right off the
deep end. And then the other day, Family Fun magazine arrived in the mail. I
really like this magazine, it has tons of ideas for things to do with kids. I
fold in almost every page and then proceed to never do any of the things that I
folded in. Except this time. This time I read an article about a mom who's kids
were eerily similiar to mine. Her solution: Kid of the Day. It's exactly what it sounds
like. Each day a different kid is anointed "kid of the day" and that kid gets to
do whatever it is that is causing the problem, first. First out of the house,
first into the car, first to get a drink, first to pick a story. First first
first. That's what's it all about. 

It was a little unclear to me how this mom implemented her idea - a chart, maybe.
I told Josh about this whole Kid of the Day thing and he was intrigued. I kinda feel like he
would have said yes to anything (at some point the idea of some strategically
placed duct tape over some mouths was discussed) as long as it worked. I went
with a picture wheel. I used some tape to make it, so it's kind of like we used
both of our ideas. 

There are many different ways this could have played out. My first thought
was to use 5x7 index cards and draw each kid's name on a card and decorate it
with stickers. Then I was going to put all four cards into one of those cheapo
plastic 5x7 magnetic frames and stick it on the fridge. We would then rotate the
cards each day. I was ready, I was pumped. And then I realized that had no 5x7
index cards and no 5x7 magnetic frames - and I really didn't feel like a trip to
AC Moore. I know. Maybe I had fever or something. 

Anyway, this is what we did. Dipping into the art box, I pulled out some
different papers and some markers. I cut, colored and glued the background
together. Then I cut out a circle from some more paper and attached it to the
background with a paper fastener. I had a whole big bag of them from when we
made these pin wheels. Those were really cute. 

But I digress. With the big circle attached to the other paper, I used a
sharpie and drew lines on the circle, dividing it into four sections. I cut out
a picture of each kid and and glued one in each section. And that was it. I
added some sticky-backed magnets to the back of the paper so the Kid of the Day
wheel can live on the fridge, but it can just as easily live on a wall with some
tape. 
 
The plan is to rotate the wheel one space, clockwise, each morning.
And the next kid becomes Kid of the Day. We're only on day one so I can't
comment on how well this will work, but it has to be better than clicking your heels
together three times and hoping that when you open your eyes, it would already be bedtime. 

My 6 year old's class went to an art museum today. Personally, I could not imagine a more boring place to go, but that's just me. I have never liked museums. Pretty much everyone else I know (besides you, yeah, you know who are, G!) loves them, so in the interest of friendship and exposing my kids to at least a little culture, I have been to many many museums in my life. I'm usually the one holding all the bags and sitting on a bench, handing out juice boxes and secret snacks because inevitably, there will a no-eating sign right behind me. Anyway, that's my take on museums.

In honor of the first grade trip to the art museum, here is an art-museum dinner. Happy Face Meatloaf.

Here's the how to:
Mix your favorite meatloaf recipe.
This is mine: Mix 2 pounds of ground turkey with 3 eggs, some ketchup and a nice amount of bread crumbs or matzah meals. See, not really a recipe. That's why you should use your own recipe.

I flattened the meat mixture down into a 9x13 pan. I drew a happy face and some hearts on top, using ketchup. Bake, covered, at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and keep baking until cooked through, maybe another 20 minutes or so. 

I showed the finished meatloaf to my son. He said it looked "okay, but mommy did you know that in real art museums they have naked people and you can see their whole tushes!?" It might be time to learn the word "statue".  

 

I made this before Pesach - and I use the term "made" very loosely, because all
I did was punch holes. Here, I'll show you.

In the hopes of giving Little T something to do while I tried to do a little
cleaning, I took out a package of pipe cleaners and an empty bread
crumb container* - the kind with a plastic lid. An empty cottage cheese
container would work as well.

Using a scissor, I poked/jammed the scissor through the cover and made several
holes, one for each pipe cleaner. I think we used six or seven pipe cleaners.

Then I stuck the pipe cleaners into the holes and handed it to Little T. And she
spent the next 45 minutes putting them in and taking them out. Amazing. And
funny - when the older kids came home from school, they were all jealous. And I
was like, really? Pipe cleaners in a hole? You want one too? And they all said
yes!

*Cleaning for Pesach makes that bready crumb container just all kinds of ironic, no?

And we're back.
Another Pesach is over and done with. Pesach was, all at the same time, long and beautiful and fattening. The kitchen has been returned to its rightful chametz disposition. The haggadahs and school projects have been packed away and we have all had a piece of birthday cake for good measure. Yup, this time it was my brithday and no, this time I did not bake myself a cake. My parents were kind enough to bring one - although I think they might have miscounted the number of people eating when deciding on the size of the cake because this cake could easily feed thirty. Really. Look.

But I appreciated this huge cake from Costco. It was delicious. And I even more appreciated the fact that 3/4 of it went home to my cousins.The last thing I need is a yummy birthday cake lurking around my kitchen. The post-Pesach food plan is back in full swing. After all, summer is coming - or maybe it's already here. 90 degree weather in mid-April is just a little concerning. But not from a global warming perspective, more from an "oh-no-it-cannot-be-time-to-switch-the-clothes-in-the-kids'-dressers-again" kind of perspective. But oh-yes it is! Fun for all and project for an entire day.