Josiah's journal

Josiah expressed interest in starting a journal last October and I was more than willing to accommodate the budding young writer. It was a hit or miss thing over the months. He'd see me sit down with pen and journal and would run for his, or after a fun weekend adventure I might suggest he draw a picture and write about it, but nothing very regular came of it.

We ventured out to Oregon at the beginning of June for a long overdue visit to Nana and Papa's house and during that time I was lucky enough to share a two-hour coffee date with Darla, a dear, gracious lady who has more years of experience in teaching children than I have in just living. I left our meeting encouraged, excited, elated at the opportunity before me to teach my children.

Josiah officially starts kindergarten this fall, and we will be homeschooling,  but education is so much more than just curriculum and grades. I've been educating my child since I first held his tiny little body in my arms. I want to teach learning as a way of life. So the idea of "officially" starting school is rather anticlimactic.

One of the many practical tips I took away from my conversation with Darla, one that I implemented as soon as we got home, was to have Josiah write at least two to three times a week in his journal. Make it a habit.

We did.

And now I have a precious book that chronicles our summer from the eyes of my five year old. Every other day he'd write two or three sentences about whatever he wanted and then draw a picture in the space at the top of the page. (Early writer journals can be found at Wal-mart for $2.) I'd make a few corrections, have him practice errant letters in the correct fashion, maybe work on spelling of high frequency words. Simple stuff.  No tears and sweat. I wanted him to have a positive experience, a gentle introduction to writing.

And I think he did. He loves his journal. Loves to flip through it and remember, loves to read it aloud to me and comment on the funny ways he misspelled words he's since learned to spell correctly. Bereket is already asking when he can start his own journal... that will be awhile yet. We've just mastered English speaking. Almost.

Slacklining in our backyard. Slacklining is a cross between tightrope walking and a long, skinny trampoline. Casey's new "toy" for the summer.

Josiah and Bereket running the Strawberry Day's kids 1/2 mile race. My favorite.

Ice cream at Katy's Korner. Can you tell who has mint chocolate chip?

Roasting marshmallows over the fire while camping.

summer joys~ arugula & sand boxes

I am going to resist the urge to blog about not blogging and launch back into counting the joys of summer. We are counting twenty twelves in 2012 here on Bessemer Avenue, and as I failed to share our twelve signs of spring, perhaps this next delightful dozen will find its way to completion here at my corner of cyberspace.

Our sand box is sunken into our back deck, thanks to my clever daddy, and does tend to stay damp. My boys like it best that way. They like it more than damp. They like it wet and gloriously muddy. Sand is so, so much fun to scrub out of those tight little curls!

And arugula.

Ah, arugula. I fell in love with this spicy, leafy, very-easy-to-grow green goodness this summer.

My little kitchen garden has yet to be what I envision it, but it gets a little better each year and in June I finally got around to sowing my out-of-date arugula rocket seeds left over from last spring and they did me the very gracious favor of sprouting. And producing a bountiful crop of zippy, yummy leaves.

Arugula has its origins in the Mediterranean, germinates in just 5-7 days and can be harvested 2 to 3 short weeks later. It is frost hardy and can be grown right through the winter in a cold frame or, due to its shallow roots, in a pot on a windowsill.

I failed to plant my seeds in succession but just threw the whole lot of them in the ground together, hardly expecting them to do much. Four weeks later I had more arugula than I knew what to do with and went searching the internet for arugula recipes.

This was the result:

an arugula salad with apple vinaigrette, 

arugula stuffed portabellos 

and linguine tossed with arugula pesto. 

And my boys ate it all. And liked it. The mushrooms were a little rich for me but the rest was very yummy. Here is the recipe for the salad dressing and the pesto, altered enough that I'm not going to feel bad for not remembering the website where the originals were found. {smile}

Apple Vinaigrette

1 whole apple, chopped in food processor
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. grated red onion
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 tsp. dry mustard or dijon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. olive oil

Combine all ingredients in food processor and blend till smooth. Refrigerate till serving.

I tossed the dressing into the greens and then topped with feta, bacon, apples and walnuts.
The sweetness of the dressing mellows the spicy greens, making it very palatable for little ones.

Arugula Pesto

2 c. packed arugula leaves
1/2 c. walnuts, toasted
4 garlic cloves, minced before blending
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. EVOO
Blend in food processor till smooth.
Then add 1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Toss with hot pasta or freeze for later use.