My Pets

My cat was born in Port Angeles, Washington. Her name is Kitty Witty and she lives inside. We brush her fur. We got her when she was a kitten. We like to play with her.

My other dog is a stray dog. Her name is Koko and she lives outside. We are teaching her how to sit. We got her when she was a dog. She jumps at me when I feed her. I tell her to sit. My pets are great!

-Princess Peach

Let's have eggs for breakfast

Hehe. So we decided to make a special breakfast this morning and venture out of the Cheerios-Pancakes-Oatmeal-Waffle box. After much research (the top recipe on the list), we picked this easy Huevos Rancheros recipe and got to work.


Princess Peach mixed together the rinsed pinto beans with the green salsa. This is the base mixture for the recipe, which we later baked in the oven with a sprinkle of cheese.



Princess Peach thinly slicing the scallions. She's quite handy with a knife! We chopped up scallions, romaine lettuce and fresh cilantro.

And *poof* after ten minutes baking in the oven, much fresh herb chopping and some egg frying, we ended up with this beautiful finished dish! Oh yeah, all before 7:30am. This recipe was both easy AND tasty. And Princess Peach is so awesome in the kitchen!

Princess Peach eating our delicious huevos rancheros!

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ACTIVE TIME: 30 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

1 1/2 cups very thinly sliced romaine lettuce

1 scallion, sliced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

3 teaspoons canola oil, divided

2 teaspoons lime juice

1/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided

1 15-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed

1/2 cup prepared green salsa

8 6-inch corn tortillas

Canola oil cooking spray

3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

4 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Combine lettuce, scallion, cilantro, 1 teaspoon oil, lime juice, 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a bowl; set aside. Combine beans and salsa in another bowl.

3. Coat both sides of each tortilla with cooking spray. Place tortillas on a large baking sheet in 4 sets of overlapping pairs. (Each pair should overlap by about 3 inches.) Spread about 1/3 cup of the bean mixture on top of each pair of tortillas and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons cheese each. Bake until the beans are hot and the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Crack each egg into a small bowl and slip them one at a time into the pan, taking care not to break the yolks. Season the eggs with the remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook undisturbed for 5 to 7 minutes for soft-set yolks. (For hard-set yolks, cover the pan after 5 minutes and continue cooking until the yolks are cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes more.)5. To assemble, place an egg on top of each pair of tortillas and top with a generous 1/4 cup of the lettuce mixture.

-Princess Peach's Mommy

What we did on our summer vacation

Ahh... lemonade, farmer's markets, fireflies, too much humidity to do anything but sprawl out and watch a movie in the middle of the afternoon... summer. This was our first, complete summer in the states since returning from Germany last year, and boy did we ever take advantage of every day. Well, rest and relaxation IS taking advantage of a summer day, right?

Here are some of our favorites:


Princess Peach and Mario at our church Luau


Princess Peach swinging at the park


Princess Peach loves soccer


Princess Peach learning about fossils on a guided hike


Swimming lessons


Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles for Princess Peach, Mario and Luigi


Riding a carousel at the zoo


Princess Peach feeding a lorikeet


And finally, Princess Peach's birthday celebration at a wonderful Thai restaurant! Mmm mmm, indeed!

-Princess Peach's Mommy

Ohhh.. in the Strike Zone!

Thursdays will soon be our busy days, shuttling between Co-Op in the morning, to the SAS after lunch and then to chess club before we finally return home at dinnertime. That all begins in a few weeks. So today, we had a light load of school work, a few chores and then... nothing? That can't be!

Princess Peach, Mario and Luigi all loaded into the minivan for some spontaneous BOWLING action. We sneakily call this P.E. which I am sure it is, but the kids didn't know that. Hehe.



Princess Peach's little brother, Mario




Princess Peach's little brother, Luigi

Princess Peach

Daddy was even able to join us for the second half of the game! My little bowlers had such an awesome, fun time! We are planning more trips to the Bowling Alley this month and next, so I am sure she'll be bowling 100 soon! Oh, and for the record it was: Luigi with the win at 79, Mario in at 69 and Princess Peach with 61 (without bumpers). Super kiddos!

Mario giving the bowling ball a huge push!

Luigi's "Happy Dance"

Princess Peach... Raar!


-Princess Peach's Mommy

Soap or Candle?

And that is the question put to Princess Peach today as she made her project at the science museum. She was able to use scientific method and figured out that, as she says, because it creates suds when she runs it under water that it is, in fact, SOAP.

She made this beautiful, heart shaped bar of soap and scented it with peppermint!

Meanwhile, I took her little brothers (yes, you guessed it) Mario and Luigi out for some half off slushes at Sonic. What a nice way to end another day.

-Princess Peach's Mommy

Tornado Art

Ahh, tornadoes. We do see an occasional tornado here in the Mushroom Kingdom. Well WE never have actually seen one, but there have been a few nearby. Kinda.

This week, our art focus was on the powerful, destructive tornado. Princess Peach used wax crayon, chalk, pencil, and the ever important cotton balls and craft paper to make these beautiful works of art.


These masterpieces are gracing my fridge now. Family members may apply for the artwork on loans ;)
-Princess Peach's Mommy

Best. Cookie. Ever.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup flaked coconut

Directions: In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Beat in oats and coconut. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets; flatten slightly. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks. Yield: 5 dozen.

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Cookie time! We baked these delicious little treats and froze the extras. Awesome with milk. Even better right out of the freezer! Mmmm....

-Princess Peach's Mommy

Scientific Method

We are getting back in the groove for school! The first two days were a little up and down (from the table) and today she is staying on track. We started at 7:45 and should be done today just after lunch! Hopefully ;) Princess Peach is excited for her Scientific Method class later today at the local hands-on science museum, so I am sure she will get her schoolWORK done by then. Right? Hehe.

Today we checked out the Moon Walk over at Scholastic News. Princess Peach wrote a nice "letter" home from the perspective of an astronaut about her moon landing. She also invented a new type of sandwich today while writing in her journal:

Ice Cream

M&Ms

Graham Crackers

Take the ice cream and M&Ms and stir in a bowl. Take ingredients and lay graham crackers flat. Scoop ice cream on one. Put top on.

Sounds yummy! Princess Peach can't wait to get into the kitchen when we work on our home economics. She loves baking and cooking ;)

Our plans last night included a baseball game, but the ever lovely weather rained out the game before it ever started. Here's Princess Peach enjoying a game earlier this summer:

The team will be back in town next week, so we will try again then! Princess Peach loves baseball and going to games.

-Princess Peach's Mommy

Back to School

Monday was our first day in the fourth grade. Princess Peach is taking on a lot of subjects this year:


Language Arts
Music (including violin and choir)
Math
Social Studies (including Medieval History)
Astronomy
Sewing
Spanish
Art
Bible
Science
P.E.
Home Economics
Health
Technology


Wow, yes. That is a mouthful. Some are daily lessons, others are once weekly. Princess Peach is going to be keeping busy with her daily homeschooling, Girl Scouts, Choir and AWANAs, Chess Club, and a once monthly, hands on science lesson at the local museum. We are in a co-op through our cover school and have a weekly class or field trip through the MWR at the SAS.

Princess Peach learned about Fireflies today on Scholastic News, started reading James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl and drew an awesome tornado scene from one of our favorite art websites, Art Attack. I think she would rather not mention the spelling or math we did, but it is at least done!

-Princess Peach's Mommy