B is for Baking Bread

One of the "Recipes" we came up with for the letter B Along the Alphabet Path was our "B" shaped Bread served with Butter and Blackberry Jam to enjoy while reading Bread and Jam for Frances!

For this Baking project, I totally cheated and just purchased a package of frozen Rhodes White Bread loaves.  I also purchased some Blackberry jam, but you could go with Blueberry, Boysenberry, Black Raspberry, Black Cherry, Triple Berry, or....

Note:  You could also make a much smaller version with three frozen dinner rolls, but we were aiming for a BIG B!

Defrost three loaves of bread (five come in one package) on a baking sheet, coated with non-stick cooking spray (we didn't do this, but I never have problems with anything sticking to my stones).   Cover with plastic wrap, also coated with cooking spray to keep it from sticking to the dough while rising.   Let dough rise for 4 to 7 hours, until soft enough to work with.

Carefully remove the plastic wrap.  Roll out the dough to create three long round pieces for the letter B.

If you can't seem to roll them out long enough, just swing them around a little bit!  ;) 

Arrange the three loaves of bread dough into the shape of a capital B.   

Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Bake bread for about 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.   

Be sure to check on the Bread and watch it get "Big!!"

Let cool and brush the top with melted Butter, if desired.  

Slice and serve with jam.   Snuggles, of course, refuses to eat any sort of jam (it's just "Peanut Butter and Peanut Butter" sandwiches for this picky little eater!) but he loved his white Bread with Butter!

Along the Alphabet Path {The Plan for 2012-2013}

"Once upon a time there was a little boy named Michael who lived with his family at the edge of a beautiful woods...." 

And so begins our second adventure learning Along the Alphabet Path!

Despite thinking that I might need to come up with a different theme/story this time (Woodland Creatures, Knights, etc) for a certain little five year old boy of ours, Snuggles was quite captivated by "Michael and Mrs. Applebee!" And how perfect that our family even happens to live "at the edge of a beautiful woods!"  Perhaps we'll just skip the "girly" flower fairy coloring pages this time and focus on our faith, the saints, and more.  I just love how easy it is to modify the Alphabet Path to work for each child.  There are so many fun ideas and options to choose from, it's going to be such a fun year!

Since Snuggles just turned five during the summer, he is starting Kindergarten younger than any of our other children. (Captain did start at this age, but he really wasn't ready and ended up repeating 2nd grade due to his Auditory Processing Challenges. And for Twinkle Toes, our other late summer baby, we "waited" until she had just turned 6 to officially call her a Kindergartner.)  I'm not going to worry about whether or not we complete the Alphabet Path in one year or two - taking our time and spending two weeks on each letter, or more if necessary.  If it takes us 3 years to get through K & 1st grade, no big deal.  I'd rather this extra little guy of mine be the oldest in his class with a solid foundation, rather than one of the youngest struggling to keep up!  (Not that it really matters, since we homeschool, but still...) 

Anyhow, now that we are a couple weeks into our new school year, I've had time to figure out just what the Alphabet Path is going to look like for Snuggles!   I've run across a few fun new additions that I am looking forward to sharing with you all.

In addition to his daily Religion, Math, and Language Arts, we will focus on one area of the Alphabet Path each afternoon:

• Monday :: Letter Introduction & Formation
• Tuesday :: A, B... Seas & Storybook Science
• Wednesday :: Arts & Crafts
• Thursday :: My Catholic Faith
• Friday (or on the weekend) :: A to Z Recipes

Here's the list of some of the resources we will be using this year:
(Note: Most of these books were already on our bookshelves, with just a few new additions.)

Letter Introduction:

Monday - Week One

Along the Alphabet Path Story Book by Elizabeth Foss

Flower Fairy Alphabet & CD

An Alphabet of Catholic Saints

Monday - Week Two

All About Reading - Pre-1 (My Book of Letters, The ZigZag Zebra, and Lizard Lou)

Handwriting Without Tears Wooden Pieces

Modeling Wax

(Over the two week period will will  complete worksheet from My Book of Letters.  For each letter he will complete the worksheets for Capital Letter, Lowercase Letter, and the Letter Sound.  Even if you don't want to use the All About Reading Program as a whole, the My Book of Letters Activity Book is such a great supplemental for the Alphabet Path!)

A, B... Seas:

Participate with older siblings study of Swimming Creatures

Tuesday - Week One

Sea Life Alphabet Coloring Book

Ocean Life From A to Z Book & DVD

Make an Ocean Box - adding one item for each letter of the alpabet

Various Ocean Movies and Documentaries

Storybook Science:

Tuesday - Week Two

Apples, Bubbles and Crystals: Your Science ABCs

Let's Read and Find Out Series

Various Picture Books

Arts & Crafts:

Wednesday - Week One (Art Appreciation)

Museum ABC 

My First ABC Board Book

Museum ABC Nesting Blocks

Wednesday - Week Two (Letter based Craft and/or Activity)

Various Arts & Craft Projects/Activities

My Catholic Faith:

Thursday - Week One

An Alphabet of Saints
S is for Saints
An Alphabet of Catholic Saints

An Alphabet of Mary
Various Saint Picture Books & Coloring Pages

An Alphabet of Saints: Painted Wooden Dolls

Thursday - Week Two

God's Alphabet

A is for Altar, B is for Bible

Writing ABC's on Little Hearts by Pondered In My Heart

A to Z Recipes:

Friday - Week One

My A to Z Recipe Box: An Alphabet of Recipes for Kids

"From Ants in My Applesauce to Zany Zucchini Sticks, these 26 recipes offer young chefs a wide variety of hands-on cooking adventures. Each recipe has clear, simple steps that children will find easy to followand in the process, they'll learn about the foods they enjoy and practice skills like following directions and measuring, too. "

I'm loving this little recipe box...  For Aa week we made Ants in my Applesauce, and next week we will be making Blueberry Buckle!  In addition to all the great recipes, each card also offers suggestions for servings and variations, plus fun facts.  The letter tab at the top of each card works as a divider for any additional recipes you might want to add to the collection, using the 26 blank recipe cards which are provided, or your own.

Friday - Week Two 

Additional Recipe of Choice - Add Recipe to Recipe Box using one of the 26 Blank Cards

You can find all of our posts for the Alphabet Path listed on this page.  I'll continue to add to the current label "Alphabet Path" for scrolling through everything.  I also just filed all the posts from when the girls were learning along the Alphabet Path here:  Alphabet Path (2009-2010) and will begin a new label for Snuggles: Alphabet Path (2012-2013).  I'll be back soon along after awhile to add all about Aa week!

Is anyone else learning Along the Alphabet Path this year?

A Few Pictures from the Feast of Sts. James & Christopher

Reading The Legend of St. Christopher

A Couple Transportation Themed Snacks for the Memorial of St. Christopher 

Coupe Saint-Jacques served in Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream Cups and topped with handmade Chocolate Cockle Shells, the symbol for St. James

6 Patriotic Treats for the 4th of July

The last few years we have celebrated the 4th of July at our dear friends home! Winfield and Janet, along with their two great kids, are only here part of the year now (Winfield is a pilot and is based on the other side of the country) but we are so happy that they are back for the summer!  I usually bring desserts to the party, and this year I think we went a little overboard, despite my initial fail.  You think? ;)   Even so, everything was perfect, and we only came home with just half of the trifle!   

.: 4th of July Ice Cream Cones :.

Sugar cones dipped in melted white chocolate and rolled in sprinkles

Served with Vanilla White or Strawberry Red Ice Cream

(these were a hit with the kids AND adults!) 

.: Red, White and Blueberry Trifle :. 

White cake, blueberries, whip cream and strawberries

layered in a trifle bowl!  So pretty and easy! 

 

.: Red Licorice :.

(leftover) Red Licorice wrapped in bundles with these free Printable Napkin Rings
(inspiration found here)

.: Sparkler Pretzel Rods :.

Pretzel Rods dipped in melted white chocolate and decorated with sprinkles

.: Red, White, and Blue Berries :.

Strawberries (washed and dried completely) dipped in melted white chocolate and blue sprinkles

(I ran across this idea online, and it looks like Charlotte made them this year too, along with all their awesome t-shirts!  One of these years we need to try painting t-shirts.  I love how theirs turned out, especially the patriotic cupcake for that cute-as-can-be-god-daughter of ours!) 

.: United States Flag Cupcakes :.

White Cupcakes decorated with whipped cream, sliced strawberries and blueberries

(as an alternative to last year's flag cake) 

God bless America! 

The Good Shepherd's Garden Party :: Week Four

Your works, O Lord, are manifold and wisely made, and well!

You fill the world with forms of life more than our tongues can tell. 

Oh, yonder lies the rolling sea with life of ev'ry sort,

and in it lives Leviathan, whom you have made for sport.

These look to you and you provide, they gather what you give. 

You open wide your hand with good to feel all things that live.

~ The Garden of the Good Shepherd: A Sticker Calendar to Count the Fifty Days of Easter

We are still celebrating the season of Easter with the Garden of the The Good Shepherd and weekly "Good Shepherd Garden Parties.   For those that have been asking, The Garden of the Good Shepherd is a sticker calendar illustrated by Tomie dePaola with a sticker to add for each of the 50 days of Easter, plus one for Pentecost Sunday.  It also comes with a booklet, by Peter Mazar, containing prayers, songs for each week, and scripture passages to look up, read, and discuss with the children. 

Charlotte and I have been using this calendar during the Easter season for years now.  At first we tied in daily activities for our children, based on each symbol, then consolidated the activities to weekly "Good Shepherd's Garden Parties" creating menus based on the symbols/stickers studied during each week.   You can find links to all of my past posts here and Charlotte's here.  

This past week, the fourth week of Easter, was based on the theme "The Wind and Sea Obey Him." 

I had everything I needed to make the menu items from the suggestions for our 4th Good Shepherd's Garden Party.  However, after spending some extra time in the kitchen with the girls this morning (making a special Sunday brunch, featuring the State of Vermont!) and then walking 4 miles on the treadmill, I really wanted to head outside and enjoy a little of the sunshine, instead of heading back to the kitchen.  

I decided that I would bake a cake, set the kids up with some supplies, and then let them come up with our extra treat for this week for the symbols Boat, Mast, Sail, Net, Fishes, and Leviathan, while Hubby fired up the Barbecue!

~ The Boat, Mast, Sail, Net, Fish and Leviathan ~

I supplied the kids with a cookie, fruit roll up, pretzels, candy fish, octopuses, and my stash of sprinkles and decorating icings, along with a frosted cake, and let them come up with something for this week!  

They were a little nervous at first, but I told them it was just like a giant cookie - reminding them of the St. George Story Quilt and Friendship Quilt cookies they recently made!  I got them started by outlining the area they wanted for the water blue, and then they took over.  

They added green coconut for the grass/land, a sandy beach made with gold sprinkles, and some rocks made with a crunchy ice cream topping.  

Captain decided that he wanted to try and create a sunset on the horizon...

... while everyone watched.

Rascal created the Boat, Mast and Sail... 

... and Snuggles and the girls added the Net, Fishes, and Leviathan.   

I thought they did a beautiful job! 

~ The Barbecue ~

Hubby barbecued hotdogs for the kids and a couple Turkey Burgers for the two of us, while I made up a pasta salad.  The weather was nice (and it looks like it will stay nice all week!) so we ate dinner outside! 

Rose missed all the cake decorating fun since she happened to be napping, but Bud was having a grand time watching everyone, especially each time Snuggles tried to make him laugh!  (We just re-watched the video of Snuggles and Rose that I posted with last year's 4th Garden Party!  So cute!! And funny that I had another video to post this year! Our little Snuggles is such a great big brother!)

Be sure to visit Catholic Cuisine to see all of the other Garden Parties from this past week!
(I'll have the link-up posted sometime tomorrow.)