Cooking Class & Birthday Parties!

Brandon & I cook with Grace's class about once a month. We have a different recipe for the children each time that intends to incorporate the skills that they have been working on like chopping, peeling or stirring, etc. September's lesson idea came from the lovely story "Stone Soup" (great idea Brandon!). There are many versions of this story, but our edition tells the story of three Monks who are trying to understand what happiness is. They find themselves in a village where the villagers are definitely not happy but, by the end of the story, are brought together in community to work on the "stone soup" started by the Monks thereby finding happiness. It really is a beautiful story. The children loved this version and really loved making their "contribution" to the soup. From onions to carrots to pasta there were enough ingredients for each child to incorporate into the soup. Here's the photography:

Birthday party season is upon us, so we were off to Lakes Park for a fabulous 3 year old birthday party where we had fun in the sprinklers, hitting the pinata and eating cake!

Sprinklers!

It's always nicer to get carried around in a towel by your Dad!

Pinata!

Birthday Cake!

I think she wanted another piece...

Party favors immediately turn the mood around:

It was a really fun party!

Grandma & Grandpa!

Due to a delay in posting (sorry!) there is much to report on. So - remaining pics from our fabulous vacation will have to wait until I catch you all up on our end of September and early October life.

First, we had a visit from my parents, my grandparents and my Great-Aunt from Puerto Rico. It was a great visit and here are the highlights:

Next up - cooking at Grace's school and a sprinkler birthday party!