The New England Aquarium
They certainly have a lot of resources for planning a trip to the aquarium! Our upcoming trip will be a good wrap-up for our homeschool unit on penguins. I’m also very curious to find what new study units it will inspire. Sharks? Seals? Seadragons? I have a feeling it might be lobsters as my kids can’t take a trip to the grocery store without visiting their ornery crustacean friends.

Brrr!
A cute little game to learn letter sounds or sight words or …. Simple to learn and even easier to adapt to your child’s needs. A must-have freebie!

Kevin and Amanda Fonts

I’ve discovered kevinandamanda.com with loads of free fonts…that are actually cute & useful! Pea Cassie is my new go-to font when typing things for Bean because it’s sweet and easy to read.

What are your favorites this week?

Orange Vegetables
Yes, my grocery bags are being overtaken by carrots, squashes and oranges. Maybe because of their sunny hue (it’s been quite grey weather since the rogue snowstorm on Halloween weekend) or maybe my body’s telling me I need some extra nutrients, but I can’t get enough lately! This curried carrot soup is on my list to try next even though I have a butternut/carnival squash lasagna in the freezer I should finish up first.

Springerle Molds
Watch out, Christmas cookie season is coming up fast! While I’m no expert on springerle, I am fascinated by the old-fashioned cookie molds. Our mom has a growing collection that I’m looking forward to trying out. Meanwhile, I’ll just drool over beauties like these leaves.

Burt’s Bees Natural Skin Care
Right now, I’m also loving Burt’s Bees Natural Skin Solutions for Sensitive Skin. Having three kids leaves little room for any fancy beauty routine and my skin is as finicky as my toddler at dinnertime. Being a BzzAgent gave me the chance to try the new Burt’s Bees Natural Skin Solutions for Sensitive Skin line. (That’s a mouthful to say!) So here’s my morning beautification schedule… Every morning, I use the facial cleaner in the shower. It’s thick but not irritating and rinses off quickly (Anyone with little kids knows there’s a limited time in the shower before they find where you’re hiding out). After getting dressed, I pump a little bit of Burt’s Bees daily moisturizing cream, slap it on my face, pull up my hair and go. I particularly like the gentle scent of the cream that doesn’t fight with any perfume I might wear.  And it comes in this cute pump bottle (I’m a sucker for clever packaging) A month later and my skin feels awesome! My face hasn’t broken out like other products I’ve tried. I should really be using the facial cleaner before I go to bed although I don’t see how my skin could be much softer. The Sensitive Night Cream is on my list to try next, so maybe I’ll start using the facial cleaner at the end of the day, if the baby ever stops teething and goes to bed on a regular schedule again. *sigh* Well, I always have my morning pampering! Keep an eye out for coupons to try Burt’s Bees for yourself, like from their facebook page (hint, hint!)

So what’s on your list of favorites this week?

Today we’re also going to make some more applesauce in the slow cooker from the apples we picked earlier in the month. Don’t you love Mighty Man’s expression? He was the most efficient apple picker and would not rest until the bag was overflowing!

Our dinner plans for the week…

Monday: Emeril’s Turkey and Pinto Bean Chili (Food Everyday magazine, Sept. 2011)

Tuesday: “Andouille” Chicken Sausage with Red Bell Pepper Rice and Onions

Wednesday: Slow cooker split pea soup (Woman’s Day, Oct. 2011) and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Thursday: Spaghetti and Meatballs, French Cut Green Beans, Polenta

Friday: Baked Scallops, Asparagus Spears

Saturday: Slow Cooker Honey Glazed Chicken Thighs, tomato salad

Sunday: Mixed Munchies (aka leftovers!)

We happened upon the Mike Mulligan sound recording performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Our library only had MM book with the CD, so that’s what we got! It was a nice surprise to hear the music inspired by the story and to enjoy the narration. I also learned a lot of new things about the book and the author.

The publisher has a little page dedicated to Mike and Mary Anne here: http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/mike_mulligan/mmpage.shtml There are some activities to go along with the story too, like anthropomorphizing an every day object.

We finished off our week by making “dirt desserts” that were a cross between this and this. We thought Mary Anne would have liked that! We mixed 1 small package of vanilla instant pudding with milk (a little less than making the pie filling) and whipped cream. Mighty Man smashed a handful of chocolate sandwich cookies into dirt, then he and Bean layered the dessert in little cups. I would have loved to put the dessert into an angular serving dish, to make the corners “neat and square,” but everyone enjoyed it as it was.

Another math topic we covered is symmetry. Our hunt for all things symmetrical started with a close examination of the book’s illustrations. We finished up by share-drawing symmetrical butterflies, something Madeline would certainly love!

In addition to the lessons suggested by FIAR, we’ve added our tribute with watching all of our Madeline videos, including Madeline and the Bad Hat, Madeline in London, and the even more far-fetched, Madeline in New York. We also had a fun time playing our Madeline game; helping Genevieve find her lost puppies is harder than it sounds! Did you know that Madeline also has her own official site? Not much for the kids there, but a great place for parents to learn more about the author and the history of Madeline.

Can’t keep her eyes off the shower curtain!

Baby could be here tomorrow, or in two weeks, so here is our flexible meal plan of 7 dinners… Most of the meals can be (or stay) frozen or put “on hold.”

Quick roasted chicken & potatoes (March issue of Everyday Food)

Chicken (leftovers) with Parmesan noodles, brocolli

Shaved beef sandwiches on french bread, salad

Ham Sandwiches on rolls [Made ahead and frozen individually. Put ham, cheese, and a little butter/mustard mixture on a roll. Perfect for the day-old bakery finds! Heat from frozen, still wrapped in foil, for about 20 minutes at 350F to melt the cheese]

Breaded fish fillets  and haricots verts (yes, just fancy green beans)

Hot dogs and home-made baked beans (Cooking these in the crockpot today. Will freeze in batches for eating later in the week/month.)

Spam frittata (spam cubes, potatoes cubes, black olives and eggs. We like the saltiness of spam, but real ham would work just fine.)

For many more meal plans and menu ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.