Kids' Cooking Class

I felt silly when I actually purchased a cooking class to do with my kids.  After all, I know how to cook and they are in the kitchen with me all the time.  But this has quickly become one of our favorite things to do together!  We have an official cooking class every Monday, and the kids practice their new skills throughout the week.  We've learned how to spread, peel, and measure, and have also learned how to cut with sharp knives, read a recipe, cook on a stove and flip pancakes.  Bracken and Chandra love becoming more independent in the kitchen! 

 Although it takes more time to cook with them, the investment is already paying off as Chandra cuts her own apples or cooks her own scrambled eggs when she's hungry (with a little supervision), and Bracken has made pancakes from start to finish for breakfast several times.  They are both great choppers and Chandra is always especially willing to help me cut vegetables for salad or soup.  

Bracken was so proud of himself the first time he made pancakes from start to finish on his own!  I'm proud of him too!

Trip to Uganda (from home)

I try to make learning fun for my kids, but they often add a level of enthusiasm and creativity that go far beyond my original plans. Like today.  I prepared books, as well as my scrapbook and a few YouTube videos to teach them about Uganda.  

Whenever we learn about a new country though, the kids have to make an airplane out of couch cushions, write out tickets, hang up the map, and track our journey as we "fly" to our destination. As of this week, we get stamps on our paper passports. We made rolex for lunch (flat eggs with veggies rolled inside a chapati), wrapped in newspaper just like the street vendors of Mukono when Brian and I lived there.  The kids liked the new food so much that they decided to set up a rolex stand for dinner and surprise Brian with his almost forgotten favorite meal from Uganda. 

When they finally let Brian see the surprise, they told him his veggie add-in options and mixed and cooked his eggs, then rolled and wrapped his rolex in newspaper all by themselves.  Then they got hungry and I took over the cooking station. Yum! Every school day has its own struggles and successes, but this one felt pretty close to perfect.  It was a full, but very happy day.