volcanoes & pajamas

Ryan had a volcano in his lunch on monday, because that night he would be presenting his volcano project at the district's iNight for gifted students. His lunch was made of: steamed broccoli; his favourite Tofurky, lettuce, soy cheese sandwich with Tofurky volcano, ketchup lava, & rice cheese letters; and a chocolate chip cookie.

Here are Maia and Nate watching Ryan do an experiment with yeast and hydrogen peroxide to illustrate pressure inside a volcano.

AJ had a similar
lunch, with his
name in the center
of his sandwich.





Tuesday
lunch:
pasta
salad;
banana
walnut
mini
muffin;
sesame
tofu;
carrot;
canta-
loupe.










Wednesday's lunches: Thermos of artichoke olive ravioli w/sauce; 1/2 an apple; green grapes; carrots; cucumber slices; snap peas.

Thursday I decided
to start looking ahead
to easter: tomato
couscous decorated
with rice cheese
"eggs"; green beans;
cantaloupe & purple
grapes.

I thought the grapes looked rather like jelly beans because they were so small and dark. For the couscous, I substituted a tomato-basil pasta sauce for 1/4 of the cooking liquid to give it a new flavour.

Friday:
pickle
slices;
carrots;
canta-
loupe;
mini
onion
broc-
coli
tofu
quiche;
toast.










Nate's class was having
its annual pajama
breakfast. In place of
scrambled eggs, I made
tofu quiche. I forgot to
buy bagels, so I cut a
piece of toast into a
circle and spread it with
Tofutti cream cheese;
and I sent pancakes along with real maple syrup. Nate loved everything. His class also had bananas, strawberries & grapes, and they squeezed their own orange juice.

a hike & lunch

On saturday Ryan & I went on a guided hike along the Bay Circuit Trail in Andover, MA sponsored by L.L. Bean, with the Bay Circuit Alliance chairman Alan French. It was great to learn some of the history of the trail, and plans for the future.

We began with a walk up Holt Hill with views to Boston and its suburbs.

























Ryan's lunch: cucumber salad; blanched spinach; edamame; simmered shiitake mushrooms; rice.

My lunch was essentially
the same, minus the
rice, with added orange
slices. It was nice to
finally have weather
warm enough to be
able to enjoy lunch
outside.




After lunch Ryan still wanted to hike a bit more. We took the bog trail at Ward Reservation, which is basically a floating boardwalk down to a pond. We spent a lot of time watching a snake make it's way through the bog beside us.

Feels like Spring

Finally getting some warmer days here and the snow has melted. But it doesn't LOOK like spring yet since nothing is green. And it doesn't TASTE like spring yet because there are really no local foods available to speak of and little to forage for. But regardless, the approach of real spring weather has made me want to put a bit more effort into lunches again, so that's a good thing!

Ryan
& AJ's
lunches:
cucu-
mber
slices;
cold
spin-
ach;
carrot;
rice
trian-
gle;
purple
grapes;
eda-
mame.






Maia's lunch: pickles;
wrap sandwich slices;
checkered apple; dried
apricot; strawberries;
steamed broccoli.

Ryan & AJ's lunches
were the same except
AJ had grapes.



Ryan & AJ's lunches: bagel sandwiches; cucumber slices; carrot; pickle; grapes (with strawberries for Ryan).

Ryan
& AJ's
lunches:
udon
noodles
with
peanut
sauce
& broc-
coli;
cucu-
mber
slices;
baby
carrots;
green
grapes;
pickle;
orange
slices.



Maia's lunch: udon
noodles & broccoli with
sesame oil & soy sauce;
strawberries; carrot;
slice of smoked Tofurky.




AJ's lunch: carrots; rice balls with furikake; blanched spinach with toasted sesame seeds; peanuts; pickles; frosted carrot cake.

Ryan didn't go to school on friday because I took him to the newly renovated Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Science in Boston instead.

























Ryan's lunch: his favourite sandwich; apple; mini s'mores Luna bar; fruit rollup.

Catching Up with the Kiddos

Haven't blogged exclusively about the kids in a long time. Of course they're getting bigger.

Ryan:





















Ryan is really growing up.
He still loves his Lego
blocks and Pokemon though,
along with the usual Harry Potter, Club Penguin, etc. He is very interested in geology & astrophysics. He will be presenting a project about volcanoes at the gifted program's annual event next week. He's a very social guy, always taking off with friends after school. And he keeps some pretty cool looking TapFish, LOL.

AJ:





















I'm lucky to get any
pictures of AJ lately.
He either hides or sticks
out his tongue or runs off in a blur...he just doesn't like the attention. He is quite content to draw, write, or create animation videos on his DSiXL. However he has been spending quite a lot of time on the phone and online with friends discussing Club Penguin games and exchanging passwords & codes. Gotta get this kid into art classes I think.

Nate:








































Always the photogenic
one, Nate loves posing
for pictures. Although
4-year-olds can do a lot
of whining, Nate is fun
to be around lately as
he grows out of the
preschool stage. He still
likes to take his own
sweet time doing just
about everything. He
spends much time
building and pretending,
pretty typical for his age.

Maia:
























Talkative & outgoing, that's Maia. She can hold her own around her brothers, but she shows off a quieter side at school. She loves to get out and go places, read, and pretend with her Littlest Pet Shop toys. She has branched out from carrying her Toy Story Jessie doll and blue bear, usually leaving them in her bed, and can usually be found with a Hello Kitty or pink Puffle.