Mommy and Daughter Day

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I know I promised another Mexican Cinderella post this week and here it is Monday's post and time for my Fairy Tales in Different Cultures post, but I decided to wait this week since we did not do the crafting I had hoped over the weekend. So stay tuned for the Mexican Cinderella coming soon with (hopefully) some great Cinco de Mayo crafts.

This weekend was a bit hectic. It was Stewardship Sunday at my church and since I head the Stewardship Ministries Team, I was in charge. Luckily I have a wonderful committee with many talents and many other volunteers to help. We did our final push on the campaign and then provided a luncheon. It went well, but I am tired. 

Yesterday, Steve went hiking with some of his friends from work, so Hazel and I had an entire Saturday to spend alone. The only thing we had to do was be at the church at 1 p.m. to set up for the luncheon. I had also received a message from my aunt. Her step-granddaughter needed help with a Flat Stanley school project. We decorated Flat Stanley (though we made her a girl so we call her Flat Sophia) and took her a few places to take some pictures. More on Flat Stanley another day since I thought a blog project to do with it. We stopped at the library to get a Flat Stanley book and found out there was a Mother Goose Story Time starting in five minutes so we stayed for it. Then we went to run our other errands and go to Lakeshore Learning for their free craft. Now it was after noon, so we headed home for a quick lunch and then to get to church. I bribed Hazel into helping at the church with ice cream afterwards. 

We headed to the local ice cream place/farm. Hazel wanted to check out all the animals, so we both got frappes (the Boston term for a milkshake) and walked around. We stopped in the middle section to see the cows and goats.

Then we headed over to the calf nursery. We had a fun time checking out the calves.

Next to the nursery is the poultry cage. They didn't have the food machine out yet, but the male turkey had his feathers up trying to impress the female. Hazel said he impressed her. The female turkey did not seem too impressed though.

Then we headed over to the big cow barn. This farm sells the milk and ice cream from their milk of their own cows. The first door of the big barn is the section reserved for the very pregnant cows--to birth in two to three weeks. We found one little baby sitting with its mother there as well.

Then the next two doors have the other cows. We found a few grooming themselves and these cows seemed hungry or at least were very interested in all the people at the doors. They came over to say hi and Hazel thought they got a bit too close (as did another girl who had gotten licked by one).

Hazel was almost licked by the mostly white one. We were petting them on the noses. Her tongue was the same color as her--white with black spots. Of course our favorite picture was of the cows kissing.

We saw the ones in the middle again. One was getting a drink this time.

Then we bought some milk and frozen yogurt to take home for Daddy. Hazel fell asleep in the car. She hadn't been sleeping well this week since I had so many meetings at night. She slept for a couple of hours and I took a nap as well. Then Steve came home and we went out to dinner, but the wait was too long, so we ordered take-out and sat at the bar while we waited. Hazel thought it was fun to sit at the bar and drink apple juice from a fancy glass. Then we headed home and had some dinner and went to bed. That was our fun Saturday!! The best part is we got outside for the afternoon!

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: Raisel's Riddle

This week we are traveling back to Poland for another Jewish Cinderella story. Earlier this month we reviewed The Way Meat Loves Salt. So for the history and information on Poland, please go to that post. 

Polish Flag (Source)

Today's book focuses on the Jewish holiday, Purim. Now Purim is a celebration of when Queen Esther saved the Jews from death in Persia. For those who are Christian the Book of Esther is in the Christian Bible as well in the Old Testament. I have had the pleasure of teaching this unit in Sunday School twice now. 

The story of Esther is she lives with her uncle (in some versions he is her cousin), Mordecai in Persia. They are Jewish. Mordecai is a guard/gate keeper at the palace of King Ahasuerus (King Xerxes in some versions). At some point the king becomes angry with his queen and throws her out of the land after the suggestion of his aid, Haman (the villain of our story). Now the king needs a new queen so he send out his army to bring back all the beautiful eligible maidens in Persia so he can choose one as his new queen. Esther is taken. Mordecai warns her not to let anyone know she is Jewish and in fact in some versions it is said this is when her name became Esther. Anyway, Esther is chosen as the new queen. While she is queen, Haman convinces the king to sign a decree to kill all the Jews in Persia. Mordecai gets word to Queen Esther that she must do something to stop this and even though it is against the law and punishable by death, she goes to the king without being invited after fasting for three days. She invites him and Haman to a feast. At the feast she invites them again the next night. Finally she tells the king that someone wants to kill her and all her people. When he asks who, she tells him it is Haman since she is Jewish. Haman is ordered to death by the king and all the Jewish people are saved. 

Hamentaschen (Source)

This holiday is celebrated usually in March. Since the Jewish calendar is different than the Gregorian calendar most commonly used today, the date actually changes each year. This year it was celebrated at the end of February. The holiday is celebrated with costumes (often like the people in the story of Esther) and noise makers called gragers used whenever Haman's name is mentioned. The story is retold during the celebration. It is also custom to send food and drinks as gifts as well as give to charity during Purim. Another custom is making triangular cookies filled with jam called hamentaschen. (Source) 

Now onto our book. This week we are looking at Raisel's Riddle by Erica Silverman. In this story Raisel lives with her grandfather in a small village in Poland. He is a scholar and many people in the village seek his advice and pay for it with food, fire wood, etc. She asks her grandfather to teach her to be a scholar. He tells her that learning is more valuable than rubies and gold since it can never be taken away from you. One cold winter her grandfather dies. She leaves the village since she does not want to be a burden on anyone and goes into the city to look for work. After knocking on many doors she comes to the house of a rabbi. The cook answers the door and tries to turn her away, but the rabbi comes to the door and says that the cook/housekeeper could of course use some help. The cook is not happy about it and is worried Raisel is after her job. She treats her badly and gives her some straw to sleep on behind the stove. Raisel grins and bears it.

One day Raisel is carrying firewood and the rabbi's son bumps into her and causes her to drop the wood. He stops to apologize and helps her carry the wood to the kitchen. The cook is very upset that she talked to the rabbi's son and threatens to lock her in the pantry if she cannot stay out of sight.

Haman, Mordecai, Esther and King Ahasuerus

On the day of Purim, the rabbi and his family have company over for a feast before going to the Purim Play. While serving the food Raisel hears the young women telling the rabbi's son riddles. She wants to stay and listen more but the cook pulls her into the kitchen threatening her again. When all the dinner guests leave for the play, Raisel comments how she would like to go. The cook laughs at her and tells her to get her dinner from what is left and then to start on the dishes. Raisel takes her dinner outside where she sees an elderly woman who looks extremely hungry. Raisel gives her dinner to this woman. The woman tells her she will grant Raisel three wishes for her kindness, but to remember magic only lasts until midnight. Raisel wishes for a Purim costume and then a horse drawn wagon to go to the play. 

Raisel turns heads as she walks into the play. She is told she has the best Queen Esther costume in the room. After the play a band starts up and the rabbi's son comes over to talk to Raisel. When he asks where she lives, she realizes he does not recognize her as the rag girl from his kitchen. She avoids answering by telling him a riddle which she makes up based on what her grandfather said about learning. Then she hears the clock to start striking midnight and she rushes away. When she gets back to the house and sees the huge pile of dishes and pots and pans she makes her third wish to have the kitchen clean.

The next day she notices people coming over again and asks the cook about the company. Since she used the term "we" in asking, the cook locks her in the pantry. In the pantry there is only one ray of light coming in and it is from a hole to the dining room. She is able to see and hear everything going on in there. The Rabbi says that his son met a woman who told him a riddle the previous night and that is the woman he wants to marry. All the young woman come forward telling him their riddles again, but none of them are the one. He finally says how it had rubies and gold and forever in it. Raisel realizes it is her riddle and knocks on the door as loudly as she can. The son comes in and asks the cook what is going on and the cook says the rag girl is cleaning the pantry, but Raisel tells him she told him a riddle the previous night. He lets her out and she begins the riddle and he finishes it and then asks her to marry him. Her response is only if he can answer her riddle. He of course knows it is learning. They get married and live and learn happily ever after.

For our crafts this week I made our clothespin doll with her dressed as Queen Esther. I also shared the cardboard tube characters Hazel made in Sunday School when we studied Esther. If we have time I may make some hamentaschen with Hazel, but since we were too busy celebrating Easter today, we did not get around to it.

Easter Decorations and Easter Books

As we are having the third weekend in a row with snow predicted, I am really longing for spring. I pulled out our Easter decorations. I know we will make some new ones this year as well, but at least for now it feels like spring in our house. I also made two garlands which I will share with you at the bottom. This past week was school vacation week, so Hazel and I headed to Cape Cod to visit my parents. There I went to one of my favorite stores, The Priory, and bought some new books for Easter and Lent. I will share them here as well.

Surviving Hurricane Sandy & More Crafts

Have you entered my Best Halloween Costume Contest yet? Please stop by to enter and to vote for your favorite!!

Today I thank God that my family and friends are fine after Hurricane Sandy.

Well, as you know I live on the East Coast so we have been hit by Hurricane Sandy. My dear husband is working like a madman to get people's power turned on in Massachusetts. The part I really hate about storms is how much he has to work and how angry people get about not having power. When I see how hard he and his colleagues work I realize that they are doing what they can. Anyway, that is another whole story. Today I will tell you about Hazel and mine experience of the storm.

It started sprinkling/misty on Sunday here, but really was not bad. The news said the worst part would start around noon on Monday. So on Monday morning we went out to run a few errands that we had to do. Now just about every school was closed and so was the library, state offices, etc. But most stores were not, so off we went. Then Hazel had an unheard of two hour nap. She doesn't usually nap anymore and when she does we pay for it at bedtime. I figured I would let her sleep since I needed some sleep and she hadn't really gotten to see Steve and he would be working late.

Shortly after she woke up, we lost power. And of course it was almost dinner time. Of course any problem with power here is dealt with a phone call to Steve. He called me back to let me know no one had reported it and gave me the number to report it. Then he called back to let me know it was a major area out (the local highway with all the stores were out as well) so I better figure something out for dinner since all the close restaurants were closed. I called one pizza place and was told delivery would take at least an hour, so I called another one and we got pizza in half an hour from the neighboring town. Hazel and I had a picnic in our family room. While we waited for the pizza to come we played many board games.

Normally after dinner we start to get Hazel ready for bed, however with her nap she was not ready for that step, so we did some crafts. We had candles lit for when it got dark outside. Then I remembered the lanterns and found them. The dark picture above is without the flash so you could get a sense of what we were dealing with as we crafted.  Hazel decorated some felt bags and a felt owl and pumpkin using stickers and glitter glue. Then I used two of the felt bags to make a tic tac toe board. I bought some wooden hearts and stars after seeing a tic tac toe board at the craft fair and loved the idea. I thought of the bags to hold the pieces. I had these felt bags for something (I think I got them on clearance). Hazel saw them and wanted to do some as well.

Then I liked this idea so much I went back to Michaels. They did not have anymore felt bags, but I found some canvas ones that had a pull string.  I bought some smaller wooden pieces for the smaller bags and used some fabric paint on them. I made a bunch for the Holiday Fair's Wee Folk Shop. Now I have all my required donations to bring tomorrow. Then I'll probably work on some more for them.

My Christian Values

A little different type of post. One that is very personal and controversial. I have gone back and forth about whether I wanted to write/post it, but I have decided for me to stay true to my own beliefs I really need to. Don't worry I'll be back to my child-oriented crafts and activities tomorrow!

Happy Family Times #17--Visiting Extending Family & Zucchini Muffins

Have you done something fun with your family this week? Kelly over at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I are collecting fun family activities each week so we can all be inspired to have more quality family time. Please share yours below.

This week we went to visit my parents at Cape Cod. Steve had the two cats in his car and I had Hazel and lots of stuff in mine. We left Thursday. Hazel was so excited because her only first cousin visits my parents from North Carolina every July, and she does not get to see him very much. Even though her cousin is ten, they play so well together and really love each other. I love watching them play together. Thursday afternoon Steve took both kids to the beach for a swim while I helped my mother with dinner.

Friday morning my mother and I left for Connecticut (a three-hour car drive). One of my first cousin's got married at Foxwoods Resort. Apparently they both love gambling so they thought a casino setting was perfect and they thought Friday, the 13th was perfect since it was the same date as their first date. Since we were going to splurge and spend the night at a luxury hotel, we decided to go for massages before the wedding. It was wonderful.

Source

Before the wedding we did some quick shopping for gifts to bring back for the kids. I got Hazel a great Native American drum. Foxwoods is run by the Pequot Tribe. (I have to admit I have a huge fascination with Native American culture and history, so if you would like to learn more about the Pequot history check this out.)

Source

The wedding was at Lake of the Isles which is also run by the Pequot Tribe. The ceremony itself was on the deck by the lake. It was beautiful!! Plus the couple really put a lot of themselves in the ceremony as well as the reception. It was so unique and fun. It was fun to catch up with my cousins and aunts and uncles as well. We do not see my mother's side of the family all that much. My mother is one of five children and each of them has at least two children--almost all who are married and with children now. The reception was in the clubhouse ballroom. The food was excellent and I danced a bit with my cousins--plus we all had fun with the photobooth and costumes.

Saturday my mother and I ate earlier than the family brunch and headed back to the Cape so I could enjoy my family vacation. Hazel had gotten to hang out with her three favorite males in the world--her Daddy, her Pop and her cousin. She had a great time.

My father's zucchini is starting to be ripe so on Sunday Hazel and I made Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins. Her cousin was going to help us, but he slept in that day and we gave up waiting for him to get up. We used a recipe from my mother's cookbook--The Classic Zucchini Cookbook by Nancy C. Ralston, Marynor Jordan, and Andrea Chesman. (She has made several recipes from this book and has loved all of them.) Dinner for Saturday also came from this book.

We of course changed the recipe a bit. The original recipe is very similar to this one. We mixed two cups of whole wheat flour, one tablespoon baking powder, a quarter teaspoon salt, a teaspoon cinnamon, and half of a cup of oatmeal.

Then we beat two eggs, three-quarters of a cup of non-fat milk, one third of a cup of olive oil, and a quarter of a cup of honey together. Then we added grated zucchini and raisins. I added much more than one cup of zucchini since my mother had a lot to use up. She had a large one that she had used in the pesto pasta salad the night before but she only had used half of it so I used the other half. I would guess it was close if not more than two cups. This was too much!!

Fluffy wanted to help too!

 Then we scooped them into the muffin pan. Hazel wanted to do most of the scooping. It was a bit messy, but she had fun. Then we baked them at 300 for at least 25 minutes and with the extra zucchini we should have baked them even longer. They were good but a bit too mushy in the center.

Then we cooled them in the pan for ten minutes except my mother turned the timer off on us since she thought it was for the oven which was already off. Oh, well. Then we enjoyed them warm. Again they were tasty, but a bit too mushy.

We brought home some more zucchini so maybe we will try again or we will try zucchini bread.


Steve left Sunday morning, but my sister came that morning. Hazel was so excited to see her aunt. She actually was in tears this morning about having to come home. She didn't want to leave all her extended family she doesn't get to see enough. We had a fun time last night going to Provincetown and having dinner at our favorite restaurant, Napi's. If you are ever in P-town, you really should check it out. If you are seated before 6, ask for the Early Bird Specials. The food is excellent and it is such a unique place to eat.

Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.

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Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!

Happy Family Times #15--A Trip to the Mall

Have you done something fun with your family this week? Kelly over at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I love to hear about them. Come share it below and read what we have done as well as get inspired by all the other ideas shared.

Hazel's new shoes

Well on Thursday, Hazel had a now unheard of three hour nap. Needless to say we knew she would not be going to bed on time. We thought it was the perfect time to head to the mall and get her feet measured at Stride Rite, have her pick out a set of Legos at the Lego Store (I tried to tell Steve to pick one out as well, but he showed control) and then we went to P.F. Chang's for dinner. Hazel was so excited that they had chopsticks with their place settings there. And of course she had to eat her entire meal with them. She loved it there. I of course did not bring my camera. I don't know what I was thinking. 

However I can share a few pictures of what we bought. Hazel picked out a new pair of shoes. They were on sale so they did not have all the sizes. She wanted the purple ones, but had to get the pink ones. The pink ones will match more of her clothes.

We also had let her pick out a set of Legos. Steve and I had visited the Lego Store awhile ago and had decided it was time to get her a regular set instead of the Duplo since she has mastered them and gotten bored. We let her pick out the set. I did influence her a bit and got her to get the starter kit that wasn't to build a themed thing. Needless to say the Legos have definitely given us more family time. She hasn't completely mastered some of the finer details with them and wants help.

Steve and I grew up loving Legos. In fact Steve still has his Lego castle from when he was young. We want to buy ones that will let her create whatever she wants like we had when we were young. Her kit did not have enough roof pieces and she could use more than one person as well. We will have to go back and supplement, and Steve is talking about picking out something for himself. 

Hazel loves the horse and the cart attachment. She however thinks the cart needs the windshield and steering wheel. Oh, well. She likes it. After playing with her Legos this weekend, we took a family nap. At one point all five of us (Steve, Hazel, me and the two cats) were laying on the couch. I did get a picture of Hazel with Fluffy. Hazel did get up and go get all the dolls and stuffed animals she could to join us as well. Steve moved to our bed first since he did not have much room. I moved Hazel to hers and went to Joann's to hit their One Day Sunday Sale and Fourth of July Sale. More to come on that another time.

Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.

~ please link up (family time oriented giveaways are ok, but please no Etsy shops)
~just crafts will be deleted since this is to share family times ~ use our button so others can join the fun

Button Code:

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/HappyFamily-003-1.jpg" /></a>

~ we'd love for you to follow us Crafty Moms Share and Happy Whimsical Hearts
~ check out our Happy Family Times Pinterest board where we will be pinning some of our favorite ideas

Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!

Going Exploring for Ant Hills

Last week Hazel and I bought a critter cage that came with a small net, magnifying glass and tweezers and we bought a nicer magnifying glass at Michaels. They were on sale an not very expensive. Hazel has been afraid of bugs for some time so I thought it might help to get rid of some of the fear. On Sunday we pulled them out. Hazel started by gathering rocks in her net and critter cage. Then after a bit she told me she wanted to go exploring and look for ant hills. I'm not sure if she really knew what an ant hill is or what one looks like, but we did find some.

Our front yard actually had many of them. We always seem to have ants around. Hazel had the best time just looking and searching.

We discovered the magnifying glass that came with the critter cage was not very good. It was rather blurry. So Hazel kept telling me she would share the good one with me. She was having so much fun.

Getting a better look

We also of course continued using our senses like we did on Saturday. After all exploring really requires one to use your senses. We found some feathers, bees (but they moved too fast to get a picture). Hazel took the first feather to put in her critter cage. I'm not sure it ended up there though.

Hazel also noticed that an airplane left lines in the sky.

Then we went for a walk to explore some more. Daddy joined us and Hazel wanted to be pushed. But she constantly wanted us to find something to put in her net. I finally picked up a rock for her. Steve had been doing some yard work and we moved her sand box out of the garage now that the weather is turning warmer. She was very excited to have it outside. She was serving everyone dinner at her swingset picnic table.

She asked if I was hungry and of course I said yes, so she gave me the best one.

I am loving our days spent outdoors. Each day seems to bring some new adventure, exploration or game. What have you been up to outside?

Oh, I know I have mentioned this book previously, but I am trying to relate our activities to books whenever possible. Since we were exploring for ant hills, it of course makes sense that we mention one of Hazel's favorite books, Ant and Grasshopper by Luli Grey. If you visit my previous post  you will see one of the crafts we have come up with to go with the book. I still plan to make Ant's house out of tissue boxes with Hazel. Stay tuned for it.

Some other creative play we have done lately:

Blowing Bubbles

Wind Wand--finally playing with it outside!!

Stove/oven for cooking with her sand table

Yes, she told me she was grilling chicken on her table!! I love it!!


This is where I share...