We celebrated the last day of summer (at least on the calendar) with a new family activity we call “Dinner Party”. Here’s how it works. One month ago, 4 cards were created that said “Main Dish”, “Side Dish”, “Vegetable”, “Dessert”. We each drew one card, giving us our assigned part of the meal. The rules are that you have to seek out a new recipe for your part, something we have not made before. You are responsible for making that dish, start to finish. The four parts don’t have to go together either, but it would be nice if they did. We set the table nicely in the dining room and eat our special meal together. If anyone doesn’t like something prepared, we have a standard fall back food (PBJ, butter bread, make some frozen veggies) that you must make yourself.

 Dinner party 1 had me in charge of dessert, Kevin had vegetables, Kayla was on side dish, and Ashley had the main dish. They did some research in my folder and books and online. Ashley decided to make a recipe I had clipped a long time ago called Spaghetti & Meatball soup. She made some modifications to the recipe and ended up with a chicken and tomato broth, little turkey meatballs, and noodles. Here she is making mini-meatballs.

Kayla decided to make a baguette from scratch. She mixed, kneaded, and we found various places to let it rise. Then she cut the slits in the top, brushed with egg white, and baked. Here she is making it.

And kneading it.

Our finished meal then was:

Soup by Ashley. It was very tasty!

Bread by Kayla. It tasted like restaurant quality!

Braised baby bok choy with garlic and fresh ginger by Kevin. The girls tasted it but went for peas instead.

And an easy cherry cobbler using the recipe in my binder from mom. I’ve done peach before years ago, but not cherry (so it counts as a new recipe) and the girls requested something with cherry. A little scoop of vanilla ice cream finished it off nicely!

The girls enjoyed the meal immensely and really took pride in knowing that they cooked the food themselves.

We have Dinner Party 2 scheduled for the first Saturday in November. This time, I have veggies, Kevin has dessert, Kayla has the main dish, and Ashley got side dish.

Remember back a ways when I told the story of the hamster? This little guy pops up somewhere, and if you find it, you are in charge of hiding it for the next person. It has been hidden in pillows, shoes, packed into bags for people taking trips, hidden in the girls’ lunch bags, all kinds of things. Well, the most recent place we found the hamster…..(courtesy of Kayla)…

He apparently needed some reading time. Our turn to hide it!

It’s Aunt Kim’s birthday today! And I haven’t posted anything in a month! It has been a little bit of crazy town getting back into school, getting our evening routine, and then I have extra work this year that keeps me busy with my other minutes. But I made time tonight.

We started the new school year with a couple of parties. The first one was thrown by a student I taught last year. It was a birthday party for her, her twin brother, and her triplet friends who were all turning 15 together. The party was held at the family’s summer home on an island in Fox Lake. You had to ride a boat ferry to get to it. The girls got to hang out, play badminton (Ashley got good at this) and tetherball (Kayla was the expert here).

This is hard work.

After a late dinner and some snacks, we took the ferry back to our car.

The next party was sponsored by my district PTO. It was a pool party in Lake Bluff. Free admission to the Lake Bluff pool for a couple of swimming hours, then meeting Kevin at our favorite restaurant for dinner.

The first day of school went mostly well. The school is having issues due to poor planning with the bus routes. It is still not resolved, but a solution is coming. The girls wore their new favorite T’s to school on day 1.

Then Ashley needed something that speaks to her sense of fashion.

That’s her backpack sitting there. Suits her, eh?

Both girls have resumed their music lessons. Ashley has piano once per week and just got moved into the harder book series. Kayla has band during her school day now, 3 days per week and one sectional lesson per week. Both girls have a band lesson once per month – Kayla to keep advancing on clarinet and Ashley to learn flute. I am not sure how long flute will last- she has not been practicing enough to make it worth doing for too much longer. We’ll have her keep trying for a few more months. If she gives it a good effort and decides it’s not for her, then she will quit. The flute we have is a loaner, so we have not really spent much money to let her try this.

Ashley is doing karate and enjoying it. Kayla is going to take a Lego class in November that meets on Saturdays and uses specialized kits to complete a challenge. She is excited for that to start.

Both girls just finished the start of year testing battery. I don’t have official results yet, but Kayla reported a few things to me that are her usual level. She is taking Algebra 1 this year (my subject!), so hopefully it will actually challenge her.

We are also back on the medication coaster with Kayla. We just tried and quit her 4th ADD medication. She tolerated it well enough, but it was having no effect on her focus and attention. We see her doctor tomorrow to figure out what’s next. It’s frustrating because we don’t want her to work so hard to focus.

Kevin is finally almost better. This last round of pneumonia really kicked him hard, and he is only now clearing out the last of the fluid. Everyone else is alright. Kayla had a bug last week but it is gone now.

Things are getting into a pattern now, so hopefully I can update a little more often!