Friday, August 19, 2011

Changes for us....

In life everything is always changing for everyone.  Some good, some bad.  I choose to focus on the good.  A change that we have going is that there are two new sites that you can find us at. 

First is that we finally started our own Etsy shop.  There is not much on it right now (what is there is good though;)).  Our goal is to add at least a new item each week right now until things get built up some.  So make sure to keep checking it out to see what new things are arriving.  Head on over to Sabe Creations to see what is there now.

Then our other place that we have is a photo blog.  I have been wanting to start one of those for a while now.  I finally got a chance to.  The boys and I have been taking pictures for awhile now as a way for us to have a bonding time.  Now we will have a place to showcase them.  I really hope that you stop by and check out what we see in our daily life..  Check out Sabe Photos....

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Children of the World

I was busy trying to come up with a fun way to teach Gabe about geographical thinking.  Like where someone is located in the world what type of clothing they might wear.  I came aross the site BlueBonkers.com.  On it they had paper dolls for children of the world.  I thought that they would be perfect for Gabe except they are dolls.  He would destroy them so easily.  Then I got to thinking that I had some of those self adhesive magnet sheets.  Magnet dolls, PERFECT.  I am so glad that I found them, look how cute they are....
This is the Italian girl with extra clothing.

An Eskimo boy with his dog.

Hawaiian girl with extra accesories.
The Mexican boy all dressed up.

                                     
                                                          The Korean boy and all of his hats.

The first set that I made for him.
As you can see they were having so much fun playing with all of them that I ended up going and making more for them.  Well actually the rest of the set.  I would share all of them with you but that would be alot of pictures.  Instead I will share the link so that you can go make some for your little ones.  Here you go for the children of the world.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Starting new...

Things have been so crazy around here for the last 6 months or so.  School and everything has been kind of stressful.  So it has been time for a change for a while.  I am trying hard to put alot of hands on projects, you know more fun versus the dreaded worksheets.  One of the things that we have always tried to do is have a year long project that teaches us new things and gives the boys goals to accomplish.  Some of our past projects have been to read 1000 books in a year, learn 10 new facts a week about different animals (not so succeful on this one), and our last projects learning about time zones.  Each month the boys picked out a new country and I painted both of their clocks to look like the flags of that country and they would set the accurate time.  Well our newest project is going to be global eating.  Twice a month the boys have to pick a meal from the country we assign them and make it.  They have to stay within a budget too!  Love always being able to add in other lessons when I can.  This month they have to pick meals from Brazil in honor of starting our new country unit about Brazil, starting in September.  The first meal they picked is......
Meat Stew

This is a dish that is very common in Brazil.  It was originally developed by slaves.  They made it from leftover meat parts that the owners did not want anymore.  The boys found the recipe in Brazilian Foods and Culture.  I have put the recipe in if you would like to try it.  I thought that it was really good, especially the broth.

Meat Stew
Ingredients
3 Strips of Bacon
2 onions
3 cloves of garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound of smoked sausage
1 pound of boneless beef (any cut)
14 ounce can of stewed tomatoes
1 cup of hot water
1 tablespoon of yellow mustard
salt and pepper
4 cups or 2  14-ounce cans of black beans

Directions
1.  Cut the bacon strips into big pieces.  Fry them in a large pot over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes.  Stir often so the pieces do not stick.  Turn the heat down to medium.

2. Cut the onion in half.  Peel off the skin and outer layer.  Chop both halves into small pieces.  Peel the cloves of garlic and chop them into very small pieces.

3.  Add the onions and garlic.  Stir until the onions are soft, about 3 minutes.

4.  Cut the saugsage and beef into 1 inch pieces.  Add them to the stew.  Cook until the meat is brown on all sides.

5.  Add the stewed tomatoes (with juice). hot water, yellow mustard, and some salt and pepper. 

6.  Turn the heat down to simmer.  Cover the pot.  Cook for about 45 minutes.  Stir often.  Add more water at 1/4 cup at a time if it looks too thick.

7.  Add the black beans (with liquid).  Cover the pot.  Cook for 10 more minutes.  Serves 8.

Enjoy your Dish of Brazil.  Let me know if you try it, I would love to know what you thought of it.