Halloween, Round 1

Last week we actually crossed state lines and visited the parking lot of Bryan's old office for their drive-thru Halloween party. The kids even wore costumes even though none of them got out of the van.

Then, on Wednesday night, instead of having the usual church Trunk or Treat, the Young Women in the ward drove to all the homes of the Primary kids and dropped off Halloween goodies bags. They encouraged all the kids to wear their costumes, so the younger three did.

We had a cute Curious George.

A marvelous mermaid. (Shoutout of thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law for the late night video call to teach me how to create ruffles and make this skirt possible.)

And a joyful Jojo Siwa. (It's okay if you don't know who that is. This was Sophie's dance recital costume, and they danced to one of Jojo's songs, so that's who Sophie decided to be.)

My Halloween treat was that they all wore masks! I sat out this activity as a leader since I needed to be home getting kids into costumes. I texted the leaders that were there and thanked them for the masks, it really meant so much to me.

The Office

Usually the kids play orphans or wilderness or sorcerers (or something along those lines).

Last week they decided to play office.

I guess when you've been stuck at home for over seven months going anywhere else sounds exciting.

Oranges

For a few weeks Topher would empty our fruit basket on a regular basis and carry the contents to various parts of the house. Then, he would count.

Blessings in the Time of COVID

For our Sunday School/Primary lesson a few weeks ago we talked about the Nephites pondering the teachings of Jesus and preparing their minds and hearts for more instruction. Then we looked at how we're preparing ourselves for the Savior. 

Many, if not all, members of our little family have developed the habit of being critical and pointing out perceived flaws in other people. This has troubled me for a long time and it's something I'm continually trying to alter. So I told them that science tells us that the more critical and negative we are, the more our brains become hardwired to only see the negative. The more negative we are, the less prepared and receptive our hearts and minds are to hear the promptings of the Holy Ghost and the teachings of Jesus. As a way to help our brains see the positive, as a family we made a list of the blessings that we've noticed during the craziness that is 2020. In a pretty short period of time we came up with a list of 25 things.

1. We've made new friends at the new school.
2. We've gotten better at doing at home church.
3. We've gotten to spend more time together.
4. We have more free time.
5. PALCS (the cyber school the kids are attending this year)
6. We have more play time.
7. We have more time with Topher.
8. We've eaten healthier meals.
9. Topher's language development has vastly improved.
10. Sundays are now a delight.
11. More time with Cooper.
12. More time with Mommy.
13. More time with Peter.
14. More time with Sophie.
15. More time with Daddy. 
16. More time with Phoebe.
17. We haven't eaten at McDonalds.
18. Kids have become more obedient.
19. The kids are learning better time management skills since they decide when they do their schoolwork.
20. We wouldn't have taken our summer break virtual trip around the world if we hadn't been stuck inside.
21. The kids have gotten to use Google Hangouts to video call friends.
22. The kids have gotten to use Gmail to email friends.
23. We've talked to far away family more often on video calls.
24. Kenzie (Phoebe's best friend) isn't moving yet since her dad can work remotely.
25. Bryan has gotten to work from home.

Around the World in 90 Days

This might be the longest post I've ever written.

Shortly after the quarantine started I was already thinking about what our upcoming summer theme would be. That's when I talked to my friend Brett about her spring break plans for her family. She had decided to do an at-home Disney trip, complete with movies, fun food, and activities. I loved the idea of traveling without leaving home and was inspired by her plan. I decided to follow her lead with movies, fun food, and activities, but expanded beyond Disney locations. What better summer theme when we were stuck inside than a virtual trip around the world?

Since I wanted it to last the whole summer I started searching for movie ideas, locations, ways to learn about each place, activity ideas. I realized that in our own extended family we have lots of connections and experiences with different parts of the world, so I reached out to family members and asked if they'd be willing to have a video call with us and tell us about their trip/mission/deployment in that particular place. They were on board, which added so much to the summer.

Then I started creating/gathering our supplies. First I made the chore chart, because that's how my brain works.

Then, after looking on Pinterest and not finding what I wanted, I created Passport covers for some composition notebooks we already had on hand. My idea was that the kids could write down interesting things they learned about the different countries we would visit. These were especially helpful during our family calls. 

Topher loved that he had his own notebook just like the other kids.

The final supply I wanted before we started was a sturdy map. We used sticky tac and string to show all of our travels. This was really fun and helped us see the big picture of what we were doing.

I had a vague idea of what each day would look like. I knew we would probably watch YouTube travel videos, try to make recipes from each place (if possible), and watch movies set in the various locations, plus the occasional craft/creative activity.

Some days we started with a traditional breakfast from that location, others we would stick with our normal breakfast cereal. We tried to have at least one meal or snack or treat from each place. Sometimes I made the food, sometimes Bryan bought it. This depended on our ability to find some hard-to-locate ingredients.

About ten o'clock each morning we would use YouTube as a learning resource or we would have a video call with a family member. Our favorite YouTube resources were:

• Are We There Yet? from National Geographic Kids which followed several pairs of siblings as they traveled around the world.
• Kids Learning Tube for learning about geography.
• Suibhne for animated histories of some of the countries we learned about.
• HiHo Kids which showed kids trying foods from all over the world. I think this was our favorite channel this summer.
• Geography Now for a little bit of everything: geography, culture, food, population, economics. Some of the more recent episodes have an occasional naughty word, so we had to watch carefully. This was a resource Peter learned about from his French teacher last year.

Later, after an authentic dinner (or as close as we could get to it), we would watch a movie if we had time.

I knew it was a busy summer, but I didn't realize how busy until I started typing this up. In the list below I've included every country we learned about, the food that we ate (and linked to the recipe where available), who we talked to, and what we watched. And the recipes that were exceptionally good are starred.

Where did we virtually visit this summer?

• England
• My mom served her mission in London and my grandma and great-grandma visited her while she was there. We had a video chat with my mom and grandma and heard lots of interesting stories about England (and Wales from my grandma).
• We enjoyed: bangers and mash
• Queen Victoria sponge cake 
• scones for tea time
• lemon curd*
• Yorkshire pudding
• trifle*
• We watched The Sword in the Stone and Fawlty Towers.

• Ireland (We eat Irish food every March 17, so we just ate our traditional Friday night pizza.)
• Scotland
• Scottish Stovies
• Scottish oatcakes
• We watched Brave
• Norway
• Bryan's dad served his mission in Norway and Bryan's mom has a lot of Norwegian ancestry, so we had a video call with them and learned lots about Norway. And Ron sent us recipes that he got while in Norway, so we figured we were really authentic those nights.
• Norsk Kyott Rull (Norwegian Meat Roll)
• Rodkaal (Sour Red Cabbage)
• Rye bread open face sandwiches
• We watched Frozen 2 and How to Train Your Dragon
• Sweden
• Swedish Pancakes
• Poland
• Macaroni and Cheese and Strawberries
• We watched Peter and the Wolf
• Germany
• My sister-in-law Leah is half German and visited as a child. We had a call with her and heard about Germany.
• German Pancakes
• Kartofellpuffer (German Potato Pancakes)
• Denmark
• My brother Jordan had a business trip to Denmark a few years ago, so we had a video call with him and heard about his experience there. His story of an ever-moving, door-free elevator had the kids enthralled.
• Rye bread open face sandwiches with cheese and jam
• The Netherlands
• For The Netherlands we did our first hands-on learning project. After learning about the tulip fields, we created some of our own using paint and q-tips to achieve the look of the flowers. This activity was really fun and turned out well.
• Dutch Stampot

• France
• France is Phoebe's favorite country, so we spent two days here. I challenged the kids to recreate one of the iconic structures located in France that we learned about. Cooper used books to build the Arc de Triomphe.

• Peter used books and blocks to make Notre Dame.

• Phoebe chose cardboard, foam, tape, and paper to build the palace at Versailles.

• And Sophie used toys to build a castle. because there are castles in France.

• We loved ratatouille (plus the sauce from this recipe).*
• Baguettes*
• Chicken Cordon Bleu*
• Rice Pilaf* (in the Instant Pot!)
• We watched Ratatouille, the live action Beauty and the Beast, and The Aristocats

• Switzerland
• Toblerone, because I couldn't make huge meals every night.
• Austria
• Kaesespaetzle (Cheese Spaetzle)
• Spain
• My dad served his mission in Spain, so this was the perfect opportunity to hear first-hand stories about life in Spain. We enjoyed our video call with him.
• Tortilla de Patatas
• Spinach Salad
• Instant Pot Paella With Chicken and Sausage* (This was amazing!)

• Churros!

• We watched The Princess Bride, not because it took place in Spain, but because it has a Spaniard in it. Also, I didn't want to pay to rent Ferdinand on Amazon.

• Italy
• Neapolitan Style Pizza Sauce*
• Rustic Italian Pizza Dough Recipe*
• Polenta
• Homemade Pasta* (This was so much work, but incredibly delicious. It was also our activity for Italy.)
• We watched Pinocchio.

• Greece
• Gyros*
• We introduced the kids to My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• Morocco
• Moroccan Chicken with Couscous
• Harcha*
• Nigeria
• Congo Chicken Moambe
• We watched Tarzan.
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• South Africa
• Bobotie
• Geelrys (Yellow Rice)
• We watched The Lion King
• Madagascar
• We watched Madagascar.
• After learning about the incredible biodiversity of Madagascar (and the animals that only live on Madagascar), I asked the kids to create an animal that might live on an island like Madagascar.
• Cooper created the Webbed-Footed Jumping Flagger.

• Phoebe made the Loqwei.

• And Sophie made the Abis. Peter didn't participate in this, but I can't remember why.

• Kenya
• We learned about the beautiful beadwork of the Samburu tribe of Kenya, so of course we made our own bead jewelry.
• Maharagwe and Ugali
• We watched Madagascar 2

• Ethiopia
• Chad
• La Bouillie
• Egypt
• We had a video call with Bryan's brother Dallin and learned about some of the exciting things he experienced during his deployment in the Middle East. He told us about Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and The United Arab Emirates. And maybe a few others that I failed to write down... And he showed us some amazing souvenirs!
• Koshari (This meal is pictured below. It was a lot of flavors and textures that I don't usually think of together. I don't think we'll make it again, but it was an interesting one to try.)
• And the middle three did some excavating, because that's what one does in Egypt.
• We watched The Prince of Egypt. It was kind of intense for some of the kids.

• Turkey
• Menemen*
• Syria
• Iraq
• Iraqi-style pancakes
• Saudi Arabia
• Al Kabsa* (We thought this was delicious, but more than that I thought the variety of spices used was beautiful.)
• We watched the new Aladdin.

• Jordan
• United Arab Emirates
• Iran
• Tachin Joojeh
• Afghanistan
• Lubya
• Pakistan
• Chicken Biryani
• Russia
• We talked to Bryan's brother Spencer about his mission in Russia. A highlight was hearing him speak Russian, the kids thought that was amazing.
• We ate stroganoff that was not at all authentic, but by this point in the summer our stomachs needed a little break from adventurous spices.
• We watched Anastasia.
• China
• We talked to my Aunt Mirial, who served her mission in Hong Kong. She taught us some Cantonese and told us about the culture. 
• Chow Mein (Not authentic, but so good.)
• Cashew Chicken (What I said about the chow mein fits here too.)
• We watched Kung Foo Panda and part of Born in China.
• Korea
• Korean Ground Beef and Rice Bowls*
• Japan
• Fluffy Japanese Pancakes (These were good, but so hard to make that I don't think we'll have them again.)
• We watched My Neighbor Totoro.
• Vietnam
• Pho
• Cambodia
• Tapioca-Banana Pudding
• Thailand
• Panang Curry* (Bryan has made this a few times and it is incredible!)
• India
• We talked with Aunt Melody about her visit to India. One really interesting thing we learned was that mothers cover their babies in turmeric to keep the mosquitos away. The adults eat so much turmeric in their diets that they create natural mosquito repellant.
• Butter Chicken
• Naan
• We watched The Jungle Book.
• We learned about Diwali and the beautiful art form of Rangoli. I dyed a lot of salt and we tried our own Rangoli creations. The glue didn't work well, but it was a fun experiment.

• Malaysia
• Roti Jala (Malaysian Net Pancakes)
• Indonesia
• Sticky Honey Indonesian Chicken*
• Warm Bananas in Cinnamon Coconut Milk*
• Philippines
• Pancit*
• Australia
• New Australian Grilled Chicken*
• Bush Bread
• Sticky Date Pudding*
• Australian Meat Pie
• We watched Finding Nemo and Rescuers Down Under.
• Fiji
• Coconut Fish with Tomato, Spinach, and Rice*
• Lolo Buns*
• Honey Cake
• We watched Moana.
• Samoa
• Chicken Moa Fa'Asaina
• Pani Popo
• Tongo
• Otai
• New Zealand
• We talked with Bryan's sister Melinda about her mission to New Zealand. She told us about the Haka, which I then tried to get the kids to learn for our activity, but, sadly, they were not on board with that plan.
• New Zealand-style Beef and Cheddar Pies*
• We watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, because it was filmed in New Zealand and not all the kids are ready to watch The Lord of the Rings.

• Antarctica
• Chile
• Estofado Beef Stew*
• Potato Bread*
• Argentina
• Argentinian Beef Empanadas
• We watched Saludos Amigos.
• Brazil
• Bryan told us about his mission to Rio de Janeiro and used Google Maps to show us some of the places he lived.
• Beans and Rice, which I've been making for years and, according to Bryan, tastes like what he would eat in Brazil.
• We watched Rio.
• Bolivia
• Bolivian Biscuits
• Peru
• Chicharron de Pollo
• Peruvian Scalloped Potatoes
• Banana Torrejas
• We watched The Emperor's New Groove.
• Ecuador
• Pulled Pork Hornado
• We watched Up.
• Colombia
• Caldo de Pollo con Papa
• We watched The Road to El Dorado.
• Jamaica
• Jamaican Empanadas (Bryan found them in the freezer section at Costco.)
• Jamaican Cabbage
• We watched Cool Runnings.
• Haiti
• Bannann Douce
• Cuba
• Vaca Frita
• Cuban Beans and Rice
• We watched The Little Mermaid (Because the Disney version takes place in the Caribbean.)
• Honduras
• Baleadas*

• Guatemala
• Mexico
• Nachos (I know, not authentic, but they were scrumptious anyway.)
• We watched Coco.
• Canada
• Poutine
• Maple Grilled Salmon*
• Namaino Bars
• We watched Brother Bear.
• US-Northwest
• Seattle Dogs
• Fries and Fry Sauce
• Razzleberry Pie
• Hawaii
• Kalua Pork*
• Haupia
• Dole Whips
• We watched Lilo and Stitch.
• US-Southwest
• Southwest Chicken and Rice
• Cornbread
• Lime Jello, of course.
• We watched Home on the Range.

• US-Midwest
• Hamburgers and Brats
• Homemade Mac and Cheese
• Watermelon
• We watched Meet the Robinsons.
• US-Southeast
• Pulled Pork Biscuit Sandwiches
• Grits
• We watched The Princess and the Frog.
• US-Northeast
• Clam Chowder
• Philly Cheesesteaks
• New York Cheesecake
• We watched Oliver and Company.

We ended at home on purpose, to help our brains shift gears to start school the very next Monday. It was a wonderful, full, educational summer. It was a lot of work, but totally worth it.