Where happy little Bluebirds Fly...♥ and so can I ♥

Remember this book from last weeks read alouds? Well we read it but didn't get a chance to do much with it, so I kept it for this week. We re-read the book and studied the amazing illustrations. While listening to the cd of music included with the book, the kids painted rainbows. They were told to mimic the painting style used in the book, I think they did a great job! 

The Art Gallery

by S

by B

by C

by T

by L

they all picked out their favorite aspects of the illustrations to use.  Bright bold rainbows on teal skys, glittery stars, smiling moons, soaring bluebirds and wispy clouds.

the Artists hard at work:

if we have time later today we will be painting with watercolors, for our book The Odious Ogre

My very eager mother just served us nine pancakes ;) {& yummy enchiladas}

I have been trying to blog, but blogger has been giving me fits.....hence I am slightly behind. We just finished chapter 1 in our Astronomy book. Last week the kids had fun making up silly sentences to remember the planets, like the one in the title. We also made a "not quite to scale" model of the solar system to hang from the ceiling of the classroom.

This week we started a 3 week study of the sun, staring with illustrations for their note books. 

Last night I dug into my life saving (well at least dinner saving) freezer meals........and made White Chicken Enchiladas. OHMY can you say yummy! This is a new family fave! I found this recipe on a weight watchers recipe blog, this blog is amazing!  And this recipe worked amazingly as a freezer meal

http://www.skinnytaste.com/

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Salsa Verde

Chicken and White Bean Filling:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup minced white onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chiles
• 15.5 oz can Navy beans (or Cannellini beans)
• 8 oz cooked shredded chicken breast
• 1/3 can water
• 1 chicken bullion
• 1 tsp cumin

Green Chile Enchilada Sauce:

• 1 tsp butter
• 1/2 cup chopped white onion
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup fat free chicken broth
• 7 oz can chopped green chile
• 2 jalapeños, chopped (I used jarred)
• salt
• 1/2 cup light sour cream

• 3/4 cup reduced fat Mexican cheese
• 8 medium low carb tortillas
• chopped fresh cilantro or scallions (or both!)

Preheat oven to 375°.


For the Filling:
In a medium pan, heat olive oil on low. Add onions, garlic and saute until soft, about 2-3 minutes. Add green chiles, beans, water, bullion, and cumin. Mix well and cover.Simmer on low 15 minutes. Remove cover, add chicken and cook an additional 5 minutes, or until it thickens and liquid boils down. Set aside.

Green Chile Enchilada Sauce:
In a large nonstick pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens and starts to turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add flour and stir well. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth. Whisk until the sauce becomes smooth. Cook over medium heat until the sauce boils and thickens, about 4-5 minutes. Add green chiles, jalepeños, and salt to tatse. Cook another minute then remove from the heat. Stir in the sour cream.

Spread about 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish.Fill each tortilla with 1/3 cup of the chicken/white bean filling. Roll the tortillas and place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. Continue filling remainder of the tortillas.

Pour the enchilada sauce over the top of the enchiladas. Top with cheese. Cover with aluminum and bake 20-30 minutes, until the enchiladas are hot and the cheese is melted. Remove from oven and top with fresh cilantro or scallions. 

{enjoy :)   time to wrangle the monkeys off to school!}

Moon Sand in the Garden of Eden

I went to the store to buy some play-dough for our history project {making Adam, and then using his side to make Eve} I had the play-dough in my cart....and then I spied moon sand! I thought...."how cool, sand! Just like "the dust of the earth" that Adam was formed from......" and the package claimed..."no mess, easy to clean up, tons of fun" I was hooked :) 

Well, its not as mess free as it claims, and its crazy hard to form {which in itself went well with the lesson, we are not God, so forming a man from sand should be hard for us :)} 

So the kiddos had a blast.... and the mess cleaned up fairly fast! While, if given the choice of moon sand or play-dough on my next shopping spree I would go with the latter, though moon sand was a great choice for todays lesson!

Here's Dad reading to us Genesis 2-3 while the kiddos make man

Taylor and her People

Benny's people and their garden (see the flowers)

CJs people

Grace's people, and her messy hands :)

Lizzie's people, standing on the serpent :)

Go buy your kids some moon sand!