Saturday, December 24, 2011

Easy Bake Oven

Annie and Ashley both asked, nay begged, for an Easy Bake Oven this year.  Their dad and Morgan got one for them to share.  They each also received some Easy Bake packets, too.

I remember getting my Easy Bake Oven as a little girl.  I was so excited to open the packets and get to baking.

"Oh yes, cooking on a light bulb" is the over-whelming memory I have of my mom on that day. 

The girls opened their oven a week ago at their dad's house for their Christmas there.  Morgan was sick the rest of the week so there was no chance to break in their cooking skills. 

Today, we got out the Easy Bake Oven.  They decided that they were going to make a pretzel pack while I got other cookie dough ready for later tonight.  By the time I put the last batch of dough into the fridge, there was flour EVERYWHERE (think: ceiling), pretzel nubs stuck in the pretzel pan, a couple of singed fingers, "hot" pan on my table, nacho cheese sauce in 14 million bowls, and 5 dirty bowls. 

Side note: have you ever seen an easy bake oven recipe pack? A cereal bowl is more than enough bowl; I think you could mix it in a 3 oz. Dixie cup.  There were ALL of my large mixing bowls with 2 sniffs of stuff in each.

The girls are so proud of the half-raw, coated in salt, stuck in the pan pretzel nubs they made.  They can't wait to cook their dessert dippers package. 

I guarantee that none of the foods shown here came out of the devil contration also shown here.
I'm just wondering which part is supposed to be EASY???

Saturday, December 03, 2011

Annie assures me that's not what they say

Alex and Annie are both in the Explorer's program at their schools.  It's the program for smarty-pants kids they have here.  For Alex, that means he has one teacher for the last 2 classes of the day, Social Studies and Literature.  It turns out, Alex is really smart with zero motivation or gumption.  He pulled a C+ in literature for fall quarter.  And got grounded.  Apparently, he really likes to do the projects that she assigns based on the books they read but he doesn't like the writing piece.  So he just doesn't do it.

I thought he was doing much better so far this quarter so when we went to turn in the family tree project I made WE made, I was shocked to hear his teacher tell us that he has an F in literature at this moment. 

Actually, shocked doesn't cover it.  I was mortified.  "HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?!?"  I seethed through clenched teeth.  "I just forgot."

His teacher filled in the words I could not come up with at that moment (my eyes were spinning in their sockets too fast) "That is not acceptable".

He is now grounded from everything.  Forever.  He tried to placate me with the fact that one assignment which he never turned in, she gave him 50/100 since she knew he had started it.  Then he said "And I got 100% on my family tree.  So now I have a D+. Can I be un-grounded now?"

He was completely unbelieving that I would require a solid B before he will be ungrounded.  Incredulous, even.  "That's going to take, like, forever!!!" 

"But so will my embarrassment at you having had an F," was my only reply.

Explorer's for Annie happens at another elementary school in town.  Two days every week, Annie rides a bus to the other school for 3 hours of smart-kid fun.  She wasn't loving the idea of working hard or having homework for the first time in her life, but she has grown to enjoy the idea of extra learning and applying herself.  It does, however, mean that she misses parts of her regular class. 

The Christmas program is coming up which means there is extra music class.  Annie is missing some of the practice sessions.  Her teacher sent home a CD with all the songs from her program for Annie to learn and practice to.  Annie firmly believes that they must be practiced at full volume on a continuous loop. 

She thinks she is doing a kind thing by closing the bedroom door while she listens.  All it does is distort the noise coming through to the rest of the house. 

I'm super looking forward to the Christmas program.  The girls love singing and performing and all the little kiddos make for a great entertainment each year. 

And I'll finally know why they say "We are 8 tiny reindeer working from Sesame Street!"