social distancing {week ten ~ the British influence in our home}

 Have I mentioned that Nicholas and Daniel have British teachers this year?

And that they both think their respective teacher hung the moon?  

And that said teachers, Mr S and Mr G have "celebrity status" in our home ~ meaning they are frequently part of conversation as if the whole family knows them.

And lastly that they both have *just a smidge* of influence? 

A few weeks ago during office hours Mr S told Nicholas that a common question used to size people up in his hometown would be to find out if you like red sauce or brown sauce on your bacon sandwich.  (Kinda like asking folks in the south if you're a Dukes or Hellman's mayo person...)  To which Nicholas ~ who is quite the bacon connoisseur ~ needed to know what is meant by red or brown sauce.  The answer was basically ketchup or HP Sauce.  

And so the hunt for HP Sauce began.  I looked at the three stores I had been shopping in during my weekly mega shops to no avail.  In the meantime, Daniel's teacher one day during class morning meeting asked the kids what their favorite type of sandwich was...which of course led to kids asking him the same in return.  He mentioned liking an open face toasted cheese sandwich with a thin spread of Marmite on the bread and topped with a bit of Coleman's mustard.  

You see where this is going, right?  Now I had two more British items on my shopping list so this week I bit the bullet and went to Wegman's right at opening to avoid crowds.  The extra stop paid off though...I secured all three hard to find items as well as a ton of Werther's, because "Mr S said those are his favorite candy Mama!"

 

 Oh, and did I mention that in the conversation Mr S *may* have told Nicholas that he has been eating turkey bacon?  So of course regular bacon wasn't going to do for him.  (though I did purchase regular bacon for the rest of us because one of the older kids pointed out that turkey and bacon shouldn't be in the same sentence unless you are saying something like, "I am going to wrap the turkey breast in bacon before baking it...")

At any rate, Nicholas tried, and of course approved, of a turkey bacon sandwich with HP sauce.  Though I  do suspect he'd have approved even if it tasted terrible to him because, "Mr S said..."  (thankfully we have had several conferences and interactions with him and think he is a pretty cool teacher and good influence in Nicholas's life).  We've also learned that a "proper British bacon sandwich" would be on a "bap" instead of bread and would use something more akin to what we call Canadian bacon instead of the bacon we're used to.

The mother and daughter that slack line walks together...

...falls together.  But at least we had fun!

Ian and I believe sunshine is good for the kids and have "encouraged" (some may interpret that as "forced") the kids to be outside for at least 30 minutes a day since quarantine began.  Some play, some ride bikes, some walk.  And then there are the bookworms...

The flowers this spring have been spectacular.  I've discovered that if I can get out for a quick 20/30 minute walk in the mornings before the crew gets moving that my day starts off in a much better groove.  I've made a point to stop and photograph and appreciate (and often smell) the flowers as I go.  There is simple beauty and goodness in spite of the frustrating times we find ourselves in!

Kylie has been expanding her repertoire in bread making.  She started with the simple but delicious sandwich bread and moved on to both whole wheat and artisan.  This week she gave naan a go.  I accidentally sabotaged her by buying Greek yogurt instead of regular plain yogurt.  Apparently the extra protein does something to the composition (proving baking really is science!) and made it extra dense.  Good taste, not so good texture.  But she was a good sport and said she'd try again next time I make souvlaki chicken as long as I get the right kind of yogurt.  

Office hours.  Once Nicholas figured out this was a way to interact with Mr S, I'm not sure he's missed a day.  Some days Mr S gives him extra challenging math problems (especially after Nicholas bombed a small group math remediation ~ which he doesn't need at all ~ one day because he was bored).  Other days they read paragraphs back and forth (Nicholas reads one then Mr S reads one) about topics like the 7 Wonders of the World.  And some days they just do jigsaw puzzles together while they chat.

The weather has been quite nice on average, but of course there is the occasional rainy day.  On those days Daniel likes to spend his PE time with Joe.  Others frequently participate...Ian and I have at times...but Daniel is the driving force behind hearing that familiar voice in the living room.

There was a time period when he was younger that Daniel was known as our "puzzler."  Coronavirus has brought the return of the puzzles at our house.  These days we have several puzzlers, but Daniel has his hand in many of them!

Caleb, the green couch and the dog.  The three are pretty much one during his class meetings.  

There's been a bit of rain this week.  And a lot of PE with Joe!

And this week I tried my hand at baking bread for the first time.  Not sure exactly why I got so excited, but there is something pretty cool about taking yeast, honey, flour, water and salt and making something so puffy, golden and delicious!