Did you know Pi Day was this week? As a former Math teacher, this was always a big deal for us. The staff would wear Pi shirts, I had my Pi earrings.

One year, I had an extra-credit assignment available for my students: Write a song or write a poem for Pi Day.

And one of my favorite things EVER was that two of my students wrote and recorded a song called Pi Day that was to the tune of Rebecca Black’s Friday.

It’s sooo good😅 I found the video they submitted to go with it, if you want to check it out below!!

Alexander has just learned about Pi, so I know he will enjoy this song this year!

Apple Project?

I haven’t decided yet how I’ll do it, but I want to do a little multi-subject project this week! I picked up 2 each of 6 different types of apples. They aren’t ones we usually buy (the list is not in the order of the picture, I’m sure! I don’t remember which is which):

• Envy

• Cosmic Crisp

• Sweet Tango

• Ambrosia Gold

• Opal Sweet

• Pink Lady

I think I’d like to do a few things with the apples this week, but if you’ve got more ideas, please send em my way!

Language

• Annabelle - Compare and contrast. She will come up with adjectives to describe the smell, taste, and texture of each one.

• Alexander - I’d like him to write an opinion piece stating which variety is the best and which is the worst (of these 6).

Math

• Annabelle - Read the 4 or 5-digit code on each one! This will be practice for her, to read the numbers correctly (“three thousand five hundred seven” for example).

• Alexander - Weigh each apple variety in grams, rounding to the nearest hundredth, and put the numbers on a number line.

Science

• Maybe something with an apple sitting out and how long it takes to turn brown with versus without lemon juice on it?

Art

• Cut one of them in half then use it as a stamp for painting. That’s the only thing that comes to mind!

Any other ideas, for these subjects or any subject?

House Renovation Update

Welp, we’ve taken the first big step!

The contractors are still waiting for a final drawing from…some company that does that. But we have a basic idea of what they’ll be doing. Here’s what we know:

• It’ll come off the house behind the living room somewhere.

• It will be 2 additional bedrooms and 1 bathroom, taking us from a 2:1 to a 4:2.

• There will be a hallway leading from our current house out into the add-on with the rooms on both sides, I believe. Since we don’t have the drawing yet, we don’t know exactly the layout and sizes of things. They’re working with our current house, trying not to cover up too many of our windows!

• The timeline they’ve given us is about 6 weeks once they start.

The big step I mentioned is that they cut down 3 trees that were too close to the house. That’s where the add-on will be. Honestly, one of those trees fell a few years ago, dangerously close to hitting the house. They really were too close anyway, so even without the add-on, it was a good thing!

Chicken Tomato Pasta

This is a legit winner winner chicken dinner. 🐔

It takes a long time, but I’m going to make a few suggestions at the end to help cut down on that time!

1. Season a few pieces of boneless chicken. You can cut them into chunks or just cook them whole and cut them later. I used salt, pepper, garlic, paprika, and oregano, but use what you want! Add some spice if that’s your thing.

2. In a large skillet, cook the chicken fully then remove and chop it up.

3. While the chicken cooks, chop an onion.

4. In the same pan, add a little butter or oil, and cook the onion for 6-7 minutes.

5. While that cooks, chop some sundried tomatoes (or just use a can of drained diced tomatoes) as well as some spinach.

6. Once the onion is cooked, add 2-3 cups of broth and/or water, plus a little more salt. Bring that to a boil.

7. Once boiling, add in a bunch of pasta of choice! This depends on how much chicken you cooked, how big your pan, and how many servings you want to make.

8. Cook that about 5 minutes, then add in your tomatoes and spinach. Finish cooking as long as the pasta package tells you, until it’s cooked to your liking.

9. Mix in the chicken plus a little bit of shredded cheese (I used mozzarella). Top with more cheese if you want!

SUGGESTIONS to cut back on the total time:

• Use pre-cooked and shredded chicken.

• Use onion powder or flakes rather than fresh onion.

• While the chicken is cooking, boil your pasta separately then add it to the final dish!

Baking Class

Last week in the baking class, we made mini quiches. They were delish. Each kid made 2 baby quiches. They made pie dough, rolled out the crust, partially baked them, made and poured the filling, then finished baking them.

This week, we’re making berry crumbles. I’m hoping each kid can bring their own ramekin or even mug to cook them in, but I did buy some little disposable tins they can use. I have a lot of ramekins honestly, but I don’t want the kids to take them home because I won’t get them back for several weeks!

Here is the recipe we’ll use for the crumbles, from Broma Bakery!

bromabakery

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A few things I love right now

1. My new black sandals! The brand is Michael Shannon, which is my current favorite brand. They are so comfy right out of the box, but I’m super bummed because I went back to the website and they are not on the site anymore!! Like, I JUST bought them last week, what the heck! I was hoping to get them in another color or two (they were $30).

   

2. Love is Blind Season 6. I skip over some of it because like, I do not want to just watch people kiss 😅 But their chats, their awkward moments, their petty fights, the drama… I love it. [SPOILER] I’m so sad Matthew left!! I really thought he was going to end up with AD - I didn’t like him at first, but he grew on me, and I think she’d have been good for him. I’m not too sure about her and Clay… (I’m on episode 7 currently).

3. One of the new songs from Maverick City! It’s called The Story I’ll Tell. Check it out! Related: We sang a song this morning called Worthy Of It All, which says “You are worthy of it all. From you are all things, and to you are all things, you deserve the glory.” And I have been feeling really anxious lately, both about the pregnancy and the add-on to the house, and it just reminded me to stop sweating it. I’m not in control of what’s happening, so I’m grateful that (a) I’ve got a healthy babe growing, (b) we can afford the add-on, (c) I’ve got a supportive husband through all this, and more. It just helped me refocus!

4. Two new daily games: Betweenle and Strands. Betweenle is interesting - it confused me at first, but now I really like it. You have to figure out a 5-letter word of the day. When you guess a word, it tells you where the word would fit in alphabetically between AAAAA and ZZZZZ. So if you guess MANOR, you’ll either learn that the correct word is between AAAAA and MANOR or between MANOR and ZZZZZ. And each guess gets you a little closer to the right answer. It’s hard to explain😅 Strands is a new game from the NY Times that’s still in beta, so it’s only online and not in their app yet. You are given a daily theme, and you have to figure out what it means. Then you find the words connected to the theme; by the end, you’ll use up every letter on the board exactly one time. Try it out! 🥰

   

Last but not least for this week…

TikTok Round-up

It’s been a million years since I did this, so it will be hard narrowing it down. I’ll just try to pick 5 reeeeally good ones.

1. This creator is literally called “betternames4u” and she shares possible nicknames for lots of real names. This one for Scott was cracking us up.

2. This pantry is a DREAM. This lady farms and does a lot of canning, so she does a lot of her grocery shopping within her own house. It’s amazing to me.

3. Check out this trick to make a sort of [I’ll let it be a surprise] stamp for cake decorating!

4. This pottery cup for hot or cold coffee is just so lovely!

5. This dog is just so happy to be president😆

Until next time…

I hope you and yours have a great week. Please let me know if you need anything from me: prayers or suggestions or encouragement or anything.

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Much love,
Bethany