Presidents' Day Dinner

American presidents rarely gather by the dozen. But that is what happened in our dining room last evening.

I spent a lot of my day preparing for their arrival. Unlike the White House that has a calligraphy department to handprint dinner invitations, I needed to make my own place name tags. Unless I miss my guess, the chief calligrapher's position remains secure, even if Biden sees the name tags I made for my dinner guests.

Inside each place name tag, I printed interesting tidbits about our presidents like, 

"Thomas Jefferson was fluent in English, Latin, Greek, Italian, French, and Spanish. He also spoke some Dutch and Arabic. Jefferson claimed Spanish was so easy that he learned it in 19 days at sea." 

And one more: 

"Jimmy Carter was a speed reader, having been recorded reading 2,000 words per minute. The average reading speed of most adults is 250 words per minute. Also, Harry S. Truman read every book in his hometown library."

I planned my menu days in advance, selecting president favorites from Wide Open Eats and Insider. The lists on those two sites vary. Wide Open Eats attributes fried apple pies to Franklin Pierce, for example, and the Insider says his favorite food was fried clams. But why wouldn't they vary? If you asked me last Saturday what my favorite food was, I might have honestly told you it is hot-from-the-oven Garlic Naan from Taj Mahal, an Indian restaurant John took me to on a date. But on a cold winter day with wind howling around the house, it wouldn't feel dishonest to say a hot bowl of chili is my comfort food. 

So two lists of presidential favorites make sense to me. Plus, it gave me more options to choose from. Our finalized menu looked like this:

The leather britches listed on the menu came from no one's closet. In Appalachia, green beans used to be strung up and dried to be preserved for winter. When they were rehydrated and cooked (often with fat or ham hocks), they gained a wrinkled, leathery appearance. Leather Britches, then, are dried green beans. Ours were imitation leather; I found out too late about the dried bean part. 

I also selected Hoppin' John, a rice and bean dish, because of its name. (When children are your target audience, recipes like Leather Britches and Hoppin' John look good on the menu.) I happened to have a ham hock in my freezer for the first time in my life. When simmered for a long time with the dried beans, it added a delightful flavor to the recipe, making Hoppin' John my favorite dish of the evening. 

At least three presidents listed apple desserts as a favorite food, so I felt it was fitting to end our meal with one of those. Apple Pan Dowdy is basically apple pie with the crust cut into squares and overlapped on top. I used this recipe from Martha Stewart and am sharing the picture from her site since I didn't take one of mine. It was good enough that I understood why John Adams chose this as his fave.

Rutherford Hayes banned alcohol from the White House, which earned his wife the name "Lemonade Lucy." That's how we picked lemonade for our beverage. And I should note how fun it was to make Mamie Eisenhower's fudge using her recipe. It makes a lot--plenty to share with friends. 

Our Presidents' Day Dinner was a great education for our whole family. Ken Albala, a professor who teaches a course on the Great Courses Plus, says that just as you can learn much about history through art, so you can learn much about history through food. I agreed with him when I read about Abe Lincoln treating honey like a delicacy all his life because it was one luxury in a poverty-stricken childhood. Andrew Johnson naming rice and dried beans as a favorite food and Donald Trump famously serving McDonalds to guests in the White House also verify that U.S. history can be mapped through foods our presidents enjoy. 

Here is a fun fact to end on: 

"America is only as old as four presidents' lives. President Biden was alive at the same time as Herbert Hoover, who was alive at the same time as Andrew Johnson, who was alive at the same time as John Adams, who was 40 when America was born."

--Philip Bump, The Washington Post

Credits to Katrina Lee for the dinner idea and for going out of her way to send me the photo props. You can see her Presidents' Day Dinner on her website, katrinahooverlee.com.

February Fun Month, Part One

One of my schoolteacher role models is Deana Swanson. I follow her blog, The Plain Professors, and I cob ideas she uses in her classroom, tweaking them if needed to fit my school of two. Deana suggests six months of school is long enough for winter doldrums to set in, so she implemented February Fun Month in which every day of the month has a special activity to do or something to celebrate. By adopting her idea, February became my favorite month of school. In late January, the children help me decide what activities we will do. Many ideas come from The Plain Professors or the National Day Calendar, but this month we added some of our own as well.

February Fun Days, 2021, Weeks 1 & 2:

Backwards Day
Traditionalists that we are, we usually study school subjects in the same order every day. But on Backwards Day, we reverse that order, starting instead with Science and ending with Arithmetic. 

Groundhog Day/Bring a Critter to School Day

We watched Punxsutawny Phil predict six more weeks of winter, a believable guess, considering the piles of snow all over town. We don't own a groundhog, stuffed or otherwise, so the children invited other stuffed friends to join them in school for the day. 

Mix-Up Day

In this favorite, the children pull slips of paper from a hat, shake them from a gravy shaker, find them in nooks and crannies, pop balloons to retrieve them, or unwrap them like gifts. No matter what system I use, they always love Mix-Up Days--particularly the extra activities I include like treats, extra breaks, or unexpected art projects. 

Popcorn Day

We usually don't have midmorning snacks, but this day, we ate our fill of flavored popcorn. 

National Bubblegum Day

Chew gum during school hours? Not here, except on National Bubblegum Day.

Green All Day

The children used green ink to write spelling words and ate salads for lunch. 

We made green collages.

Wore green

Drew green plants in our creative journals

Day 100

Another annual favorite happened to land in February this year. 

My children never saw candy bar
letters before--for a good reason--
but they enjoyed getting acquainted.

After receiving their letter, we had our regular school day with irregular activities mixed in:

--Measured 100 yards and ran the 100-yard dash. No Olympic records were broken, probably because we had six inches of crusty snow and six pounds of snow gear.
Oh, and because Tyler was carrying the measuring tape,
a detail he said definitely hindered speed.

--Put together 100-piece puzzles

--Learned to say 100 in French and Spanish

--Found out who was President, what stamps cost,
and what a new Chevy cost 100 years ago

Drew pictures using numerical
100's as the base

Traditional Day 100 lunch

Mismatched Sock Day

No-brainers like this one add interest to a school day without exhausting the mom. This year, I chanced upon cheap, silly socks in time to surprise the children with them on this unusual holiday.

No Desk Day

A day in which no child may do bookwork at their desk. 

Spelling Class

Chinese New Year

Another annual favorite. This year I learned about Chinese children receiving red envelopes with crisp money or notes of blessing in them. I found a template on this website and printed envelopes. To receive them, the children had to bow to me and say Thank you in Chinese. Well, sort of Chinese. We learned it from Google Translate and you know how reliable that is. My children didn't receive money in their envelopes, but found fun activities to do instead. 

Being low on red paper and not being superstitious,
I used a variety of colors.

Eating popcorn with chopsticks. 
Most of us were successful...

--We drew Chinese flags in our creative journals and made Chinese lanterns. 

I made place names for our Chinese dinner.

A delicious ending to a full week.

That brings us up to date! Next up for us is a Presidents' Day dinner made up of favorite foods of our Presidents. Guests have been invited and excitement is mounting. Speaking of that dinner, I have shopping to do and food to prepare.

Later, friends!

January 2021 Reading Challenge for Children

Love to read? Me too! Though I did nix my son's idea of a naptime story when he came around with the Thesaurus. 

Last year I participated in Daughter of Promise's two-month reading challenge and loved it enough to sign up again this year. The enjoyment I received from completing the challenge motivated me to offer something similar to my children. One of my 2021 goals is to give them a reading challenge each month all year. I might vary the length according to how busy our month looks. This month is relatively quiet and cold, so I compiled 25 challenges and promised a prize if they complete them all. While 25 challenges sounds like a lot, my twosome read 23 and 24 books last month, pre-challenge. I gave their grids to them this afternoon and already they both have several spaces filled in. So don't feel sorry for anyone.

Speaking of prizes, Tyler wanted Matt Snader's newest book for his reward. But a $16 prize per child per month sounds more generous than I feel. If you have creative suggestions, I'd love to hear them. And if you have Snader books to donate, my son will take those too. 

My children's copy of the book challenge has a grid with colorful writing which I would be happy email to you if you want it. Request it at johnandsaranolt@gmail.com. 

January 2021 Reading Challenge for Children

--Read a book with a blue cover

--Read a book with a boy as a main character

--Read a book about a dog

--Read under a blanket

--Read a picture book

--Read a book with no pictures

--Read a biography

--Read a book written by a woman

--Read a book written by an author whose last name starts with H

--Read a book with 90-120 pages

--Read a book from the library

--Read a book you  never read before

--Re-read an old favorite

--Read out loud to your mom

--Read a book about space

--Read a book someone recommends to you

--Read to your sibling

--Read a Caldecott award winner

--Read a book with a one-word title

--Read a book with a person's name in the title

--Read a book of the Bible

--Read to your pet

--Read a book that takes place in Ghana

--Read a book that has snow or winter in it

--Read a book written as a poem

One book can apply towards two challenges. For example, they can read a blue book while curled up in a blanket and chalk off two squares. But I nixed the idea of orally reading a blue book about a boy and a dog written by Herriot while curled up in blanket. Technically, that would be six challenges completed. Not fair. 

And, lastly, the book about Ghana is easy for us because we have a handful of them. You could change that to any country outside of your own. 

To all of my fellow book lovers and their children, happy reading!

Ten Ideas for Young Families on New Year's Eve

In an effort to add interesting activities to our holiday, I asked my friends how they celebrate New Year's Eve. I expected to be barraged with an entire arsenal of ideas, considering how many inspirational and creative friends I have. But after the first three responses said the same thing, I added this qualifier: "I'm looking for activities a little livelier than sleep." 

So for all my friends who need family-friendly ideas, you are welcome. 

1. Countdown Activity Bags
Write activities on slips of paper and put each one into a paper lunch sack. On the outside of each sack, write the hour the bag should be opened. This website gives you printable clock faces to put on the front of each sack. Your activities don't need to be exotic. Children love opening a bag that says, 'Make a snack' or 'Go light the sparklers.'

Instead of paper sacks, I plan to put my slips of paper in balloons and let the children pop the balloons to get the next activity. I already know my children love this idea because we sometimes do it for Mix-Up Day at school to determine the order of their classes.

2. Reminisce
Watch video clips or look at pictures you've taken of the family during the year. Reflect on the high and low points of your year. This is a great time to remember the good things the Lord has done for your family and to recount how He helped you through the tough times.

3. Photo Hunt
Print out as many photos of your year as you want and hide them around your house. I plan to print about 15. After everyone searches for and finds the pictures, make it a group effort to arrange them in chronological order. 

4. Set Goals for the Coming Year
Take time for everyone to write down personal and family goals for 2021. My children always ask for suggestions when we set annual goals. One of the suggestions I'll offer this year is a monthly book challenge and rewards for completing it. The children also contribute ideas for our family goals and we value their input.

When setting your goals, remember to make them SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.

5. Play Games
Charades. Board games. Rhythm games, such as "Oh Pass the Shoe" which we plan to teach to our children this week. Hide and Go Seek in the dark. Hide the Thimble making all levels of the house fair game to hide the object in. Musical chairs. Occupation. Swat. 

6. The Ball
In advance, make a basketball-sized ball by wrapping lots of prizes in layers of plastic wrap. Note: one year, the ball sat in a hot car for a few hours and the layers shrank, making them particularly challenging to unwrap. I'm not advocating that step, but it did add new levels of desperate energy to the game, even in adults. 

To play, participants sit in a circle around a table with the ball in the middle. Everyone takes turn rolling a die. As soon as someone rolls a six, the game begins. The one who rolled the six begins unwrapping the layers of the ball as fast as possible, keeping any prize he uncovers. Meanwhile, the person beside him rolls the dice on high speed and can grab the ball as soon as he gets a six. Players are not allowed to gouge into multiple layers or use tools of any kind. The plastic needs to be unwrapped layer by layer. 

Prizes in the ball can be anything from breath mints and candy to larger items like garden gloves or money. The core of the ball usually highest in value. 

7. Feed the Fun
Snacks, of course. Baked Brie with crackers. Nuts and chocolates. Flavored popcorn. Let your children help plan the snack.

8. Time Capsule
Family time capsules intrigue me, but I can't get past the idea of needing to wait years and years to reopen them. If you don't mind the suspense, fill a capsule with items significant to your family in 2020. Each family member contributes something for the capsule. Then package it up and put it out of sight until the agreed upon date when it can be opened. 

A variation to the time capsule is to do a Memory Jar this coming year, an idea I found here. Get a large glass container and fill the jar throughout the year with mementos of significant events or other keepsakes. If we would have done a Memory Jar in 2020, I would have dropped in things like a face mask, my son's hospital band, an article about the election, a ticket stub from Strasburg's train, and one of my 3-year-old's pocket knives (any twig with a point). The jar is never off-limits, so if you add something prematurely like a game piece, you can retrieve it without breaking a contract. Keep the jar forever, giving your posterity a container of tangible memories. 

9. Add Some Sparkle
As a family with young children, I do not promise we will stay up until midnight. But even if we decide, for sanity's sake, to turn in early, we will light our sparklers and share sparkling grape juice at the end of the party. 

Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought putting children to bed before midnight was acceptable:

Her next comment was, 
"And put them to bed around 8 or 9."

10. Slumber Party
Gather your gear and sleep in the living room as a family. We traditionally do this for every birthday and I'm working up my courage to suggest it for New Year's Eve as well. One of my hesitations is that the hardwood gets more unforgiving every time. The other hesitation is that we had two short nights last week and it has taken our youngest a few days to restore his good humor. I might leave this idea for you, at least this year. 

However you choose to observe the holiday, I trust it will include meaningful family times and create happy memories. May you enter 2021 with faith in God, peace in your heart, and hope for tomorrow. 

Shades of Summer

Enough tomatoes from our own garden to 
can all the tomato products I need.

Peaches from the neighbor's orchard, 33 quarts of them.

Yellow pear tomatoes from a plant that became the largest 
ever grown in our history of gardening. It completely overwhelmed
its allotted spot--and the gardeners. Sadly, we couldn't keep up.
I hate having produce rot in the garden, so I uprooted the plant.

43 quarts of beans, and that's after missing
two weeks of picking them while we were in Indiana

Unbelievable amount of peppers from 4 plants. 
With a garden that produces well, I can almost
understand why some people say they enjoy
gardening--almost, but not quite.

One of my summer's best bargains--boots he can
put on himself. And take off. And put on. And take off...

Organic blueberries picked in Indiana with Mom. 
"Just until the children get tired of it," she said. 
I think the boys lasted 14 minutes but chivalrously
hung out with us until we each had three inches
of berries in our buckets. Delish!

National Aviation Day

After a five year break, John is back "boring holes in the sky," as he says. Yesterday Tyler was able to go with him for the first time since John's pilot's license is renewed. 

 

In the meantime, I was making supper and checked my Find My Friend app to see if my men were on their way home. They weren't. They were lined up with the runway, ready to land. 

They didn't fly yesterday because of National Aviation Day, but what a great way to celebrate it. And what a great way to end summer. Today marks our first day of school. 

The Garden is In

      In the Beginning, God created gardens. And then He cursed them as a punishment for man’s outright disobedience. 

      Curse notwithstanding, one of John’s former co-teachers still believes that “the nearest place to heaven on earth is in a garden. After all, that is where God walked with Adam.”

      Apparently my veggies think so, too, and not because they are partial to their environment. They view my garden as their Gateway to Heaven and step directly from their mulched beds into Veggie Paradise without so much as a pause in my kitchen.

      But I disagree with John’s co-teacher and my veggies. I think gardens are the brown of life. The hard work. The blistering toil. The sweaty brow. I came into marriage thinking all I needed to do to grow things was lovingly tuck a few seeds into their earthen bed like my mom did, till them a few times like my dad did and watch them produce enough to fill an entire wall with canning jars in the fall.  Wrong. We till and mulch and coddle and water like all good gardeners do. And the sweet potato plot offered enough emaciated tubers to satisfy two adults and one potato-hating toddler with a single meal of potatoes. 

      Our tomatoes died off completely, so I gave them a final withering glare and shelled out five dollars to purchase all the tomatoes I needed for the winter.

      “Five dollars!” John said, impressed with my frugal purchase. “We can’t grow tomatoes for five dollars.”

      “We can’t grow them period,” I said darkly, remembering the graveyard plot out back. 

      “If you didn’t like to garden, I would suggest we skip one altogether.” He sounded resolute, like he was ready to throw down his hoe if I didn’t find gardening therapeu--

      Wait. Did he think I liked gardening? I took it as a compliment. If he thought I enjoyed a dreaded task after years of working in it together, it must be a sign I’m maturing. At long last.*    

     The rest of the story is that we have not gardened since that conversation. In the meantime, our son grew up enough to want to grow things, a desire neither of his parents understand. Yet what can we do? If he wanted to grow exotic birds, say, I would feel justified in saying no. But gardening? We have the plot and need the produce, so we agreed to try it again. 

      Ironically, the first seeds we acquired for the garden were Job's Tears, a gift from the neighbor. I couldn't decide if planting tears is a fitting choice for people like us, or if planting tears means we have sown them all and will reap in joy. 

The center of Job's Tears can be removed and the shell can be used as beads.

      We planted the garden last night. The children thought gardening was wonderful. I hope they feel the same way in August. 

*This was the introduction for my article "The Sanctified Pursuit of Pleasure," printed in Daughters of Promise magazine, May & June 2015