Staying In

Originally, when I began thinking of activities to do this weekend, I envisioned us heading off to a museum, the zoo, or some other fun children's spot--we're quite lucky in that we live in an area where there are no shortage of things to do with a three year old.  Yesterday, though, I changed my mind and decided instead that it would be even better to stay close to home, especially if we could come up with some fun activities that would make staying home a little more exciting.  I think I've succeeded in making today a ton of fun for Miss Sav.

We began the day with an obstacle course through the living room and into her bedroom.

Savannah began the course by signing in her name on a dry erase board.

Then she climbed through the "cave" and over the "mountain"

Then a big jump over the red "river"

On to some throwing...

After tossing balls into the basket, she had to go on a hunt for a hidden stuffed animal in her bedroom.  This was a hit and kept her entertained for close to an hour.  After which, we got dressed and took a nice family walk to our local playground.

Then, I got to play with a new toy: a Vitamix blender...my prize for finishing my last chapter (which was sent to my advisor last Saturday...woohoo!).  I broke the blender in with an unusual recipe: peanut butter bread.  Most people might try a smoothie or something along those lines, but this recipe allowed me to make fresh peanut butter and grind wheat berries to make whole wheat flour.  I'm a little bit in love (well, maybe more than a little) with this appliance.

Wheat berries, pre being ground into flour; 3/4 cup of wheat berries yields 1 cup of flour.

Peanuts--I had a little under 3 cups of roasted peanuts, which yielded about a cup of peanut butter.

I love this cookbook and its ingenious design--it stands on its own!

Finished product--I tweaked the recipe a bit by adding some chocolate chips.  This was a really good, and easy bread (only peanut butter, flour, milk, baking powder and a little bit of sugar needed).

While I was trying out the new blender (and, in reality, I'm still playing with this new toy--I've made dough for fresh bread, will make our dinner--black bean soup--in it later, and plan on making chocolate ice cream for dessert...it's getting quite the workout today), Jason and Savannah have begun some fall crafts.  She did an owl mosaic first (thank you, Target), and is now in the midst of helping us decorate the house for fall.  We've got pumpkin garlands, window clings (her favorite) and we'll go through her folder of artwork later to select fall colored works to display for the season.  I've been hesitant to welcome fall.  I'm having a hard time acknowledging that summer is over, mainly because that means I'm in the final year, the final push for this PhD.  Scary.  But the cooler weather this morning, and introduction of fall drinks at our local Starbucks, not to mention the influx of 30k undergrads at Cal, means I can't hide from it any longer.  Fall is here. T minus 8 months til dissertation must be done.  Oh boy.  Instead of stressing over that right now, though, I'm going to go hang some garland with my girl and bake some more...       

Happy weekend!