Any other tea drinkers out there? Winter weather, even here in the Arizona desert, has a way of bringing out the teapots. In this B.O.Y. heavy house, I try every once in a while to help civilize them. My husband just rolls his eyes. I look at it as a way to not only prepare them for marriage one day {ever seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers?}, but also help bring in a little balance as their sister gets older. Poor Greta, at 16 months, is already wondering around the house with a toy 6-shooter making ‘pshhh’ sounds. She is in serious need of some genteel influence…
As we’ve embarked on our morning Bible study using The Dig, we’ve added ‘tea-time’ to the mix. Our favorite right now is peppermint tea. My busy young boys need something to keep their hands busy, so that their minds can listen and engage in our study. Tea-time is perfect for short sessions like this.
I’m a big fan of pulling out REAL tea cups. I think it is good for them to have some experiences where they need to execute great care with things. Tea cups certainly fit the bill for that. Of course it always comes with a reminder to be so very careful. The four year old is repeatedly told that he is excused from his normal chore of clearing the table afterwards. I can just picture him tripping on his way in to the kitchen and my beautiful china shattering everywhere. Although after Skypping with my sister and her kids this weekend and seeing K2’s effect on their tiny teapot, I’m having second thoughts…
As an aside, I never thought I would be a Kindle convert since I just love the feel of real paper in my hands. But I have to say that I’m loving it more and more.
For our afternoon reading time, we pop popcorn. Remember when I posted about Popcorn in the Park and shared our Kettle Corn recipe? We eat popcorn pretty much ALL the time now. I blame it on my limited diet last year when I was gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, peanut-free, soy-free, etc…
Well, this last August, I began playing around with blending my love of popcorn and chocolate. Hence our obsession with chocolate popcorn. While we normally go for plain popcorn with some butter and nutritional yeast added, we love our chocolate popcorn so much that the boys wanted me to share our recipe with you!
- 1/4 c coconut oil
- 1/8-1/4 c sugar {I’ve worked us down to 1/8 c. It is NOT sweet enough for Rich this way, so sometimes we add more! I’ve also added a few drops of vanilla stevia we have!}
- 1/8 c cocoa powder
- 1/2 c popping corn
- salt to taste
We heat the oil in our stove-top popcorn maker and add two kernels. Once those pop, pour in the rest of the corn, sugar and cocoa powder. Stir regularly until it is all popped. When finished place in a bowl and add salt for that delicious blend of chocolate, sweet and salty!
If you are making this for read-aloud time, be sure and reserve some for yourself, otherwise they will devour everything and you will get nothing. Trust me on this!
So what are we reading right now? Earlier this month we read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was an amazing experience. This last week we started reading a book about Johannes Kepler. This is a bit of a stretch for the two younger boys {popcorn helps here}, but Xander and I are loving reading about this man’s great faith in God, his love for science and his willingness to ask questions and challenge the status quo.
Let’s have tea, Heather 🙂
The kettle is ALWAYS on over here… all year long. My kids know that sometimes our readings are accompanied by tea too. Love that Greta is shooting and making sounds with it–too funny! The mix of boys and girls is delightful, isn’t it? Sometimes Oliver wants nailpolish on one little finger. Why should all the girls have fun with “paint” and it’s off-limits to him (he wonders)?
As for reading… just about to start, “Do Hard Things” with my 13 year old. Hoping it inspires this already diligent kiddo.
Happy tea time!
Oh that would be simply lovely! I can just imagine how your little boy would ‘wonder’ at something like that… And oh, you make me so excited not only for our reading times now, but also the fun of different books when my boys are older. I can only imagine that she’ll be quite inspired!
I also have three boys and one girl, but in the opposite order. My girl is first. 🙂 We have tea parties as well to try to help them with table manners. I think it has helped over the years…and then they have their moments where they are LESS than refined. 😉 Gotta love boys!!!
Glad to know that I’m not the only one who uses ‘tea-time’ to teach table manners and civility! And yes, I think they will always have ‘less than refined moments!’ They are boys and not little girls! lol. If they know how to rein in the unruly when necessary, I’ll consider my job well done!
Oh, wow! We are serious popcorn lovers here (we make it on the stove), but the addition of chocolate might put us over the top! 🙂 I will be trying this idea today.
We are reading “Half Upon a Time” by James Riley. It is a compilation of all the fairy tales told in a unique way. Some of the attitudes of the kids (they are teenagers) have not been my favorite, BUT I love how the story is told- it is quite captivating and my kids are enthralled. I think we are on Chapter 30 now and they never want me to stop. My kids are a little bit older then yours (Gibs is 3 and he is not interested!), but we are really enjoying our reading time right now.
Phew- that was a really long comment. Your ideas continue to inspire me and I am thankful that I found your blog. Have a lovely day!!
We love fairy tales too, but I hear you on the attitudes. I love books that captivate their attention.
Enjoy the popcorn!!!
I have a dumb question…How do you do the popcorn on the stove with no popcorn maker? Just use a boiler or what? I have some that I’ve never used because I don’t know how and this seems like the perfect recipe to try it out! 🙂
Tara
A friend of mine does it in a stockpot. You just need to use a high heat and then shake it so that the popcorn on the bottom doesn’t burn and everything heats and pops at an even level. Let me know how it goes, Tara!
Actually, I just searched youtube and found this clip with a video tutorial. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvoISvRlDCw
I did alright for my first time. 🙂 I did burn some of it but the ones that weren’t burnt were wonderful! Thanks for the video too. Silly me started making the popcorn then watched the video. My pot wasn’t quite big enough and I had trouble getting the shaking part down! 🙂
I will defintely be trying to perfect my popping skills!
Tara
Just like most things in the kitchen, it sounds like there is a learning curve. You are well on your way though. I had to laugh because I’ve started things first too before looking closely at the directions. lol.
I will have to bring Greta our tea set. Is she playing with dolls? And I had plans on making this my girly girl. Oh, well — I will love a tomboy just as much. MiMa