Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year!


Make a wish for 2012!
Link to buy the flying wish paper kit:
(thanks to our good friends who gave us these fun kits:)

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Mt. Moe Academy Awards ~ 2011

Best Movies
Rio
Tangled
Les Choristes
La Belle Verte (can only be viewed on You Tube)
Ukulele Class
Chapter Books
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
The Tail of Emily Windsnap 
by Liz Kessler
The Queen of Water by Laura Resau
The Candymakers by Wendy Mass
Magic Tree House series
Picture Books
Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
A Story for Bear by Dennis Haseley
Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
Favorite Places to Eat
Native Foods * Veggie Grill
Cafe Gratitude * Evolution
Real Food Daily *Kindkreme
Sconeage Bakery * Haggo’s Organic Tacos *Seabirds Vegan Food Truck
Blogs/Websites
www.icecreamisbetterwithafork.tumblr.com
www.nanowrimo.org
Discovery Science Center
www.pbskids.org
www.pnb.org
www.ukulelehunt.com
www.pinterest.com
www.simonscat.com
Fun & Educational Places 
STARR Ranch
Discovery Science Center
Muzeo Museum
California Surf Museum
Music Recommendations
*Ukulele classes through Long Beach Parks
 and Recreation
(the teacher is Hawaiian and incredible)
*Music classes with Ms. Danuta for young kids
*Flute or piccolo lessons with Rena Urso Trapani - rmurso@aol.com
*Piano lessons with Karen Peters - karenlaurapeters@gmail.com
*The Colburn School - www.colburnschool.edu

Musicians
Haggo's Organic Taco
*Mat Kearney
*Kina Grannis
*Bon Iver
*Foster the People
*Eliza Doolittle



Favorite New Recipe
Black Bean Sliders

Ingredients:
olive oil
1 onion, diced small
1 14oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 carrot finely diced or shredded
1/2 cup cornmeal                            
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup water
Directions:
 Saute onions in olive oil over medium heat until tender and caramelized.  In a large bowl combine onions with the rest of the ingredients.  Form mini patties.  Heat and fry patties until slightly crisp on both sides.  Serve on slider buns with mango salsa, tomatoes, and avocado.  Yum! ~From Chef Chloe

Random Fun Thing to do...
The Hot Dog Roll - by Nate & Allie
This is a fun thing to do with your kids! After a bath or shower have your kid lay down on the edge of a towel on the bed.  Tell them to lie really still and stiff (we say “stiff as a board”).  Then slowly roll them over in the towel so they look like a hot dog.  Then take the edge of the towel and pull it really hard.  Your kid will flip out of it and fly through the air.  It is so much fun!



Thursday, December 15, 2011

Nutcracker!

post by Micayla
Me and my ballet friends.  Can you guess which bunhead is mine?

I am Young Clara, a Sugarplum attendent and an Infantry solider in this years performance of The Nutcracker at  Maple Conservatory of Dance!!  If you would like to see me, I am performing Young Clara in the opening performance (Saturday 2:00pm) and in the second to last performance on Wednesday (7:00pm.)  I am performing as a Sugarplum attendant on the last performance and the second performance.  I am Infantry on the rest of the days we are performing!  I hope you can come :)

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Mucho Musique!

Post by Carly
Lately we've had some great music opportunities. We saw Colbie Caillat live and went to see a Jason Mraz concert!  The Colbie Caillat concert was at The Grammy Museum in LA.  It's an awesome museum full of information and great photos, videos, exhibits and hands-on activities on music, the Grammys, and famous musicians (right now they have excellent exhibits on George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and James Brown)!  Fun fact: I have the same b-day as George Harrison (February 25th)!

 The concert was in the Clive Davis theatre which is a small (only 200 seats) auditorium.  We barely got in; we waited until the last of the members got their tickets to buy the few leftover tickets.
The performance was soooo great!  Colbie answered questions and then played some songs (did you know her dad was the producer of the Fleetwood Mac albums?).  It was excellent because it was a small show and you could see really well.  She sounds fantastic live, I'm a big fan of her new album "All of You" (although all of the songs are about her boyfriend guhhh).


The Grammy Museum also offers workshops for homeschoolers.  Speakers from the Musician's Institute in LA come and give a lecture and workshop about various things.  I've been to a songwriting workshop, composing music for film, and composing for music videos workshop.  If you are a homeschooler who loves music and lives in the LA area I highly recommend you go to these workshops!  Only $8 for an informational and intriguing workshop about music!




Then, just this week we went to a Jason Mraz concert in San Diego!  He is really my all-time favorite, numero uno musician.  He sounds incredible live (this would be my third-or fourth time seeing him)!  His tour was just him and Toco Rivera (his percussionist) without the band, all acoustic.  Jason sang a ton of new songs, plus the oldies but goodies such as: You & I Both, Mr. Curiosity, The Remedy, Lucky, and I'm Yours (of course:P).  The concert was in downtown San Diego so it was a bit of a drive, but totally worth it.  It took place in the Spreckels theatre which is an old theatre that has tons of amazing sculpture and lighting.  We were in the balcony (meaning tippy-top) so we were pretty close up there to admire the ceiling!

Here are some pics and a video of one of his new songs: