Friday Foot Baths

Friday nights are for relaxing - movies, dessert, and more recently foot baths! We got the idea from a summer issue of Mothering Magazine. We fill tubs up with steaming hot water and we've experimented with adding a combination of Dr. Brommer's Magic Soaps (peppermint or lavender) and/or essential oils and/or epson salts. The baths feel good and smell good too!

Carly says, "Very relaxing and good for healing blisters (from ballet)."

Micayla says, "Your feet feel all fresh afterwards."

Allie says, "Footbaths are really nice and pepperminty."

Nate says, "Can I have a foot bath too?"

If you are looking for some good essential oils, Aunt Jamie happens to sell them! Check out her website at Soma Arts Lounge.

Music Fun!

Nate requested music lessons with Ms. Danuta this year (he remembered her from when Allie took her class a couple of years ago). He goes once a week with a small group of mostly four year olds for a "Music and Movement" class. He loves it! Ms. Danuta has them singing, dancing, naming and counting notes, playing games and instruments. She uses elements of the Orff Shulwerk and Kodaly methods with her approach. If you are interested in checking out one of her many classes for kids, you can call her @ (562)494-1529.

The kids playing xylophones and glockenspiels.

Nate practicing his musical skills at home with the ukulele!

The DaVinci Experience

Did you know that DaVinci was a homeschooler? That he was left handed (and frowned upon because of it)? Last week we studied about Leonardo DaVinci and went to the "DaVinci Experience" at the Air and Space Museum in San Diego. DaVinci was a man of many talents; he was an artist, engineer, scientist, inventor, and musician. Many of the things we have in our world today DaVinci imagined and designed over 500 years ago!

Here some of DaVinci's designs were reconstructed and there were lots of hands-on exhibits.

Carly is trying look mysterious and trying not to smile!

Pumpkin Muffins

With Autumn in the air and rainy weather on the horizon we were inspired to bake some pumpkin muffins (thanks to the Zandi family for the idea:). They were delicious! Here is the recipe if you'd like to make some yourself.

Pumpkin Muffins cooking time: 25 - 30 minutes | makes 10 - 12 muffins

These are moist and fluffy, with a hint of molasses and warm spicy flavor.

Ingredients 1 3/4 cups flour 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon ginger 1/4 teaspoon allspice 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 1 cup pureed pumpkin (fresh or from a can) 1 tablespoon greek plain yogurt 1/2 cup soymilk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 tablespoons molasses Directions Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease muffin tins. Sift dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl whisk together wet ingredients. Pour wet into dry and combine/stir. Fill muffin tins 2/3 of the way. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Enjoy!

Jason Mraz

Last Sunday (October 11th) we headed down the coast to see a Jason Mraz concert in Chula Vista! It was the end of his "Gratitude Cafe Tour". It was a great show, we loved all his new songs; he had a great positive message. Here is a song he played with Finian of "The Makepeace Brothers" that we love (Hero We Need). In this clip they are playing at the Cafe Gratitude in Berkeley- a place we hope to visit next time we are in the Bay area.




And another new song (What Would Love Do), this actual clip was taken at the concert on Sunday!:

(posted by Carly)

Ingrid Michaelson

(by Carly)

So Sunday October 4th was Ingrid Michaelson (a young new pop/folk singer that sings and plays ukulele and piano -don't feel bad if you haven't heard of her yet, she's just now becoming well known on the West Coast) day for the Stone family. We bought tickets for her concert at the Coach House in September, for the 4th, but then on Friday, I got an email from her fan list saying

that she'd be playing a private free concert at Fingerprints in Long Beach! Of course I had to go, since she was here in LB! We called to put our name on the guest list, but they were already booked. The guy on the phone said that we could just show up and we could probably get in (or get in for the meet & greet at least). My Mom said that I could take a friend and she'd drop us off. So there we are, standing in a line by Fingerprints waiting to get in...everybody is let in except for 12 people (including us) whose faces peered in through the windows, and squished ears pressed up against the glass -straining to hear the faintest strum of a ukulele. My friend was beginning to lose hope "Let's just go around shopping," she said. But I had not completely lost faith. Only minutes later a man came up to us and said "Go to the front door and say that Frank says you can come in!" Voila! The 12 of us strutted in, amidst the cheering crowd and great music that Ingrid and her band were playing. I took tons of pictures, though they didn't come out very good because I either got a boodle of bobbing heads, the ceiling or a blurry Ingrid in the background. The music was great! She played a lot of her new songs from her latest album "Everybody". My Mom got to come in and listen to the end of the concert too! Then after they played, she signed autographs (Ingrid Michaelson -not my Mom). I got her CD Everybody and a free poster that she signed! Pictures were snapped galore.




Then in the evening we headed down to the Coach house in San Juan Capistrano. Some of our good friends from Carlsbad met us there, and even our neighbors who are big fans, came too. Ingrid and her band were terrific. Ingrid was very humorous and the whole band had a great vibe. The guy that opened for Ingrid M. was pretty fab too; a British boy that played acoustic guitar (Greg Holden). We even bought two of his CDs. After the show we waited by the tour bus with some other groupies to see if Ingrid would come out. Turns out, she was still in the Coach House and doing the meet & greet! So we went back and got to meet her, she signed another CD that we bought (I also got her T-shirt!) and took a picture with us. We met her and she was really nice and friendly. By then it was 10:50 at night though, so we said goodbye and hopped in the car to drive home! It was a fun Ingrid Michaelson day. :) Our favorite songs by Ingrid are: Everybody, Maybe, You and I, The Way I Am, The Chain, Soldier, Be Ok, The Hat, Mountain & Sea, Once Was Love. Be sure to click on "Ingrid Michaelson" above to check out her website and listen to some of her tunes. We think you'll love her too!

Waiting by the tour bus