Learning to sing, singing to learn

It's no secret, especially to those in the music education world, that using music to teach concepts is one of the best memory aids for young kids. This is why we teach our kids the ABC's to a tune, and why kids can memorize lyrics to any given song much faster than adults. This week, we have had an excellent demonstration of how to teach activities and concepts with a simple tune.

Exhibit A: whenever we put lotion on Aria, we sing the "Dove song" (for lack of a better title) which is really just "Dry Bones" with doo's and dah's. Aria has always thought it's hilarious and giggles her way through it, but just recently she started singing with us. After a while, we noticed she would ask for "doo-be-dah" whenever we changed her diaper. We didn't really put the two together until one day, when I was putting lotion on my legs after a shower. Aria walked up to me, started rubbing my legs and saying in a sing-song voice, "doo-be-dah, doo-be-dah." Now, it's one of her favorite things to get her nightly lotion on while we sing to her, and it's one of my favorite things to hear her say.

This is just one of many potential everyday examples about how putting words (unfortunately, "doo-be-dah" is not an actual word) or concepts into music can imprint ideas into even a young child's head. This is why it's so important that you know what your kids are listening to, not just on the radio in the car, but even on TV. A commercial ditty can stay with a kid for YEARS. I still remember ditties for random toys or theme songs from shows I only saw a few times as a child to this day.

Adults have a habit of mindlessly singing through songs they've heard a thousand times, but to a kid, that may be the time he learns the words and tries to figure out the concepts behind those new words. (This is another excellent, important reason for churches to take a good look at the theology behind their favorite hymns, but that's another rant for another day.) With a young child, the words aren't the only things that will get stuck in their heads. The words they learn and philosophies they are subconsciously being taught frequently start out with the music that is in your home. What are you listening to?

(Stock Photo)

Family Favorite Recipe: Spaghetti Carbonara

When I went to Europe in 2006, one of my favorite things as a foodie, was enjoying all the different flavors and dishes in European cuisine. My favorite dish ended up being one of the most simple things I ate there, Spaghetti Carbonara. I'm a huge pasta fan anyways, but when you add even more cheese and prosciutto (basically Italian bacon) it only gets better.

Recently my mom discovered a super easy recipe for this yummy dish and it's now a family favorite. It takes me no longer than 1/2 hour max to mix it all together. Because it's SOO easy that even I can make it, I thought I would share so maybe you and your family can enjoy a little bit of Italy :)
(Full Disclosure: this is not in any way a healthy dish. At all.)

You'll need Spaghetti, 1 lb of either prosciutto (if you want to be really authentic) or bacon (which is also yummy,) grated Parmesan cheese, a couple eggs and salt and pepper to taste. Yep, that's all. Like I said, super easy.

~ First, make up your spaghetti like normal. Nothing special there.

~ Next, fry up your bacon or prosciutto. This is easily done on a cookie sheet inside your oven, since 1lb is a lot to fry up all at once. Trust me on this one. SAVE YOUR BACON GREASE!
~ Chop your bacon up into bite-sized pieces.
~ Add about 1/2 cup, give or take, of the grated parm to your bacon grease and stir it together. Now slowly add your 2 eggs to the grease and cheese mixture. (If you do this in the wrong order or too quickly, you will scramble your eggs. Not yummy.)
~ Add your bacon and grease/cheese/egg mixture to the spaghetti and stir well.
~ Enjoy.

Seriously, that's it. If your family so desires, you can add saute'd mushrooms or peppers as well. I'm not a huge fan of either, but those in my family who are have enjoyed both variations.

In all her cuteness

It's been a while since I posted any videos, so I thought I'd post them all at once. Most of these have been put on Facebook, but sometimes those aren't as clear or take a long time to load. If you're one who likes to keep up with Aria's goings on, hopefully it'll be easier having them all on one page :)

Aria playing her "dooder," as grandma taught her to call it. She loves making music, just like the rest of the family :)

Aria rocking out and singing with Uncle Zak

Josh has now taught Aria to play one of his favorite games, Fruit Ninja. The phrases she keeps saying are "Oh, Watermelon!" and Oh, Bomb!" 

July 4th fun and recovery

Unfortunately, due to the awkward time of the week that the 4th fell on this year, Josh had to work on the holiday, so Aria and I had to find a way to entertain ourselves. We left on Tuesday night to head up to my parents in a torrential rain and hail storm. There are fewer places Aria would rather go to than my parent's house, but there are also fewer things she hates more than long car rides. Fortunately, we all survived.

Wednesday the 4th just may have been one of the hottest days Michigan has had in a long time, and that's saying something this summer. We all got up and had breakfast and then headed out to the famous Hadley Parade. If you live in the mid-Michigan area, but have never been to the Hadley parade, you are missing out on a vital part of small town life, let me tell you. It was our first year taking Aria out there (I believe) and she LOVED it, once the sirens had gone by. The candy flying everywhere, all the prancing horses, loud tractors and - the best part - the water hoses coming from the firetrucks just put her in euphoria. She was devastated to leave, but I for one was very excited about getting back to the air conditioning inside. (Pictures soon to come; my camera is still MIA.)

Then we headed off for another long car ride up to Saginaw to spend some time with friends. I have never been so grateful for the presence of a pool in my life, and Aria was thrilled, as usual, about swimming. She swam until waterlogged, which took almost 2 hours. There really was no other place to be than that pool. Aria also experienced a bit of a swimming first; she went down the slide and was completely submerged and LOVED it. I had worried about her sucking in too much water or panicking with water in her face - she can't stand it in her ears - but she wanted to go down the slide again and again. I'm so glad we're eliminating any fear of water so early.

After a long day of friends, food and hiding in the air conditioning, it was time to head home, all the way from Saginaw back to Southgate. After all the playing and lack of napping, I thought Aria would be passed out as soon as she got in her car seat, but she didn't sleep till the last 30 minutes, which was straight through another huge mid-summer storm. We finally made it home around 8:30 and all went straight to bed.

It was a crazy couple days of travelling and trying to keep cool, but it was a blast. Maybe next year we'll progress to fireworks and, hopefully, our own barbecue in our new back yard :)

How was your Holiday?

Pinterest Birthday Treats

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I really do make an effort to actually use Pinterest ideas I find and not just blow hours and hours of time on there for naught, which is very easy for an aspiring Creative to do. This weekend seemed the perfect time to try one of those easy but yummy desserts with it being my hubby's birthday. His love for Reese's made this one a sure winner. Also the fact that very little actual work was involved was very appealing to me - I am anything but a master chef or baker.

The steps and results are super easy and super delicious. All you'll need is a brownie mix (mine called for oil, water and eggs as well,) Reese's cups - one per treat - and frozen cookie dough. I used plain old chocolate chip, but I'm sure any flavor would be yummy.

1. Smoosh 1 - 1 1/2 blocks of the cookie dough into the bottom of your cupcake pan, like so. This works best if the dough is not frozen solid.

I had to use a spoon, since the dough was
frozen pretty solid at the time. 

2. Place Reese's cups on top of now smooshed cookie dough. 

Doesn't have to be pretty, folks, just yummy.

3. Pour brownie mix over the Reese's and cookie dough. I poured just enough to cover the Reese's cup, and it was perfect.

(Yes, mom, I cleaned the edges of my pan so the mix
wouldn't bake on there and stain my pan :) )

4. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. I used a non-stick pan, and had no issues getting the treats out with a butter knife.

I'm sure you could easily make a less processed version of this, but like I said, I'm no chef, and this was super easy for me. My husband loved them and they were perfect for his birthday party - portable, portion-sized and easy to stick a candle in, if that's your thing :) 

Finished product!