Nora Evelyn

We’ve been reading “Little House in the Big Woods” lately and Nora was absolutely fascinated by the idea that someone might somehow make butter. So today we decided to do it. We had some whipping cream left over from her birthday cake (bought a quart, needed 2 T) and a mixer so it was far, far easier for us than the manual procedure described in the book: (1) milk the cow (2) churn the butter (3) add orange from a carrot for color (4) churn the butter some more until your arms fall off (5) apply butter to chapped, raw hands.

1. Put on your princess dress and pour the cream into the mixer

I forgot to take a picture of this part. Imagine, if you will, a little girl pouring cream into a stand mixer.

2. Run the mixer for a long time

Making butter is exactly like failing to make whipped cream. You whip the cream until it turns into beautiful, perfect whipped cream and then you keep mixing until it’s utterly and completely ruined and then you keep whipping.

3. Drain and rinse your butter

This step is important because otherwise you don’t get to drain and rinse your butter.

4. Show off your jeweled bracelet

5. Enjoy your new butter

To be honest, I don’t think a girl should have to do any cleaning on her birthday, but Miss Renee runs a pretty tight ship and even the birthday girl has to pull a little Cinderella duty.

At Nora’s new school kids bring in cupcakes for their birthday, parents get to come in and celebrate with them, everyone sings, it’s awesome. Here are some pictures of Nora (in her super fancy baking outfit) helping us make the cupcakes for Nora’s fourth birthday. 125,795,704 seconds on Earth surely deserves chocolate cake and fluffy pink frosting. Don’t you agree?

We went to Nora’s class Thanksgiving feast today. The teachers asked each of the children about the Thanksgiving turkey: where you buy one, how you cook it, what you eat with it. They compiled the responses in books for us; here’s Nora’s recipe:

(“sticker work” means playing with stickers in Montessori speak. She’s suggesting that Miss Melissa get an adhesive-backed paper turkey for her Thanksgiving dinner)

Turkey a la Nora:

Nora: Get a turkey from the sticker work!
Miss Melissa: But what if I want a real turkey?
Nora: I don’t know where you get one because I’m a plant eater.
Miss Melissa: So what will you eat on Thanksgiving?
Nora: Macaroni.
Miss Melissa: Okay, how do you make the macaroni?
Nora: I watch my mommy and daddy make it. First get some water and wait til it’s bubbly. Then put the macaroni in. When it’s done, add cheese. Serve broccoli and that’s all. Me and mommy drink milk. Daddy drinks water. Probably candy or chocolate ice cream for dessert.

Nora and I went to the store to get supplies for static palatography and bought a Ritter Sport Marzipan bar. In line she explained to everyone, individually, that chocolate is her favorite thing to eat and that her daddy would be sharing the chocolate with her.

In the car on the way home she said, “Daddy, can we eat some of the chocolate in the car?”
Me: “oh no, sorry, Nora, we’re going to eat dinner right when we get home.”
Nora: *pause* “So can we have some chocolate NOW?”
Me: “no, sorry, love, we’d spoil our dinner if we ate chocolate now.
We’ll eat dinner when we get home and then you can have some chocolate
after, okay? I promise.”
*long pause*
Nora: “but… but, Daddy,” she asks in her i’m-figuring-something-out voice, “Daddy, if we eat dinner first it will spoil our chocolate.”

I have rarely been more proud.

We were invited to go play at the park near Nora’s friend Ursula’s house. The neighborhood was having a giant picnic complete with food, live music, the mayor of Houston, and a bouncy castle. Nora found the ice cream immediately upon entering the park and charmed her way into one. :)

There is no reason that a peanut butter & jelly sandwich on wheat with a side of julienne carrots has to be boring!

(from June 17^th)

My, she’s lookin’ swell!

(from June 10)

On April 28th the Easter Bunny bought the farm. We documented the occasion digitally for posterity.