Feastday of St. Nicholas

This morning, the kids were surprised to receive a gift from St. Nicholas! Oranges and some new Kapla (watch the video at this link) blocks to add to their small collection. We told the story of St. Nicholas and the three daughters who found gold in their fireplaces. The children remembered this story from Story of the World history curriculum. Although, I would like to find some other versions as well.

What was left by noon.

The children also had a friend spend the night. Before going to bed at MIDNIGHT!, they worked on a Tibetan prayer flag. Lots of fun! When it is finished, we will cut the string in half and have some flags at the friend's house and some at our house. As the flags blow in the wind, prayers are sent heavenward. A good set of prayer flags will be nothing but frayed strings because so many prayers have been sent!

I should add that we made oatmeal cookies for breakfast. This is a fun and (mostly) healthy recipe:

3/4 cup butter

1 large egg

1 1/4 cup brown sugar (these were very sweet- I think you can use less sugar)

vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup of milk - next time Iwill use yogurt

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 cups long cooking oats (the five minute kind are fine, just not the instant)

the batter is sticky. I let the batter sit for 10 minutes so the long cooking oats would absorb some liquid. Then bake large blobs of the batter for 10 to 12 minutes in the middle rack of the oven at 375degrees.

You can eat them plain, or break them up into a bowl of milk!