Z is for Zenith

So we took two days to do Z since yesterday was a crazy holiday day.  We ran errands and went to Memere and Pepere's for dessert.  So we continued it into today.  This past weekend was crazy with friends coming over, and apple picking, and gorgeous weather.  We explored the word zephyr, a lovely breeze.  Perfect for the past few days.  The kids spent yesterday catching up on rest since they had no naps over the weekend.  We watched a new show on PBS, The Cat in the Hat knows a lot about that!  They loved it, and learned a lot from it.  Rich was working yesterday, so the kids and I went outside and played zoologist in the yard, and worked in the garden.  We did some cooking and cleaning, errands and naps.  And that was pretty much the day. 

Today we made our Z poster, practiced writing the letter Z and made a zebra cake.  Which is really a marble cake that looks like zebra stripes when you cut it.  I read a blog about this recipe on kingarthurflour.com, one of my favorite baking resources.  It is something that really introduced me to the idea of blogs, and has helped our family get into baking our own bread, making our own yogurt, gardening, canning and all the other sustainable projects we have introduced into our lives.  So I like to give them props when I can.  We made zucchini carrot muffins yesterday, with zesty tomato soup for brunch (they woke up too late for breakfast so we had an early lunch), and we had zingy zucchini, veggie and chicken tempura for dinner. 

Today we made some z letter books from a website Rich found, and another from readinga-z.com.  They love having letter books that they can color and play with as much as they like.  It helps CJ to practice tracing the letters as well.  Eliza isn't really interested in that, but she is still so young.  Over the weekend they both asked to practice in their workbooks, so we did some letter matching and writing practice while Daddy was at work on Saturday.  Sunday was all about the apple and pear picking.  We had such a great time and so did the friends that came with us.  We all played together back at the house after apple picking, and we quizzed the kids on what they know about apples, and plants.  They told us a lot about how plants grow and about how bees pollinate.  Very cool.

Today we are having zaatar seasoned veggies and rice with chicken.  We are going to do a letter scavenger hunt with Daddy tonight (he is on vacation the rest of the week) and talk about the number zero.  The kids are excited about our trip to the zoo this week and are trying to think of animals for all their letters.  Q is giving them some difficulty, and U.  I will take tons of pictures and share some with you.  Tomorrow we will be doing activities with numbers and counting.  I am excited to start, and so are the kids.  Today was the zenith, the point of culmination, for our alphabet.  Tomorrow the journey continues along a new path.  We will revisit all we have done and forge ahead through uncharted territory.  Woot!

Thanks for reading!