Tea Time

On days that are running smoothly, the children emerge from Quiet Time, we do a household chore as a family, have Snack Time, then I take them outside to play for one to two hours before I have to come in to prepare dinner. Now I am trying a new kind of Snack Time.

I attended a recent homeschooling talk by Rita Munn, having heard her speak six years ago. This mother of ten now-grown children is a delight and one can read her writings at Catholic Heritage Curriculum. One habit she looked back on fondly was having Tea Time with her children each afternoon. She explained it in a charming way, such that I won't even try, but it was a lot more appealing than plain old Snack Time.

I felt inspired by the coziness of it all so we are trying it around here--even if I manage it just a few days in the week, that sure will be lovely. I didn't make any announcement to the kids, just began talking about "having Tea Time" after they wake up from Quiet Time. The children really enjoy herbal tea anyway. I thought it'd be so neat if I could bake muffins, hearty "bars" of some kind, or cookies in big batches weekly, freeze them, and pull out what I need on any given day. Then I can read them from an appealing book while we sip tea. So very civilized! I was cheered when Mary asked this morning, "Mama, during Tea Time, can you read to us from that good book about Peter again?"

Tuesday's Tea Time: Vanilla herbal tea with cinnamon-sugar toast while reading "The First Christians: The Acts of the Apostles for Children" to the children. I had fond memories of my Grandma Pat while making the toast because I was far more generous that day with the cinnamon-sugar than my normal stinginess: When Pat used to make me cinnamon-sugar toast, the crystallized goodness was so thick on top, one could scrape it off and fill a spoon!

 Wednesday's Tea Time: Peppermint tea with muffins (blueberry and plain)

In other cooking endeavors, John learned that one can actually make croutons instead of buying them in a box. He begged to save some Italian bread from the loaf and make our own, which we did on Tuesday. (Cook diced bread in butter and spices in the pan for about one minute, then bake at 350 for 15 minutes.)

Croutons are actually a good "gateway food" for our picky boy because we can introduce him to various spice flavors via hard bread (his favorite!).

Random cute shot: After I finish trimming John's hair, it is a coveted treat that he gets to vacuum up the hair clippings. He requests to wear the ear protection because the vacuum is loud.