Growing Up Creative

Exciting news

Boy or girl? What do you think? I will most likely find out tomorrow.
After having 2 girls, I am positively sure I am carrying another girl (I wouldn’t know what to do with a boy anyways…)
Oren doesn’t care as long as there is a Brith, Zoe wants a girl, Ori wants a boy, so I am left with the wish for a healthy baby.

Not as exiting as a new baby, but still very exiting news:
I was nominated for babble's 50 best blogs. I was very happy to find my self together with some of my favorite blogs:
Child perspective
Mom inspired learning
Creative Jewish mom
(must share some love)
being in the top 50 will grow our reader base and provide many more ideas to help us raise our children creatively.

Here's how you can help - simply follow the link bellow, follow the simple instructions, and vote!

Here's the link:BABBLE

• On the top of the list there are 2 tabs: sort by priority and alphabetically. You want to click on alphabetically
• Scroll all the way down
• Go to page 4
• look for "Growing Up Creative".

Do it now, as there are only a few days left to vote!
Thanks for your continues support

tali

Dried fruit cake recipe

The perfect cake for Tu-Bishvat and any other day.
The first time I had this cake was at my friends' Anat. Her friend made it for her after she had her baby, a perfect energy cake for any nursing mom. Shameless me, I was sitting next to her, slowly slicing the cake away, one sliver slice at a time.
Before we knew it was nearly gone.

I was waiting patiently to share this cake with you for Tu-Bishvat, so here it is - the recipe... via an Israeli site: the good life

The advantages of this cake:

• delicious
• very quick to make
• It lasts for a relatively long time (not that it would…in my house anyways)
• perfect with tea and/or espresso
• I consider it as a healthy cake I hope you will agree with me on that one

OK, now for the recipe:

You will need:
3/4 cup whole almonds
3/4 cup half walnuts
3/4 cup whole hazelnuts
1 cup black grapes
1 cup golden grapes
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup dates
optional: few pieces of dried ginger (will make it a little spicy)

10 spoons of whole wheat flour
8 spoons of brown sugar
3 eggs
2 spoons of squeezed lemon
2 spoons of almond extract or amaretto liquer

Note: when I was making the cake, I wasn't very precise about the dried fruit and nuts quantities. I did it according to what I had at home. and I also didn’t add any almond extract but used some vanilla extract instead.

How to:

• slice apricots, dates and ginger
• mix together with nuts and raisins
• add flour+sugar, stir using your hands
• add eggs, lemon juice and almond extract
• mix well till you can’t see any flour on the fruits and nuts
• pour into a pan (elongated rectangle pans are best for this cake)
• tighten the mixture into the pan

Bake for approximately 45 minutes at 320 ˚f  if the raisins start to burn a little, cover with aluminum foil

Let cool down before slicing.

When you serve the cake, slice it really thin.

enjoy.

tali

Planting trees – looking towards a future

yes yes, the hot topic is Tu Bishvat, and planting trees is the highlight. (besides the dried fruit cake recipe I will be posting in a few days)
I was reading a little about the history of the holiday, which through me into some deep thoughts (I do have them every once in a while…you know…)

I was thinking about how I used to want to own a house so I could plant a tree and watch it grow as I watch my family grow. In my thoughts I was actually more greedy in hoping for no less than an orchard with all the fruit trees I love. With the rate we are moving I will have to wait with that hope for just a little longer and settle with an herb garden...for now.

When I think of trees I think of past present and future.
I think of a sense of belonging, of something that is bigger than me and will last longer than me. I think of something that nurtures with fruit and cradles with shelter.

When I lived in New England I used to love the bare trees in the winter, I was fascinated with seeing their exposed structure. (I was an architecture student back then, I am sure that explains it)
Now, being a practical mom and living in a hot climate, I like trees that give lots of shade and relief from the hot sun.

I read a great little story that I wanted to share with you.
I found it on the Keren Keyemeth le- Israel the Jewish National Fund web site

What We Can Learn from the Carob Tree
“Over time, carobs became very identified with Tu Bishvat. To this day, Jews in the Diaspora eat carobs from Israel on Tu Bishvat as a means of experiencing their connection to the Land of Israel. Here is an interpretation of a Talmudic legend that teaches us what we can learn from the carob tree. In tractate Ta’anit, the Talmud tells us about Honi Hame’agel, who was befuddled all his days by the biblical verse: “When God returned the exiles to Zion, we were as dreamers.” Honi could not understand – this verse refers to the Babylonian exile, which lasted seventy years. Can a man dream for seventy years?
 
Once he was walking on the road, and he saw someone planting a carob tree. Honi said to him: This tree that you are planting, when will it bear fruit? The man answered: Seventy years from now. Honi retorted: Do you think you will be alive seventy years from now? The man responded: When I was born, I found a world full of carob trees. Just as my ancestors planted trees for me, so too, I plant for my children.”
 
Honi understood the biblical verse as referring to the exile. When we returned to Israel, the entire time of the exile seemed like a dream. This is what Honi could not understand: How could seventy years be like a dream? Life goes on, things happen both to individuals and to a people.
 
Honi received his answer from the man who was planting the carob tree. Since the carob tree bears fruit seventy years after it was planted, the planter will not eat of its fruit. Even so, he toils and cares for it. From his answer, Honi understood that the time of exile is not just a time of waiting. Just like the carob – from the time it is planted until its fruit is ripe, it is busy. Roots delve deep in to the earth, and branches reach for the skies. Complex botanical processes are taking place until it reaches the stage when it is ready to bear fruit. At that point, it becomes clear that everything that went on during the past 70 years was absolutely necessary. Honi learned from the carob tree that planting has intrinsic value, even for someone who will not eat of its fruit. The process that eventually leads to the fruit bearing time has great value in and of its own”.

 
How about planting a tree this Tu Bishvat, you can do it in your back yard, in Israel, in California or in other places too.

tali

Tu-Bishvat – a creativity book

I know I have promised Bialik’s activities, its coming and it is really good…I promise…a couple of more days.

In the mean time I started to feel the winds of Tu Bishvat blowing. If you are looking puzzled than I guess I will quickly say that Tu Bishvat is the Jewish new years for the trees, I always thought it was very special to celebrate the trees birth day. The name Tu Bishvat is derived from the Hebrew date of the holiday the 15th of the month of Shevat.

The holiday is 2 weeks away. In celebration of this holiday I will be posting different activities you can enjoy as a family. I will start by telling you about a Tu Bishvat creativity book I made last year, you can down load it from my blog, this is the link: TU BISHVAT ACTIVITY BOOK

^{Zoe drawing from the Tu-Bishvat activity book using water color travel compact set}

^{Zoe, Tali from the Tu-Bishvat activity book}

Please feel free to forward it to whom ever you think will enjoy it.

tali

Sparks: 008 drawing with straws, a great source of inspiration

Have you ever tried drawing by blowing air through a straw? The process tends to be random and unforeseeable, and the results are almost always surprising and truly inspiring.
After making some of those drawing today, Zoe and her friend Noam tried to find animals and good monsters within their abstract drawings. It was a little bit like finding objects in the clouds. Zoe found a snail and a peacock, Noam found a yellow skinny good monster, and my monster was running I am not sure where too.

^{Zoe's snail}

^{tali's runaway monster}

THE NEXT STEP was to bring their drawing to life by making a doll of their little creature.

^{Noam's yellow skinny good monster he calls Bubi}

This is how:

STEP 1
Making the drawing
You will need:
Plain paper
Straw
Liquid paint, water color. we have been using liquid paint form discount school supply, which is highly recommended for anything. the colors are brilliant, and they are washable. this is the link.

How to:

• Drip a small amount of paint onto the paper (a large amount doesn’t work so well)
• Using the straw, blow air towards the paint and make it spread. Add more paint as necessary, you may use different colors.

• Set aside to try.
• Try few more drawings while you wait. (Be aware… this is addictive
• Stare at your drawing try and find shapes such as animals and other creatures from your imagination

• Use a pencil to outline your creature. 
• Add some details such as eyes, nails, nose, fingers etc.

You may stop here and never go to the next step. But I really hope you do CONTINUE.

STEP 2:
Making your doll
You will need:
Some scraps of fabric (you may use old T shirts, dad’s old neck ties, etc)
Buttons and other embellishments such as yarn, feathers, etc.
Needle and thread (we used embroidery thread. it is very colorful and doesn’t get tangled so much)
Sewing pins
Synthetic acrylic filling (you may use fabric scraps as an alternative)
Background music

How to:

• Select the fabric you would like to work with
• Draw the outline of your creature-doll onto a piece of paper
• Cut around the paper 
• Pin the paper onto your desired fabric, cut 2 pieces back and front.
• Place 2 sides of fabric right side out
• Pin around the doll.
• Stitch around the perimeter of the doll. The kids chose to have the stitch visible as part of the character of the doll and purposely chose different colors of thread.
  
  
  
• Go all around the doll, leaving a couple of inches opening for the filling.
• Fill up the doll with either acrylic filling or some rags. make sure you get all the corners.
• Pin the opening 
• Close up with some thread.
• Add details such as eyes, mouth etc.

^{Noam's 1st sewing project ever}

• Show off at school or on growing up creative flicker group

Thoughts Variations:

The kids had a great time doing this project. the drawing part was a blast, and could be done on any rainy/ snowy day.

The second part of making the doll is a little bit more time consuming and could be a little intimidating for some parents to attempt. if that is the case with you, dont be afraid and just try it, keep in mind the great value in the process of taking a drawing, a fantasy and turning it into reality. and email me of any questions you may have.

over all it took Noam about 2 hours from start to finish (he was determined), Zoe is still working on hers.

After making the straw drawing, the kids may want to exchange and find objects and creatures in each others drawings, and use each others drawings as the base for their doll.

tali.

2010

^{With a small wish for many pancake breakfasts this year and many more oranges from our tree}

love to you all

tali